Once again, amateur radio in the county of Essex is very well represented in the latest issue of the RSGB’s magazine, RadCom.
The August 2014 issue of RadCom is due to be hitting doorstops very soon and at the back of the magazine, Region 12 dominates the “Around Your Region” section. Coverage of Essex club activity spread across three pages, and here’s a summary of what’s covered:
RadCom Region 12 News for August 2014
- BADARS: Construction Contest Results – Well done to Edwin G0LPO for winning the club’s shield
- BADARS: Annual Fox Hunt in June, with Howard G6LXK as the fox
- CARS: June Skills Night Report – Almost 50 in attendance for this free monthly event with topics includinf high altitude ballooning, live PSK and CW stations, satellite demos and construction
- CARS: Summer Solstice GB1JSS Event – The longest day, with almost 30 amateurs in
attendance at Galleywood Common – a nice group photo’s featured - CARS: RMS Empress of Ireland – 100th anniversary commemoration. Operating at GB100MWT from Sandford Mill in Chelmsford – Pictured are James 2E1GUA and Charlie M0PZT
- Essex Ham: All Saints Church – Amateur Radio Awareness – spreading the word about our hobby, in partnership with Chelmsford Calling
- SEARS: Armed Forces Day Event – The team operated a live CW station on Canvey Island as part of the Island’s appreciation of the armed forces
- SEARS: Bay Museum Activation for Museums on the Air, including a link to the club’s video clip of the day’s event
- TAARC: RSPB Nature Reserve Event – The club’s first field event, operating with the callsign GB6BWS “Big Weekend Sleepover”
- TAARC: Back to Basics Club Night by Dave G4AJY from SEARS
- TARG: Four day Two Tree Island Event in June operating as GB2HBT, plus a picnic
RadCom is posted free of charge to members of the RSGB.
Members of the Essex Ham website can download a PDF version of the August Region 12 “Around Your Region” via the Member’s Only section of our site. Essex Ham Member’s Only
Radcom produced by the RSGB who if you can not do basic maths you can not take a M0 exam as you know you will fail. Carol from the RSGB Maybe we need a bit in here about how un-sensitive they was.
Mitchell, I have always got the impression that much of the RSGB is an old boys club, where if your face doesn’t fit, you are made to feel like you don’t belong. I follow both the ARRL (the american) and the DARC (the german) amateur bodies for those respective countries and find that they are far more focused upon promoting the hobby to all parts of the community and have worked on ways to encourage those who maybe have some difficulty with the mathematics element. Where I acknowledge that there is an element of basic maths involved in both the 2E and M0 licences it should not be a barrier to getting those tickets, it does need a little more commitment and a great deal of help from other amateurs, many of whom are only too willing to help. The biggest bone of contention is the RSGB as a whole, are people who say they want to promote the hobby, but do little to go that extra mile to help. In my line of work as an Electrical Engineer in a very niche field I am always asked why I don’t join my professional body, well to me it is simple, why should I spend my hard earned money so I can have a few extra letters behind my name and join an old boys club, who either pat each other on the back or at another turn when you are not there twist the knife. It doesn’t mean I can’t join, it just means I won’t through choice, and it is now similar with the RSGB. What they need to do, is be more open and transparent, ditch the old school tie and officers club mentality and get down to earth with the rest of us mere mortals.