Archive - June 2026

Well the week is finally here. The annual pilgrimage to the German town on the banks of Lake Constance. And for 1 week/weekend the town is full of radio amateurs all visiting from their home countries to attend Ham Radio 2026 – the 49th year of this event.

This will be my 5th visit, and each year it has been getting better and better. Meeting up with old and new friends, some I have maybe made contact with once on the air while others will be never made contact – but we all know each other from our common hobby. I am lucky in that I now work within the industry and will be spending one day on the Icom stand, talking to people who are maybe looking for a new transceiver, or are wanting some help with their current radio. I will also be on the IOTA stand as usual with my friends Charles (M0OXO) and Ady (G6AD), who are the best travel buddies – and friends – you could have.

My journey starts tomorrow (23rd June 2026) at 07:30 heading up to Staines to meet Charles & Ady by train. Leaving Herne Bay up to London Victoria, a connection from there to Clapham Junction, and change again for Staines. We will then spend the day at a spot we know watching the aircraft before settling in to our rooms at the Premier Inn on Bath Road, Hounslow for the night. A 2am alarm to get ready to leave and catch our 6am flight from Heathrow airport. We understand it is taking a little longer than usual to get through security and check in so we are giving ourselves a little extra time. Breakfast in the airport,  arrive in Zurich and catch the train to Romanshorn before getting on the ferry over the lake to have lunch in Friedrichshafen.

I will be posting updates throughout the week with photos to prove our antics. If you are going, then come and say hello, if not then make it a trip for the 50th Anniversary show next year.

When I was a youngster I used to build model kits, mostly aircraft or other Airfix kits. Painting was done with a brush and Humbrol paints, usually small tins, and they were not very good. This progressed on to the Tamiya Military Modelling kits as I went through senior school – we had an excellent modelling club. Then fast forward to early 20’s and I again started building models, this time of American and custom cars. There were lots of places where you could get “after market” detailing parts, or they could easily be bought from the USA – a modelling column in Classic American car magazine was the read of choice for the information on these items. 

Now we have the internet, and there is more than enough information out there on where to buy these kits and detailing – but not many places in the UK it seems. So I have decided that this winter I am again going to give it a go and start building some model kits on the dark winter nights. But wait! HOW MUCH for postage? I have been researching getting the detailing parts from the USA. The prices for the parts is what I would expect to pay, in fact they are similar to what we used to pay in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

So I put a small order together with a kit of an old Ford step side pick up (I have an idea for a small diorama), some engine detailing for a couple of kits, some interior detailing, and and a couple of US modelling magazines we can’t get here in the UK. Roughly around $100.00 for the lot. Through all the ordering and I was just about to press the payment button until I looked at the postage. $70.00 for a small box weighing around 3 to 5 kilogram.

All I can say is “Dick Turpin wore a mask!” And I think this was with the US postal service, not a courier.

And I know at this end I would have had import duty and tax to pay. What happened to the $30.00 postage? Yes prices of fuel and wages has gone up, but $30.00 would have got you a 10 to 20Kg package – and I am talking within the last 10 years this price. So what has happened? But why to more than double within 6 years is outrageous. 

So i am now waiting on a model of a VW T2 camper for another diorama I am going to build, and this one will have an amateur radio theme.

Well it’s been a while since I posted anything. I just got fed up of how people are operating in pile ups for DXpeditions, how people treat others with regards their confirmations through QSL managers and how they EXPECT things immediately before these expeditions are over. The internet is good, but social media is a hive of keyboard warriors and entitled idiots who think rules don’t apply to them. Rant over, on to the positive stuff.

After my last post it has been a busy time at work and going to the RSARS station – G2EC – at Blandford for CQ WPX SSB Contest, I decided to hang back from the hobby. Concentrating on the East Kent Radio Society (EKRS), especially in my roll as secretary, and sorting out some events for the club. But I’m now back with my head back in the right place, and enjoying radio again.

So what can you look forward to from me. It’s going to be some fun in June with my annual trip to Ham Radio Friedrichshafen on the horizon, the WRTC 2026 event is also happening in the UK at the start of July, sadly RIAT 2026 has been cancelled due to the situation in the Middle East, and RAF Fairford being fully operational. BUT RIAT 2027 is already promising to look like one of the best, especially as it has been announced as a NATO Tiger meeting – for those that are not airplane geeks like me it is where NATO allies all attend with aircraft painted in special liveries with a Tiger theme – so that will give some excellent photo opportunities. On the photography front I have bought myself a nice new Nikon Z6 III, and accompanying lenses, which is proving to be a lot more of a camera that is going to need time to learn to drive. I am happy with the images I have already taken,  but will be taking it to Friedrichshafen for a proper try out and learn how it all works.

As I mentioned late last year I gained my  US General amateur licence, call KM7DGK, well I am now booked on to take my Extra licence. I have been studying using the Ham Radio Prep course which I have found to be superb, so go and have a look and get your 3 licence levels taken.

With me working at Icom UK I have also been out visiting clubs and some rallies, the NARSA Blackpool was fun and my first time ever visiting that particular rally. I drove up from here in Herne Bay and picked up Ady – G6AD – who kept me sane and awake on half the drive. We also met up with some of the guys from Northern Ireland and had a fun evening on the Saturday night enjoying a meal and a few beers with them. Always good company and looking forward to something similar in FHN.

Earlier I mentioned attending the RSARS station, G2EC, at Blandford. This is turning into a twice yearly trip with CQ WW SSB and CQ WPX SSB contests. This last time we had a few new operators who it was good to meet and get to know. We ended up posting a club record score and coming #1 England in our category. Following the event we had a meeting on line and have set ourselves a new target to achieve in 2026 CQWW SSB. But I think in this one we may have a couple of the big guns competing in the same category, and I guess these guys will be watching us come up the ranks. Talking of ranks it was good to have a bed this time round, Richard the station manager at Blandford managed to book us in to the Officers mess as guests for the weekend. A good breakfast and sleep was the top of the order and definitely helped with keeping the guys on the ball for the contest. Final results are out on the CQ WPX website if you wish to see where you finished. 

EKRS have had some fun. We meet every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at Herne Windmill where we held a special event station, GB6HWM, for the Mills On The Air weekend (MOTA). It was a fun event with many members attending and getting on the air. Some went into the mill itself to see how it worked, there is a motor in there that when switched on it was S9 +30db of noise across the band – luckily it was only on for no more than 90 seconds at various times through the day so didn’t completely kill the band for us. Some members also attended an event held by the Dover Amateur Radio Club  for the Marconi day event. This was good fun over 2 sites, I was at the Maison Dieu station in the town centre, and others were at South Foreland Lighthouse. This is a gorgeous old building used as the town hall and for events. If you are ever in the area do visit this building, or come and say hello to us at EKRS – you will be made to feel welcome and get a free cup of tea or coffee.

So that’s about it. I will try and do a weekly blog going forward, and maybe a daily one at the events in June and July with a live post from them at some point.

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