RFUANZ event possibly NZ’s biggest

The Radio Frequency Users Association of New Zealand (RFUANZ) Conference & Exhibition was held on 14 and 15 May at Te-Papa in Wellington.

The conference was said to be its biggest yet, attracting over 185 high-quality presenters, attendees and exhibitors. Many travelled from all corners of New Zealand and from across the Tasman for an opportunity to meet, learn and network with their peers.

Attendees over the two days were made up of a mixture of network operators, utilities, local government bodies, mobile radio solution providers and general commercial radio users.

On day one, the Radio Frequency Users Association held its AGM, which included a report given by chairman David Thomson and the election of a new committee for the 2012/2013 year.

As a result of the meeting, a special focus group has been formed to formulate and action an Industry Training Plan.

Over the next day and a half, a number of informative presentations were given.

Presenters included:

• Dr Andrew Kerans, executive manager, Spectrum Planning Branch of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
• Garry Starr, managing director for Motorola Solutions
• A series of presentations by the Ministry of Economic Development
• David Deacon, founder and CEO of Etherstack
• Brent Williams of Tait Communications
• Aaron Camp of Icom Japan

The inaugural Industry Excellence Awards were presented at the Tait-sponsored RFUANZ Gala Dinner. Award winners in three categories were recognised for their commitment to achieving excellence within the radio communications industry.

The award recipients included:

• Service to the Industry Award: Colin McKenzie from Salcom
• Technical Excellence Award: John Croft from Salcom
• Project Excellence Award: John Sullivan from Skycom Ltd

To find out more about the 2013 event and/or register interest in attending, please email Candice Van Dyk.