About the club
Clubs of any kind can get a bit demanding, let’s face it and amateur radio clubs are no different. What with demands on your time, egos getting in the way and, of course, subscriptions, they can get a bit much. That’s why, at Heckington and District Radio Group, we’re trying to do it a bit differently.
Firstly, there are no subscriptions. That’s right. Membership is completely free. Diddly squat. You’ve worked hard enough for your hard earned cash, without us trying to take some of it it away from you. If we need money, we’ll think of something!
Secondly, there are no radio snobs. Whether you’re a CB operator, a radio amateur, a PMR446 user or you’ve not used a radio yet, if you’re interested in radio communications, then you’re welcome at H&DRG.
In fact, so keen are we to include everyone that we’ve chosen UKFM CB Channel 23 and PMR446 Channel 3 as our home channels, as well as 145.550MHz on 2m amateur radio for our Friday net. That means you can join in and join us on CB or PMR, without any form of licence and with a radio that cost as little as £10 or £20. As far as we know that makes us pretty unique as an amateur radio club. Encouraging more people onto radio by keeping the club fully accessible to all is a cornerstone of what we’re trying to achieve at H&DRG.
We now meet at 7pm on the last Wednesday of the month at the Pavilion, Heckington. It’s a great venue, with loads of free parking, a bar/cafe and lots of outdoor space so who knows what we’ll get up to come the summer months.
We’ll be organising some outside events around Heckington over the summer, to publicise the club and hopefully encourage more people onto the air and into the hobby.
Who knows what we might achieve and where we might pop up this coming summer!
RSGB Affiliation
While we may not be your run-of-the-mill radio club, we did decide to form a conventional committee, principally so that we could affiliate to the RSGB.
While you may or may not be a fan of the Radio Society of Great Britain, they are the representative body for amateur radio in the UK. For that reason, if you’re into radio, then it makes sense to support them, which H&DRG now does.
Besides, some of us (and one of us, in particular) is a keen contester and had a dream to put a Heckington Club in the UK Accredited Clubs League. That is now a looming reality as the club enters its first contests in early February.
Watch this space for further news and if you’d like to contest for H&DRG, please get in touch (andy@heckingtonradiogroup.com).
Plus, of course, if we ever want to raise funds through grants, the local lottery and sponsorship, for example, then a bank account and a Committee with a treasurer is a must.
You can read our inaugural HRG Constitution here.
The Committee
In the Chair is Andy Mellett Brown, 2E0VPX. Andy was previously Vice Chair, Chair and Club President at Milton Keynes ARS, based at Bletchley Park. He was also a member of Spalding ARS and is presently a member of RAF Waddington ARC. Andy has been licensed since 2008 and is presently studying for his full licence.
Vice Chair is Jason Ross M7FFP. Jason was a keen CB operator back in the 1980s and rediscovered his love of radio in 2023. He self-taught the Foundation, with a little help from Andy and has been licensed since just before Christmas. He is presently studying for the Intermediate.
Secretary is Carl Whitney, known to his friends as the ‘Firestarter’, due to his tendency to set radios and especially power leads ablaze. Carl also has fond memories of 1980s CB and has rediscovered a passion for radio communications with H&DRG. He is presently studying for his Foundation.
Treasurer is Sue Ross, Jason’s long suffering XYL (if we’re allowed to call our partners that nowadays, which we’re probably not!). Sue’s going to take some tempting to get on a radio but she’s agreed to be Treasurer. Nice one Sue!
Our final inaugural Committee Member is Gerry Jannetta, G4NYC, our most experienced radio amateur by far. What Gerry doesn’t know about radio is probably not worth knowing. His advice and willingness to directly assist his less experienced fellow members is already legendary. We really couldn’t have done it without Gerry. Thanks mate.