Broadcasts

VK3OTN, the official callsign of the RAOTC, transmits news and information sessions for the benefit of members on the first Monday of each month (except January) at the following times and frequencies:

10.00 Victorian time (all year) -:

7.146 MHz LSB from Victoria (VK3).
12.00 (Midday) Victorian time (all year)
1.825 MHz AM in Melbourne
Note – Sometimes a frequency may already be in use by other amateur operators, and listeners are encouraged to tune UP the band. For example if 3.650 MHz is in use (that is it can be heard by the broadcast relay operator), try 3.655 MHz or 3.660 MHz.
04.00 UTC (all year) 28.450 MHz USB beaming south east, (towards Sydney), from Katherine, Norther Territory (VK8).- Not available October 2024 due to maintenance

01.00 UTC (all year) 14.150 MHz USB beaming north from Victoria (VK3).

20.00 (8:00 pm) Victorian time (all year) -:

3.650 MHz LSB from Victoria (VK3)
DMR – Digital Mobile Radio

11.00 Victorian time (all year). VK DMR network on Talk Group 5 (TG5). TG5 is an Australia Wide Talk Group. See http://vkdmr.com for further information.

Please also note that all VK DMR repeaters have a 3 minute time-out, and to overcome this, a 100ms transmission break will occur each 2.5 minutes, and this might mean a syllable may be missed, but tests have shown that this is not a real issue, but is mentioned here in case anyone thinks there is a problem with their equipment.

Western Australia

08.00 local time on 3.620 MHz LSB, relayed by Chris, VK6JI in Perth, until further notice.
10.00 local time (all year) 7.088 MHz LSB by VK6JI and by VK6OTN over the linked VK6 NewsWest FM repeaters.

Also refer to DMR and D-Star broadcast information shown elsewhere but allow for WA time difference.

Tasmania

20.00 (8.00 pm) local time (all year) via the VK7RAA network across northern Tasmania and the VK7RTC network in southern Tasmania.
20.30 (8.30 pm) local time (all year) VK7AX Video Stream via BATC – https://batc.org.uk/live/vk7ax and VK7AX DATV DVB-T (HD) on 445.5 MHz.in Ulverstone.
20.30 (8.30 pm) local time (all year) FM Voice Repeaters VK7RDR (439.775), VK7RTV (146.775), VK7RAC (147.375) MHZ in North West Tasmania (via VK7AX)
Northern Territory
On the 2nd Sunday of the month at14:00 (2:00 pm) local time (04:30 UTC) on VK8RKT in Katherine, on 438.725 MHz, (FM Repeater).
Additional broadcasts are as follows:

Western Australia:
On the Sunday following the first Monday of the month, Chris, VK6JI re-broadcasts the news bulletin; NewsWest is followed by WIA news and then the latest RAOTC monthly broadcast. This transmission begins at 08.00 local time on 7.088 Mhz, so the RAOTC broadcast will be heard around 09.00 local time.

On the Sunday following the first Monday of the month, Phil, VK6GX re-broadcasts the latest RAOTC monthly broadcast on 1.845 MHz in the Perth area. The bulletin follows the WIA News. To maximise coverage, broadcast times follow either a summer or winter schedule. The summer schedule runs from the first Sunday in October, to the first Sunday in April. The summer schedule is 06.00 followed by a repeat broadcast after callbacks at 07.00. In winter, the schedule is 07.00 followed by a repeat broadcast after the callbacks at 08.00. All times are local. (Note – the schedule changes at the same time that some Eastern states change to or from Daylight Saving Time)

The Ham College Information Beacon, VK6RIB, 145.575 Mhz, which is located at Wireless Hill in Perth, usually re-broadcasts the RAOTC news bulletin every ODD hour for the following week..

Amateur Television – VK3RTV

VK3RTV1, which is located at Mt View, Wheelers Hill in Melbourne. Output is 100 Watts on 445.5 MHz DVB-T2 HD. Note vertical polarisation. Broadcast is on the Sunday prior to the first Monday in the month, morning and evening. No broadcast in January.

11.00 (11.00 am) local time (all year) Video Stream also via BATC – https://batc.org.uk/live/vk3RTV
20.30 (8.30 pm) local time (all year) Video Stream also via BATC – https://batc.org.uk/live/vk3RTV
D-STAR
The RAOTC monthly broadcast will be transmitted on D-STAR Reflector 91C, on the first Wednesday AFTER the first Monday of each month.
This will follow the D-STAR News Line and its world affiliates at 7.30 pm Eastern Australia time.

ECHOLINK
ANZEL (Australian & New Zealand EchoLink) Multimode Network.

(Pre Recorded News: 150sec TX / 5sec RX for TOT reset)
Modes: EchoLink / IRLP / M17 / AllStar Link / D-Star / DMR / DMR TGIF / YSF / SIP Portal / Hamshack Hotline.
Automated News Broadcasts on the ANZEL Multimode Network @ HAM EchoLink Conference Server Node 69556, AOTEAROA 256883, WALES 485040, MEGANETS 637329, SWDG 676659, NEWPORT 958488, ANZEL IRLP 9556, ANZEL M17 -432H, M17-WAL H, M17-SWD H, ANZEL AllStar Link Node 49903, 48820, 52284, DVNZ @ ANZEL D-Star XLX299-H, ANZEL FreeDMR TG 50556, ANZEL DMR TGIF TG 50556, ANZEL YSF Reflector 50556, Extended Freedom SIP Portal 499814 & Hamshack Hotline 94144. News is broadcasted on the first Sunday of each month (except January) at 8:50am VK3 local time. More information @ https://anzel.radio/

Re-broadcasts
Every attempt is made to keep up to date re-broadcast details, however, there may be occasions when times and frequencies may vary.

Do you know of a re-broadcast not listed?
Amateur radio clubs and repeater operators are welcome to re-broadcast the monthly RAOTC broadcast. If this is done on a regular basis, you are encouraged to contact the RAOTC by email with the details, and it will be listed here.

Broadcast Outages
Every effort is made by around six or seven regular members to bring listeners the monthly RAOTC Broadcast. From time to time, however, the broadcast team is unable to fulfill the advertised schedule. In this situation a notice will be posted here if an alternate relay station cannot be found.
Current notice of proposed broadcast outage – None

Call for broadcast relay volunteers
If you feel you may be able to help to transmit the broadcast on a more or less regular basis, from your location, then why not drop a note to . One example would be to transmit the evening broadcast on HF on 80 metres, from a location in Brisbane, or the morning broadcast on 160 metres from a location in Sydney. With the current decline in solar activity, every little bit helps. Another example would be to transmit it over your local FM repeater, providing of course, that you have the repeater owner’s permission. The audio is supplied as an MP3 file and is made available via email a few days before the broadcast date. In order to provide a positive experience (as opposed to negative!), kindly have a look at our Broadcast Technical Requirements in our Technical Reference Section

Call back sessions follow each transmission

April 25, 2023 – Broadcasts usually occur the first Monday of the month, 11 times a year, except January. At present, there is only one broadcast compiler & presenter, who will (hopefully) produce a broadcast every EVEN month. There will however be a broadcasts on every ODD month, offering an historical broadcast from years past.