​During the weekend of 17/18th May, IVARC club members participated in SOS Radio Week 2025, operating special event station GBØSR on behalf of Solent Rescue from their lookout station on the clifftop at Lepe Country Park, overlooking the Solent.

Tim Pettis 2E0CXQ, Launch Advisor with Solent Rescue, approached the club in early March asking if we would be interested in activating a special event station for Solent Rescue as part of SOS Radio Week in May.  Tim had previously given a talk on resilience and emergency communications planning to IVARC, so we were of course happy to get involved.  After confirming there were no objections from Lepe Country Park, we obtained the special event callsign GBØSR (Solent Rescue) and set about planning the activation. 

Our station was set up adjacent to the Solent Rescue lookout station, using the club’s TS570 transceiver running 80 watts to a doublet antenna at about 8 metres above ground.  Operation was SSB on the HF bands (mainly 40m & 20m).

Radio conditions were quite challenging, especially on Saturday, with very little activity evident on bands above 20m, and with high levels of QSB present.  However the fine weather lasted throught the weekend and made for a very enjoyable activation.

Over the weekend we achieved a total of 206 contacts in 24 DXCCs – a fantastic result!  We contacted stations in England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland, Austria, Azores, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.   Best DX was CU7BC on Faial Island, in the Azores, at 1579 miles (2527 km).

Lots of operators were looking out for SOS Radio Week stations, and we had several pile-ups lasting 20-30 minutes each to contend with – a great learning experience for all our club operators!  As an indication of the level of interest, our QRZ.com page has had over 830 look-ups so far!

Many thanks to club members Chris G7LWV, Peter G4JHC, Martyn 2E0OGR, Edgar M7WEF and Ken G4DKH for their support in setting up and operating the station.  Thanks also to Tim and Linda from Solent Rescue for hosting us and providing much needed refreshments throughout the day.

A very enjoyable weekend raising awareness and supporting the work of the volunteers at Solent Rescue Independent Lifeboat Station.

On 17th & 18th May 2025, in support of SOS Radio Week 2025, Itchen Valley Amateur Radio Club will activate special event station GBØSR (Solent Rescue) on behalf of Solent Rescue from their lookout on the clifftop at Lepe Country Park, Hampshire.  Operation will be mainly SSB on the HF bands (40m / 20m / 15m / 10m).  

We are participating in SOS Radio Week 2025 in May to help promote & raise awareness of the work of the RNLI, NCI, Independent Lifeboat Stations and Coastal Rescue teams through amateur radio.  If you haven’t heard of SOS Radio Week, find out more at www.sosradioweek.org.uk  

​​Established in 1971, Solent Rescue is an independent rescue charity run entirely by volunteers, and funded by charitable donations.  Operating from their lookout station on the clifftop at Lepe Country Park, Solent Rescue works alongside the RNLI and NCI, and operates two inshore lifeboats providing a 24/7 response as an emergency service to HM Coastguard.   

To find out more about Solent Rescue, or to make a donation, click here

The station will run from approx 10am – 4pm each day, and we will be looking for operators for the HF station, plus help to set up the station (starting from 9am).  If you are able to help out please contact Ken G4DKH directly or via the club forum.

Unfortunately Steve 2E0DUJ is unable to give his talk on Setting Up a DMR Repeater at our meeting on 28th February, which will now be a normal Club meeting.

When we have agreed an alternative date with Steve we will communicate this via the Club Forum.

​** UPDATE **  Rescheduled for Friday 9th May  

Itchen Valley Amateur Radio Club has a long history of supporting Jamboree On The Air for local Scout groups, and this year was no different – except that we set up and operated stations for not one but two different Scout Groups!

On Friday 18th October, Ken G4DKH, Chris G7LWV, Martyn 2E0OGR and George M7FYO operated HF and VHF stations from the HQ of 12th Winchester Scout Group.  After a short introductory talk about amateur radio, the over 40 Cubs and Scouts visited the stations and spent some time listening to the contacts.  During the evening we contacted stations in all of the home countries (including the Channel Islands), as well as stations in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Slovenia, Norway and Denmark. We also contacted 4 other JOTA stations.  The Cubs and Scouts were each given an opportunity to pass a short message and practice their use of the phonetic alphabet over the air.  All in all, a very successful evening, and many thanks to all involved in organising, setting up and operating the station.  Judging from the interest and questions asked by the Scouts, there may well be a few more Foundation licencees in Winchester in the next few years!

Colin G4GBP also organised a very successful event over the whole weekend, running special event station GB1ESG for the 1st Eynsham Scout Group, near Oxford (see Colin’s separate report in the “Club” section on the forum).  Not only did Colin set up and operate the JOTA station, he also organised a series of communications related activities over the weekend, including laptops for JOTI (Jamboree Over The Internet), morse buzzer practice, a telephone switchboard with extension phones (one of which was an old-style rotary dial phone!), secret cypher coding and decoding, secret writing with invisible ink, cup-and-string phones, and designing QSL cards.  Over 70 youngsters (and their Leaders) thoroughly enjoyed the event, which was a great success.

There can’t be too many radio clubs in the country running separate JOTA activities for two different Scout Groups!  I’m sure that there will be plenty of interest next year, so keep the third weekend in October 2025 free and join in the fun!

IVARC's annual "QRP day" event was held at Roke Manor, near Romsey on 21st September 2024.  Initially there were some concerns due to the weather, with thunderstorms the previous night, however the day turned out to be fine with only a few spots of rain around midday.

The Roke site again proved to be an ideal venue for this event, set in a rural environment with plenty of space for multiple stations and different antenna configurations.

​Previous years have seen a variety of stations using different modes and bands, and this year was no exception.

Will 2E0HAI and Christian M0UOS were busy receiving WEFAX satellite images, including some amazing shots from NOAA-18

​Andy G4JNT took advantage of the Roke location to receive downlink signals from the geostationary QO-100 satellite - no doubt preparing for his imminent talk to the club on QO-100 this Friday!

Simon M0KFQ also used an end fed half wave antenna with his IC705 on HF SSB, whilst Ken G4DKH used a 44 foot doublet and FT817, mainly on 28MHz SSB (which was wide open on the day with strong signals heard from Australia, Indonesia, Africa and USA).

Unfortunately Alan G8IPQ, a keen participant at previous club QRP days, was unable to attend this year - however he did manage to join the event remotely via 28MHz SSB.  Hopefully Alan will be able to join us at next year's event!

National Field Day has been a highlight of the IVARC calendar for many years and 2024 was no exception. Using the Club's G6IVR/P callsign, 2024 turned out to be a bumper year, the club smashing it's previous record of 806 contacts in 24 hours with a new all time high of 897. Contacts were to 45 different countries mostly in ITU Region 1 but also included Japan, The Falklands, Zambia and Australia.
National Field Day is an annual radio contest held over the first weekend in June and coordinated across the national radio societies in International Telecoms Union Region 1. This includes all countries in Europe, the Middle East as far as Iraq, Russia and Mongolia. Teams set up portable stations in fields (no existing infrastructure is allowed to be used – stations must be completely self contained) with the objective of contacting as many other stations as possible in a specified 24 hour period. All contacts are made using Morse Code.
IVARC's field was kindly loaned by John G8FMQ. Situated on the edge of the New Forest at Canada Common near West Wellow in Hampshire it proved ideal: electrically quiet and most importantly big enough to accommodate the long dipole antenna required for topband.
The team operated in pairs, taking shifts and covering the full 24 hours; thanks to Chris G7LWV, Graham G3XSD, Ken G4DKH, Peter G4JHC, Richard G3OTK and Steve G8XEV. All the gear performed flawlessly, the weather was dry and sunny, there was an endless supply of bacon butties and tea and a great time was had by all!

​Ken G4DKH (L) and Graham G3XSD (R) at the operating table, Richard G3OTK in the background

Date for your diary - IVARC are planning a visit to Bletchley Park on Saturday 19th October 2024. 

Bletchley Park was the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War, in particular the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers.

The separate National Museum of Computing, which includes a working replica Bombe machine and a rebuilt Colossus computer, is also located on the site, as is the RSGB National Radio Centre.

Don’t forget that RSGB members can gain free admission to Bletchley Park by downloading a voucher from the RSGB website. The voucher also includes admission to the RSGB National Radio Centre.

To ensure we make the most of our visit, Steve G8XEV has very kindly volunteered to revisit his presentation “Enigma: The code and its cryptanalysis, a broad overview of the Allied effort to decipher ENIGMA traffic before and during WWII” for the club meeting before the Bletchley Park visit (11 October 2024)

Nearer the time we’ll be organising car-sharing for those wishing to attend the visit to Bletchley Park.

As part of SOS Radio Week, special event station GBØCLB was successfully activated by IVARC club members on 19 May 2024 from Calshot Lifeboat Station, on Calshot Spit overlooking Southampton Water.

SOS Radio Week is an annual event supporting the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), National Coastwatch Institution (NCI), Independent Lifeboat Stations and Coastal Rescue Teams through amateur radio, helping to raise awareness of the invaluable lifesaving work of the volunteer crews. This year, the event was named “SOS Radio Week 200”, as 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the RNLI.

Our special event station was set up just outside RNLI Calshot lifeboat station, using the club’s TS570S transceiver and a doublet antenna at around 8m. Operation was SSB on HF bands 40-10m.

Many thanks to club members Martyn 2E0OGR, Chris G7LWV, Steve G8XEV, Peter G4JHC, Edgar M7FEW and Ken G4DKH for their assistance setting up, manning the station. Our first contact was at 09:20, and we continued until about 15:00. The Calshot lifeboat crew had been called out to an incident at 05:30 in the morning, and as a result were stood down earlier than usual at about midday – at that point we moved on to battery power.

Although radio conditions weren't great due to the recent solar activity, this was more than compensated by the fine weather for most of the day.  In the end we managed 34 contacts, across 12 DXCC's, including the home nations and Italy, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Finland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria and Austria. Most of these were on 40m & 20m, with occasional forays on to 17m & 10m. Best DX heard was Indonesia (YB0IBM) on 10m, but unfortunately we just couldn't break through the mega pile-up. Appropriately our very last contact of the day was with OI1AY/MM, on a Finnish Navy ship in the North Atlantic off the coast of Portugal.

Despite only making 34 contacts, our QRZ.com page has had over 165 lookups so far! ​

Overall a very enjoyable special event, raising awareness of, and supporting the work of, the RNLI. Many thanks again to everyone from the club who participated.