Whitton Amateur Radio Group and ‘Pumping Stations on the Air’
(29th-30th August 2010)
This was our fourth bank holiday weekend at Kew Bridge Steam Museum (www.kbsm.org)‘and we were once more supported by our RSGB Area Rep Alison G4ROG who acted as our ‘meet and greet’ and explained the role of the RSGB to the public.
Our Club HF station operated on 80m, 40m, and 20m and was kept busy on both days with radio enthusiasts from around the world calling in. The public were able to hear the two way conversations as we had a prominent position within the museum.
Our radio station comprised of our club radio an Icom Pro 3 with matching ATU and 400w amp, a G5RV which was fixed from the very top of the museum tower down to a old steam beam by the car park. Many stations were worked and we are looking forward to receiving their QSL cards which we will display at next years event (GB0KEW).
Our past events at Kew were organised by Mike Hearn (G1WIA) who sadly passed away last year however, the club was extremely pleased that club members Linda (2E0YVR) and Bob (2E0ZBW) took up the challenge in conjunction with the RSGB to demonstrate and explain to the Kew visitors about amateur radio.
We were pleased to incorporate the weekend with “Pumping Stations on the Air” and we hope that those stations also taking part enjoyed their weekend as much as we did.
The club would like to thank Jo Willis and the staff of Kew Bridge Steam Museum for the invitation to use the museum and we look forward to next years event which will be our 5th .. Do look at Kew Steam web page and see the world’s largest collection of steam pumping engines, many of which you can see working every weekend.