Radio Officers Amateur Radio Section
When the Radio Officers Association of Europe was formed in 1995 it soon became apparent that many of its members had obtained amateur licences at the same time as getting their professional qualification. In September 1996 membership had exceeded 100 of which 54 held amateur licences and QSO started to have a regular feature entitled "Amateur Corner".
Membership increased as did the number of radio amateurs and the amateur corner was expanded and the ROA "Amateur Section" was formed at the same time it was realised that Radio Officers Amateur Radio Station formed the acronym ROARS
ROARS has run a number of Radio Amateur special events as follows:-
October 1996 - To advertise the existence of ROA we activated GB0ROA and GB2ROA from Cornwall and Cheshire respectively. Each station made over 1,000 QSO's in two weeks with a resulting increase in ROA membership.
The first two weeks of April 1999 recognised the role of maritime radio stations world wide event. Amateur stations were opened on or near the sites of the "Area" stations that existed from 1946 to 1972 as well as the UK and European Coast Stations being back on air. Over 52,000 contacts were made and certificates were issued raising money for the RNLI and The Missions to Seafarers.
ROARS was approached by BT when it announced that Portishead Radio was closing down. Portishead was at one time the largest wireless station in the world and was well known to ships radio officers of all nationalities. We were asked to organise a cross band amateur/maritime event. On Saturday 29th April 2000 the Portishead Radio site at Highbridge, Burnham-on-Sea took a step back into the past. Morse keys operated as they did in the 1960's and 1970's, over 3,000 contacts were made in the 13 hours we were on air. The station left the airwaves on the following day but many felt that amateur radio had paid a fine tribute to the maritime radio service
ROARS continues to be active on the amateur bands and its members are proud to be in a position to help newcomers to the hobby of amateur radio. We feel that our professional knowledge can benefit all who are interested in wireless and radio.
ROARS NETS
CW net on Thursday evening at 1930 UK local time, 7018 KHz in summer and 3538 KHz in winter. During the autumn, it is advisable to listen to both frequencies 40m at first and then 80m to see which has the better conditions. There are one or two members on the continent that find 80m impossible and there will be an informal listen-out for ROA members on 10.119 MHz 1530z and 1630z on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
ROARS QSL CARDS
Any member requiring QSL cards then please contact the ROARS secretary Geoff Valentine. These are currently £10 per 100 cards plus postage. For overseas members, due to the prohibitive cost of postage there is a .pdf file of the actual card, which is available for home printing purposes.
QRZ Newsletter
QRZ is the newsletter of the ROARS and is published concurrently with QRZ and ROA Journal. It gives news about amateur radio affairs as they affect the former radio Officer. Articles about working QRP (low power), amateur direction finding and other interesting topics included.
ROARS Call sign and station MX0ROA & GB2LD
ROARS has its own club callsign of MX0ROA which has been registered since the new M call signs came into being on 1st January 2000.
ROARS runs the amateur station at the Lizard Marconi Station with the callsign GB2LD. This is very fitting as the Lizard station is the oldest surviving operational Marconi station in the world. Located in the original hut used for the Lizard Wireless Station it uses the callsign with the letters LD on the end - the original call letters of the station. These later became MLD and in 1909 GLD. The station closed its maritime service in 1913 and moved to St. Just near Lands End to become perhaps the most famous coast station in the world Lands End Radio GLD.
ROA members are welcome to visit the station and can try their hand on the morse key once again. Contacts have been made world wide from the Lizard Wireless web site and it is a great tourist attraction.
500KHZ Heritage Campaign.....
Radio Officers’ Association launches 500kHz campaign on centenary.
500kHz was officially recognised as the maritime calling and distress frequency by the International Wireless Telegraph Convention signed by 27 countries on November 3rd 1906. In some parts of the world it remains in use today as the calling and distress frequency using CW, despite the use of satellites for the GMDSS system.
It was also this conference that declared that SOS would be the international distress signal, although some Marconi operators continued to use CQD as well. SOS came into use on 1st July 1908 and was first recorded in use in 1909, this shows that the Titanic was not the first ship to send SOS in 1912 as is commonly reported.
The Radio Officers Association is using this centenary to officially launch its campaign to maintain 500kHz as a “heritage” frequency, to be operated as it has been for a hundred years and to recognise the fact that it has saved many thousand lives with the use of SOS.
They will be operating a special event station to mark the centenary on Friday November 3rd using the call sign GB500KCS from the Lizard site of an early Marconi Coast Station, this will operate mainly on CW as befits the frequency it honours. On Saturday 4th November GB500KCS will operate from the Poldhu Marconi Centre both CW and SSB.
Further details will shortly be available on www.roassn.org and details of frequencies and times of operation will be available later.
Breaking news : The Italians will be on air using IY1SP/500KCS on 2nd, 3rd and 4th November – more news later.
Report on 500KCS Event...
Over 1,000 contacts were made on the first day of the two-day celebration in
recognition of the centenary of the SOS internbational distress frequency. Former Merchant Navy Radio Officers', David Barlow and Geoff Valentine re-opened the former Lizard Wireless station for one day only, working in 6 hour shifts to keep a 24 hour non stop operation. Over 118 countries were worked during the operation, using CW only, in the same hut which Marconi utilised in 1901, the building having been renovated by the National Trust in 2001.
After a hectic time on the first day, a more leisurely pace was taken when the operation moved to the Poldhu Amatuer Radio Club the next day. The operation here was both CW and also SSB. This saw the gathering of no less than seven former Radio Officers, ten club members and also numerous members of the public.
Marconi's hut is to the left, the one on the right is the National Trust's Wardens residence, what a fantastic view!
Antenna in the foreground is an inverted 'V'
Another view of Marconi's hut
Lizard Lighthouse, the most southerly point in the United Kingdom, photograph shows Marconi's Lizard Station hut to the left.
Lloyd's signal station, before the advent of radio, messages were sent to vessels by the use of flags, whistles and lights.
Marconi's monument which can be found on the coastal path from the Poldhu Radio Amateur Club, and adjacent to the site from where the famous letter 'S' was transmitted across the Atlantic.
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Due to the success of the 500KCS 24 hour event, 'Maritime Radio Day' has been proposed for the 14th/15th April 2007 12z - 12z. This will be a CW only event. ROARS will be running a station from the Lizard with the call sign 'M0ROA'. To date there are nine countries involved in organising this event.