Jim Meachen - ZL2BHF

Reporter, Anchor Desk 

Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF was first licensed in 1967. Jim is active on HF, VHF and UHF. A member of Upper Hutt Branch 63 of NZART since joining as a schoolboy in 1967, he served on the Branch Executive continuously from 1967-79. In 1972-74 he was Branch Secretary and in 1975-76 was Branch President. Jim is a Life Member of the Upper Hutt Branch.

Jim was the Upper Hutt AREC Section Leader during 1973-80. He was sub-editor of the AREC Column in Break-In from 1974-90 and was appointed Deputy to the OC AREC in February 1980, an office held until 1989. In 1980-92 he was AREC Secretary.

A member of NZART Council 1977-85 and again 1989-92, was elected by Council in 1991 to be the Vice-President. In April 1992 he became the Association’s President upon the resignation of the then President. Jim was the NZART President for five years to 1997.

Jim was involved with the establishment of the former Astral Towers premises of NZART HQ in Upper Hutt and was Chairman of the Headquarters Secretarial Committee 1982-92. He was made an Honorary Life Member of NZART in June 2000. He is the Editor /Presenter of the Association’s Official News Broadcast a role he has held and enjoyed for over 25 years. Jim was the founder Editor of NZART’s two weekly bulletins, HQ-Info-Line.

On leaving school in 1970, Jim joined the then NZBC and spent 10 years in the technical areas of television, then followed 15 years in Television Operations Management plus a further 15 years in TVNZ MCR Operations.

Now some 50+ years later, Jim has semi-retired and resides in Nelson the Sunshine Capital of New Zealand on NZ’s South Island.

Callsign: ZL2BHF

E-Mail: jim.meachen@xtra.co.nz