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.

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 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.

Thank you to members that were able to offer support for this activity.  In the end due to changes in forecasts and weather the planned deployment did not take place. Members need to remain on standby as further activity is planned for the tides on Friday 13th Jan. Additional requests via email or text from Martin G4OKH.

The groups AGM took place on Sunday 6th November. There was a good turnout of members and the committee were re-elected en-bloc.

Items discussed included purchasing a trailer for transport of equipment, use of CTCSS tones, digital modes, mapping software and the unification of Raynet.

Thank you to all members that turned out to assist at this event.  We had a very large number of entries with over 200 riders taking part.

We ran a shortened mast with a 2m Slim Jim used to provide the coverage. This was fed from the trusted Kenwood 732 in dualband talk-through mode with 5W on both bands.

Unfortunately the weather got somewhat rainy a couple of times and I know several of the team got more than a little wet!

Thankfully no safety issues of note other than a missing rucksack and a bike that developed a puncture!

Thanks to all the team that made the long journey to the other side of Dereham for this event.  It was outside our normal operational area but supporting one of our West Norfolk ride organisers.

We had just 130 riders take part over two routes including some jumps.  One incident required St John Ambulance to attend.

Fortunately the area was easily cover on 5W 2m as the control location was nicely in the centre of the ride.

Thank you to all the members that came out to assist on this one. After a break of a couple of years it all became very familiar again. Good RF coverage from  a high spot in the middle of course meant for a smooth 2m net. Very few issues on the course for St John Ambulance as well which is always welcome.

Thanks to members that assisted on this one.  In the end just under 50 riders took part over some parts of West Norfolk that we have never operated in.

Horse boxes…horses…and Norfolk country side somewhere….

Homebrew 2m slim jim on a tripod… it works on 70cm as well!

We ran a slightly modified base arrangement into a shorter tripod mounted aerial.  This proved a wise move as the control location was predominately hard ground and concrete! 2m net of 10w proved more than adequate apart from one location.  However a change of location rectified that (we think shielding effect from damp trees).

Thank you to the members that were able to assist at this small horse ride. In the end 52 horses took part over the two main routes. Although some took shortcuts/wrong routes so several tracks were covered outside of the plan!

Because of the control location we were able to cover this well on a 5w 2m net.

The Raynet locations were both on rather fast roads and also one had an unfortunate number of flies present! Just some of the challenges faced.