Members of West Kent ARS and invited guests celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Society on Saturday the 19th of May. Among those attending was the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Cllr. Julia Soyke, who was a special guest at a gala dinner held at the Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the West Kent Amateur Radio Society.

In addition, Mr John Gould G3WKL who is a past President of the Radio Society of Great Britain RSGB, was also present and gave an address following that from the Mayor, recalling his earlier days as a young boy and having been a member of the Society back in the 60’s, he was able to recall many of the founding members.

From copies of the Wireless World magazine, the Society has discovered that a Tunbridge Wells and District Wireless Society was formed, under the leadership of Mr. H. Featherstone AMIEE on the 14th of April 1921, but this appeared to cease in the run up to WWII and the rescinding of amateur radio licences by the Post Office during the time of war.

The current Society was formed after the war in 1948, and a key figure who became President at the inaugural meeting and remained in that post for 21 years, was Mr Bert Allen MBE, G2UJ who lived in Tunbridge Wells.

Bert was a very active radio operator, designer and builder of radio equipment and wrote many technical articles for the RSGB magazine. Other founding members at that inaugural meeting in 1948, included Laurie King G4IB and Frank Barnard G4FB, both of whom were very active in directing the society’s activities in the early years.

West Kent ARS were invited to operate Mills-on-the-Air from Nutley Windmill on Ashdown Forest, over the weekend of the 12th/13th of May 2018.

HF operation with SSB and CW modes, was using an Icom 756 with a doublet that was mainly used on the lower bands due to propagation being poor on the higher HF bands. Operation on VHF was on FM and SSB, and used an Icom 746 with 50w to a 9 ele portable Yagi.

The stations attracted a number of on-air contacts as well as some visitors to the site, despite the appalling wet and windy weather for much of the time. 

The Radio and Electronics Fair opened at 10am as scheduled with a long queue of radio amateurs waiting to enter, and over the duration of the event several hundred visitors attended making it a success.

The traders were arranged over two halls, with the photo above showing some of the traders and visitors in the main hall area, though we could have done with more space to accommodate all of the traders that in the end wanted to attend.

Plans are being made to host the REF again near Tunbridge Wells next year, with the date and venue to be confirmed asap so that the event can be placed in your diary and for bookings to commence early in the New Year.

Feedback comments were received from many of those that attended, with the comments below being a small selection;

“thank you for a wonderful day today. Well organised, clean, bright and airy. A good mix of stalls and great catering.”

“A very nice, clean, bright and airy venue with masses of parking. Plenty of traders selling new and second hand gear. Reasonably price food and refreshments”

“Just a short note to say how much we enjoyed the Radio & Electronics Fair today….very well organised.”

“A good day out. If you can get the same mix and number of traders next year that could make this a “must go to” rally in the area.”

The organisers of the West Kent ARS are grateful to all of the traders and visitors that attended this Fair, and we hope that we will see even more attend the event in 2015.

If you have any questions or want to be kept informed of the plans for next years REF, email rally@wkars.org.uk

The West Kent ARS was judged winner of the 2012 Club-of-the-year award for Region 12.
 
As regional winner, the club was invited by the sponsor of the award – Waters & Stanton, to attend their open day on the 28th of July 13 to receive the winner trophy, a signed certificate and a bottle of champagne.

The club entry that was submitted recognised the increased level of club activities in 2012, comprising more active contesting, participation in JOTA and with special event station operation and the local training that commenced last year supported by a number of local amateurs.

Congratulations to all club members in winning this award through the increased level of activities, and we look forward to developing the club further to build on this recognition.

Further information and photos of the award presentation can be found in this YouTube video of the Waters and Stanton 2013 Open Day, courtesy of Essex Ham.