Author: Kevin G1SCQ

Report from Group AGM Sun 29th Oct 2017

The groups AGM took place on 29th October 2017.  There was a good turnout of members. Re – election of the group officers took place and all were re-elected en-bloc.

Discussion took place about our website, use of digital modes, possibility of a standalone communication capability and recruitment .

Report from Sandringham Charity Horse Ride 08Oct2017

Thank you to the members that were able to assist at this ride. The weather proved favourable and there were a record number of 355 riders that took part.

The course route meant we managed to provide good coverage using a low antenna at the control and 5W of power on 144.650MHz. Apart from some power supply issues early on the event which were soon rectified,  no other issues were encountered.

 

Report from Wissey half marathon 3rd Sept 2017

The group provided safety radio cover at  this half-marathon for St John Ambulance. Runner numbers were high but all the runners were well prepared and no safety incidents required dealing with. Comms wise we provided a mobile cover on 144.650 for the bulk of the route back to the start/finish area.

Cliff G6CZS – Silent Key

It is with sadness that we have to report that Cliff Moore G6CZS passed away on Saturday 29th July 2017.

Cliff was well known in Raynet in Norfolk and Suffolk and was a regular supporter of both the larger events and also many of the smaller ones.  In the past he was a regular volunteer at Sandringham Flower Show with his late wife Ruth – often managing to get in the background of the TV & camera shots!

RIP Cliff and thank you for helping the community.

Report from EGB Horse Ride Ringstead 17/18 June 2017

Thank you to all the team that were available to assist with communications at this two day event.

It turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year so far with temperatures peaking in the PM at  over 30C in places.

Thankfully incidents were limited and mainly related to heat or riders getting misplaced.

RF wise we ran the usual frequency of 144.650MHZ using 5W and locally provided cover to all but one of the locations directly. We struggled at times on Saturday with another event taking place on the eastern side of Norfolk that were using the same frequency. There appeared to be one station that was either running sub-tones or had a very deaf receiver – as although they were a good  signal they did not hear our replies from the control location even after increasing our power levels briefly to 50W.

HF was attempted on Sunday but unfortunately either due to RF noise or location proved unusable.

Report from Samaritans Charity Cycle Ride 14 May 2017

Thanks to the members that were able to support this event.  We had a good turnout of riders considering the preceding weather (heavy rain).

We used the Red Barn watering point as the RF control for this event as this location could hear all the outstations -the event control at start always has difficulty into the hollows at Fring and Sedgeford. This worked well and critical messages were relayed as needed.

St John Ambulance had a couple of minor issues to deal with but overall no great problems.

Event Control – doing what we do best – setting up in the middle of a field!

Event Control

Report from Sandringham Charity Horse ride Sun 07 May 2017

Thank you to the members that were able to assist at this event. Even though the weather was somewhat cool in a brisk Northerly breeze around 250 riders took part over this popular multi-distance pleasure horse ride.

We had a revised course which was covered well from the control location in the middle of the route. We also had to amend control arrangements due to the setting up of a caravan rally in the adjoining field which added some challenges and the use of a compact antenna arrangement.

Report from Houghton Charity Horse Ride 23rd April 2017

Thank you to all the members that were able to assist at this event.  We ran a good net on 2m with coverage easily on 5W from the control location.

Just over 200 riders took part on a cool but at times sunny day.  A couple of riders decided to come off their horses but thankfully no major injuries.

Control station at the ride

Thanks re support for High Tides 12/13 Jan 2017

Thanks to all group members that were able or on standby, to assist with the operations relating to the recent high tides.

In the end the Environment Agencies forecasting bought the initial flood warnings down to flood alerts on both the Fri AM and Fri PM tides.  This did not trigger the planned precautionary evacuation in the Hunstanton, Heacham & Snettisham areas.

The forecasting was absolutely spot on for this part of our coast and although damaged in parts, the defences stopped serious flooding issues.  Further tides in this current series of tides are not expected to cause a problem.