As mentioned in an earlier post I am now working at Icom UK, and one of my first duties 3 days after joining was to attend the annual Hamfest at Newark Showground. This is where dealers, parts suppliers, special interest groups (SIG) and manufacturers get together to display their wares and sell them. I have been to a few before but only as a visitor and someone looking to buy new or used equipment. It is also a place where you can meet old friends and make new ones who have the same interest as you. The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) are also there with their bookstall, and booths for the specialist departments. You can also meet the general manager, the president and most of the board members to ask them what ever you want about the hobby and what the RSGB do – they don’t only sell books and publish RadCom, in fact without them we would lose bands and privileges to others who are willing to pay for Spectrum space (but most don’t think to join as they think OFCOM will not take the frequencies away – get your head out of the sand as they will if you don’t support the RSGB going forward).
Myself and colleagues were on the Icom stand introducing the new Icom IC-7300 Mk II transceiver, along with all the Icom amateur equipment. We
had a steady stream of visitors on both days with a heck of a lot of interest in the new radio. This will be another great seller for Icom with it’s new features. It was good to see lots of old friends who came up and congratulated me on the new job, and it was good to see my old mate Andrew, M0ALA, that I haven’t seen for best part of 30 years. An excellent and fun weekend with new work colleagues allowing me to get to know them, and to have chance to officially meet the dealers.
Following the Hamfest and only about 3 weeks later was the RSGB convention at Kents Hill, Milton Keynes. This is where the RSGB organise talks on varying aspects of the hobby, special
interests, and a couple of groups hold their meetings. This year I have to say was one of the better ones I have attended for a number of years.
Again I was there in an official capacity to show the Icom range of transceivers with the New IC-7300 Mk II the centre of attention once more. It is also another place where I see old and new friends for a chat and a beer in the evenings – in fact I think I shook more hands than Donald Trump this weekend with the amount of people across the hobby congratulating me on the job. We have a sit down meal on the Friday evening, and an official dinner on the Saturday. I must also thank my colleague Chris Ridley for his company all weekend and allowing me the chance to catch a couple of the talks.
The weekends talks opened on the Saturday morning just after the official opening by the president and general manager of the RSGB – Bob Bebe GU4YOX and Steve Thomas M1ACB respectively. This was by Dr Lucie Green who had given the presentation to Hinckley ARES a few months before, an excellent presentation and I am looking forward to hearing more on this with possibly assisting with the amateur radio side of things. She is hoping to get a spaceship into orbit around the earth and moon to get images of the sun with a total eclipse to study the corona – see the video on the RSGBs YouTube channel. As I say another excellent weekend and a chance to catch up with old friends and new.
Icom also had donated a prize of an Icom IC-705 portable transceiver for the raffle that raises money for the RSGBs DX fund. This helps fund DXpeditions and supports young people in their endeavours to join the expeditions to remote places on earth. We also donated a couple of items to a radio club that supports Icom and use Icom equipment in their training and club station, an LC-192 rucksack and SM-50 microphone. Photos below of both items being handed to Bob Bebe (RSGB President) and The members of Norfolk ARC for the mic and rucksack.
