Going Up!

WIA Secretary Chris Jones says "There now seems little doubt that the Wireless Institute of Australia's examination service will process more than 1,000 successful candidates in the first full year of assessing amateur radio foundation licence candidates.

"It is now also apparent that an increasing number of people are upgrading from foundation to standard and advanced and feedback from assessors and several clubs offering training confirms this trend will continue to accelerate over the coming months.

"Feedback from a growing number of amateur radio clubs indicates that club membership and meeting attendance is growing also. July was a record month for the National WIA, we admitted 77 new members for the month and if this trend continues the WIA membership will pass 4,000 at around the same time as we see 1,000 foundation licensees reached."

Since the inception of the National WIA in May 2004 radio amateur numbers have grown by around 4% and WIA membership by 14%.

Thursday morning, a breakdown of the existing, that is still to upgrade F calls, saw the almost 700 calls as

VK1 - 24
VK2 - 166
VK3 - 246
VK4 - 70
VK5 - 98
VK6 - 39
VK7 - 44
VK8 - 6

Source: Wireless Institute of Australia

From the bookshop   Click here

• Get our news headlines for your website • Submit your news story