WICEN has been asked to assist NSW SES Bush Search and Rescue during a remote canyon exercise on February 15-17 in the Waratah Ridge - Bungleboori Creek area of the Wollemi National Park. The aim of this exercise is to test and compare the effectiveness of three systems, GRN, HF and Garmin InReach satellite based text messaging, in a remote canyon environment. Please contact WICEN Operations if interested.

The next WICEN training day will be here at ARNSW in Dural, next Sunday, February 10th.

WICEN NSW will be at the Wyong Field Day, on Sunday, February 24th, 2019. This is a good opportunity for members to pay their annual membership, now $20. Volunteers are sought to staff the stand.

The 2nd and 3rd of March are planned as a training weekend at Newnes, near Lithgow. This is the site of the Glow Worm Marathon, which WICEN will again support, in mid June.

True Grit is scheduled for the 1st and 2nd of June, and the OCR World Championship 24 hour on the 8th and 9th of June, both at Lower Portland, in outer NW Sydney.

Members should remain prepared, as summer weather events periodically result in the services of WICEN being required.

For Facebook users, there is an official WICEN NSW page; and an informal national WICEN group.

WICEN Northern Rivers has a weekly net on Tuesdays at 8:00pm, on the Lismore repeater VK2RSC on 146.8 MHz, requiring a 123 Hz tone. Listen for VK2WIR. Their next meeting is February 10th, and 10:00 at the SARC rooms.

The WICEN Mid North Coast Region monthly meeting is held on the first Saturday of the month, at SES HQ, Central Road, Port Macquarie, beginning at 15:30. The region runs an HF net on Thursday evenings at 19:00, on the WICEN frequency, 3.600 MHz.

WICEN ACT is part of the Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club, and supports events in the "Capital Country" region, and South Coast. Dementia Australia is kicking off the 2019 Memory Walk & Jog season in Canberra, on the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin, on February 24th, 2019, supported by WICEN ACT. The Canberra Two Day walk is March the 30th and 31st. Friday May 10th, and Saturday the 11th are the BMSC National Rally. Rallies at Bega and Bateman's Bay will be supported in June. Visit http://www.crarc.ampr.org to find out more.

WICEN Victoria will be supporting the 2019 Pajero Challenge next weekend, the 9th and 10th of February, at Big River. Duncan's Run, an ultra marathon is Saturday, March 23rd; while the Sunraysia 400 is the 27th and 28th of April. The Kenda Rally on Sunday, May 5th is "TBC". The group holds a net on 3.6 MHz each Tuesday at 8:30 pm. Their site is at: http://vic.wicen.org.au

Submitted by Julian Sortland VK2YJS on behalf of the WICEN State Management Committee