Welcome to the web presence of the Ballarat Amateur Radio Group.

email contact via

Click here to see the 2025-2026 Committee.

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Hamvention 2026 Table Bookings Form Now Available

Click here to read all about Hamvention 2026 and/or Book your Tables

Table bookings closing soon.

IMPORTANT NOTE : 26th January 2026

Ballarat Amateur Radio Group Hamvention 2026 Contingency Statement

February is peak bush fire season in Victoria.

The BARG Hamvention Planning Committee met recently to consider this. We decided the following:

If a *Catastrophic* Fire Danger Rating is declared for the district, ( Central ) for Sunday the 1st of February, the Hamvention will not proceed and will be cancelled/postponed.

This consideration is not taken lightly and is about ensuring everyone remains safe.

Decisions will be communicated as early as possible via our web presence ( http://WWW.BARG.ORG.AU ) and Facebook page. ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/VK3BML )

For our supportive traders, we will keep you informed via email. You should have already received information.

Our Location:

Ballarat is located in the Central Victorian weather district. Significant adjoining districts are North Central and South West.

We will be using the CFA web page tool https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/fire-bans-ratings-and-restrictions/total-fire-bans-fire-danger-ratings to assist us in decision making. This tool provides a 4 day forecast of ratings.

The Vic Emergency information can be found via the web at: https://emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/ There is also an App for mobile devices available from the various App stores. This is highly recommended.

Sincere thanks for your understanding and support.

Best Regards

Colin VK3NCC on behalf of

The BARG Hamvention Organising Committee.

email: Barg@barg.org.au

This note will be updated as appropriate,

****** As at 22:30 26 January, the weather outlook for Ballarat on Sunday the 1st of February is EXCELLENT,

Shower or two. Min 12° Max 21° Rainfall

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BARG Thursday 80m HF Net Control Station Roster is available here.

BARG Weekly Tuesday 2m CatchUP net via VK3RBA is available here

GENERAL meetings - All welcome to come along ( No meeting in December, Next Meeting Saturday 31st January 2026 9:30 ish to be confirmed)

During "Normal Time/Eastern Standard Time", general meetings are held at 11AM on the last Saturday of the month ( except December).

These are usually followed by an opportunity for a chin wag over a couple of Snags 'n Sauce in bread.

During "Daylight Saving Time/ Eastern Daylight Saving Time", general meetings are held 7:30PM in the evening of the Friday before the last Saturday of the month ( except December).

We are aiming for more technical presentations. Have an idea for something? Contact secretary, Peter/VK3APW via barg (at) barg.org.au

25 Boomerang Rd, Mitchell Park VIC 3355 ( Google Maps knows about the new road access now)

If you arrive early you will find the doors open about 30 minutes earlier.

CONSTRUCTION Meetings

if organised, will usually be held on the first Saturday of the Month at 1 pm. We encourage everyone to take advantage of the Construction gatherings. Keep an eye on our Facebook page, and members email lists for news. Please check before hand.

Coffee Meetings

Until further notice the Club rooms will be open on Thursday morning and used for these quick social catchup events. You wont be stuck at the end of a long table; use the space available to wander around and catch up with others. We will also use these to draw on expertise to attend to various tasks around the rooms. Visitors very welcome. Send and email to Barg ( at) Barg . org . au if you have any questions.

These quick social catchups are usually held every Thursday at 10:00 at Food Seduction on Doveton, 524 Doveton Street North, Ballarat; occasional change of venue is communicated via member mailing lists and Facebook pages

Check the calendar for details.

We obviously prefer face to face meetings, however where circumstances dictate we will hold meetings ONLINE via Webex. Details are emailed prior to the meeting. Guests are still welcome. Contact us to get the meeting details.

All members new and old are quite welcome to come out and join us. We are located at the Ballarat Airport. BARG runs a couple of radio nets on a weekly basis. Everyone is quite welcome to join in our radio nets. So if you have 30 mins to spare, please join in and say hi to a great bunch of people who will make you very welcome.
Times and dates of nets as per below

Club Nets: VHF NET: Every Tuesday Night at 8 pm on 146.750 MHz - VK3RBA-2m

For the period of the net on Tuesday VK3RWA (Ben Nevis) is linked to VK3RBA 2 metres via BARGs AllStar node. Access is also possible via Echolink (VK3BML-R) or AllStar node 487574 if non RF users want to join the net.

HF NET: Every Thursday Night at 8 pm on 3.608 MHz +/- QRM (VK3BML Callsign in use)
6m NET: Every Tuesday Night at 8:30 pm on 53.650Mhz RX / 52.650Mhz TX - FM with a 91.5 tone - VK3RWU

LINKED REPEATERS: The local VK3RBA-70cm repeater on Mt Buninyong is part of a network of linked repeaters covering North-Western Victoria.

Access details for this repeater have recently changed.

For full details of this linked network and access details see https://www.qrz.com/lookup/vk3rba

You can listen to the system live http://vk3rba.dyndns.org:441/

This linked system may be accessed via IRLP node 9503.

Did you participate at the 2025 BARG Hamvention?

Can you spare a couple of minutes to let us know your thoughts and suggestions? Thanks in anticipation.

Here's a summary of the day

Use these links to see the rosters