ARCIA update: an extended event calendar for 2025

One of ARCIA’s very first activities of 2025, and a very important one, saw the association’s annual planning day take place in Sydney. We are fortunate that many of our committee members are able to attend this day, and we are grateful that they do, as it really helps us look at the past year, review what’s been achieved and shape the year ahead, especially given how much we now have taking place.

Spending the entire day together means the committee has the time to explore areas critical to the successful running of the association, including finances, marketing, training and spectrum, along with the ultimate goal for everything we consider: how do we continue to add membership value?

Another recent goal of the association has been to improve membership coordination and communications. As we grow and undertake more activities for our members around the country, this has become more important than ever, and we have now settled on a solution that will be rolled out over 2025, which I will be thrilled to see in action after much deliberation.

In February we held our first face-to-face meeting with the ACMA for some time, kindly accepting an invitation from Michael Brealey and his team to discuss a range of issues. ARCIA recently made comments on the UHF CB standards with the intention of bringing the repeaters to the 12.5 kHz standard, essentially completing the work commenced many years ago. ARCIA welcomed the inputs from our Spectrum & Technical team on the committee, and it is hoped that where there is demand, this will make it easier for more repeater channels. As part of the meeting ARCIA also invited ACMA staff to all our ARCIA events, as we believe there is a lot to be learned from both parties sharing information.

Our first event for 2025, and indeed our first ever event in Tasmania, was a Sundowner in Hobart on 20 February. It was long overdue that Tasmania was included in ARCIA activities and it was fantastic to see the response from the communications community. Over 30 attendees from end users, partners and members enjoyed a casual catch-up discussing all things comms. After such a great response, ARCIA is planning the next Tasmania Sundowner for Launceston later in the year; keep an eye on the event calendar.

We return to Perth on 2–3 April with workshops (LTE/5G and TAK), a conference and of course the WA State Networking Dinner, where the State Professional of the Year Award will again be presented. This is always a great gathering, and our WA members and partners do a fine job helping to bring the community together. With Western Australia in many ways the powerhouse of the Australian economy, we all understand the critical role that communications technology plays in ensuring the safety and effectiveness in these industries. We believe that ARCIA has an important role to bring information and people together, to promote not only what we do today, but the potential shape of things to come. Paul Davis has been working hard to put together an excellent program for this event, but as always, please reach out if you think you can add value to what we are looking to achieve both in WA and in other states throughout the year.

With the addition of Tasmanian events and a conference in Adelaide in September, 2025 will see the largest event calendar the association has ever undertaken. The association is proud that we can host events all over the country, and that we have the financial capacity to achieve this, and we thank our members and partners for their continued support and enthusiasm that helps us to make this happen.

All events are posted at https://arcia.org.au/events/; follow ARCIA on LinkedIn for the latest updates.

Hamish Duff, President, ARCIA – Australia’s Radio & Critical Communications Association.

Top image credit: iStock.com/Mongkolchon Akesin