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Icom UK to Attend Radio Society of Great Britain Centenary Day

Icom UK to Attend Radio Society of Great Britain Centenary Day 2013 marks the Centenary of the founding of the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), the national body representing Britain’s radio amateurs. To commemorate this momentous occasion, the Society is holding special celebrations/Centenary Day at the National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park on 5 July 2013. A representative of the Royal Family will meet with members and invited guests, including representatives from Icom UK, before unveiling a plaque to commemorate the Centenary.

A number of activities, talks and displays are planned in which RSGB Members and members of the public can take part during the day. The event at Bletchley Park will combine a celebration and recognition of the past together with a demonstration of current technology. For example

• There will be lectures that tell some of the important stories of the last 100 years and in particular, the hitherto unrecognised role that members of the RSGB played in the Second World War as Voluntary Interceptors.
• There will be a modern demonstration of how antennas work, recreating the work of Dud Chairman, G6CJ back in 1949
• 20 children from local schools will be building a PSK31 receiver and connecting it to a Raspberry Pi computer that they will programme.
• There will be the opportunity of trying Amateur Radio Direction Finding, a radio-related pursuit requiring guile and stamina.

Graham Coomber, G0NBI, General Manager of the Radio Society of Great Britain said, ‘There has been extensive praise for the Centre from visitors, both from the UK and across the world. We are delighted with its success as we mark our centenary. Visitor numbers continue to increase, and particularly pleasing is the fact that several young visitors to the NRC have been spurred on to become licenced as a direct result of their visit. They have proudly returned to tell us of their achievements and to operate the station in their own right. We are also very encouraged that schoolchildren now visit regularly as part of the Bletchley Park educational programme, thus firmly establishing the NRC as a cornerstone of the Society’s outreach programme.

Icom UK will be represented by Dave Stockley (Chairman) G4ELP, Don Turner G4TKR, John Turner G0KFO, and Chris Ridley G8GKC.

Dave Stockley said, ‘The Icom family offers its congratulations to the Radio Society of Great Britain reaching 100 years in representing the interests of the Amateur Radio Community in the Great Britain. This wonderful achievement would not have been reached without the outstanding commitment of so many volunteers who have worked tirelessly for the RSGB over the past 100 years’

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