With widespread bush-fire activity across NSW, WICEN is currently assisting the Rural Fire Service is several locations. The organisation is providing radio communications operators for their Glen Innes, Kempsey, and Hawkesbury Fire Control Centres; the latter managing the nearly 2000 km² of the Gosper's Mountain fire north-west of Sydney. WICEN ACT is also providing resources to the RFS. WICEN operators have also been tasked to the Bush Fire Information Line at RFS State Operations at Homebush along with other VRA units, Marine Rescue, and SES. This is down a hall from the incident control room you may have seen on TV, and some members were provided with a tour on Thursday evening.

While an end-of-year and training event is to-be-advised, members are encouraged to take advantage of the free courses offered by the Office of Emergency Management, at: https://www.emtraining.nsw.gov.au/

Nationally, WICEN groups across Australia will be supporting Memory Walk and Jog events. These short Sunday morning events run for several months from February.

WICEN will also be present at the Wyong Field Day on Sunday, February 23rd.

For Facebook users, there is an official WICEN NSW page; and an informal national WICEN group. These include photos from members in Glen Innes and BFIL, and members who are active with the RFS.

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 on the South Coast. The BMSC Rallye de Femmes, on December 7th is an event for female drivers. For more info, including the calendar which has been expanded into next year, visit: http://www.crarc.ampr.org

WICEN Victoria will support the Alpine Rally, a gravel road event for classic cars, on November 29th to December 1st, around Lakes Entrance in East Gippsland. The Pajero Challence commences on February 7th. The weekly net is on each Tuesday at 8:30 pm, on 3.6 MHz. WICEN Victoria's website, which includes a write-up of the Stockmans Rally, is at: http://vic.wicen.org.au

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