Category Archives: Events

radio events, general events, or events involving M0INI.

West Manchester Radio Club Christmas Party 2024

13/12/2024 Mark Smith

Last night, I enjoyed a brilliant night at the West Manchester Radio Club‘s Christmas Party. Every year, my club puts on a tickets only Christmas Party where we all have a get together, have a lovely buffet and enjoy a quiz. At the end, the ticket price includes a random draw for a bottle of something for you to take away. Although, I never seem to win the whisky..!

For the last three years, being the Secretary, I have stepped up and done a quiz with a range of categories to make everyone have a jolly good think. As it is only for fun, the club provides a box of chocolates for the winning team. This year, the winning team scored 42 out of 50, the worst team, ah hem, 11..!

The buffet we enjoyed was organised by Janet LePuy (thank you) with caterers T&T Sargeants from Leigh who supplied a lovely spread of food, and plenty too..!

Christmas Party

Here are some Christmas party pictures taken courtesy of Peter Nutt G4WLI. Thanks Peter.

If you are into amateur radio, and live in the north west of the UK, then you really need to think about joining this very socially active radio club, it is well worth the membership fee and effort of coming down to the club shack. Oh, and you don’t always have to wear a Christmas jumper..!

Events, Operating, Stafford and District Amateur Radio Society

JOTA 2024 Event Report

19/10/2024 Mark Smith

Today (Saturday 19th October 2024) the 1st Ashley Air Scouts had a very successful JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) from Hugo Meynell school in Loggerheads with help from the Staffordshire and District Amateur Radio Society along with myself.

My main role today was educational, to teach the Scouts, Cubs and Beavers some of the phonetic alphabet and explain why we use call signs to identify stations and why we speak the call signs in the phonetic alphabet they have just learned due to poor operating conditions. Some already knew their phonetic alphabet, and as one young cub pointed out, I didn’t even know the normal alphabet..! I was just testing them, or rather, that was my excuse. LOL

After their lesson, they were let on to the club’s HF station, an Icom 7300 connected to a DX-Commander operated by Paul, and with his assistance, contact was made with other JOTA stations, and very basic messages were exchanged, like names and with what they had just learned, the spelling of their names phonetically.

Between 10:30 and 15:00, I believe contacts were made in York, Hebden Bridge, Jersey, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Vietnam, Mauritius and Taiwan.

The conditions of the bands were very noisy, 40m being the worse, so in the late morning, I got the impression that everyone was crowding on 20m in order to make a JOTA contact. In the afternoon, the 40m band picked up again, but, signals seemed distant, quiet, and faded in and out. A very difficult band to work today.

Due to these really difficult working conditions, GB1SDS did try listening out for GB4FAS (operated by my radio club The West Manchester Radio Club), but, despite trying, GB1SDS simply could not hear GB4FAS 70 miles away.

Overall, a very busy and fulfilling day, I would definitely do it again.

I would like to say a big thank you to the members of the Staffordshire and District Radio Society for their assistance in helping this local scout group do this and the troop gain their JOTA badges.

Events, Stafford and District Amateur Radio Society

Scouts JOTA 2024

15/09/2024 Mark Smith

This year, I am helping at my son’s Scout group, the 1st Ashley Air Scouts along with the local amateur radio club from Stafford and District Amateur Radio Society who will be taking the lead and providing the radios.

The global 2024 JOTA, this year, is being held between Friday 18th and Sunday 20th October 2024. However, the event I will be helping will be on the Saturday 19th October 2024 between 10:00 and 16:00.

I have spoken to Scouts in years gone by, usually when I have been mobile, however, this will be the first time I have actually helped at an organised JOTA event with a Scout group. Needless to say, both myself and my son are looking forwards to it.

EDIT: I understand a special event callsign has been applied for and granted for this event. The callsign will be GB1SDS. Listen out on the HF bands for this callsign on Saturday 19th October.