CARS WWI Centenary Weekend

Over the last few days, the team from the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society has been hard at work with three days of activity in Chelmsford. On the 11th and 12th of September, the team was active at Sandford Mill Museum, moving to central Chelmsford’s Oaklands Museum on Saturday the 13th of September.

CARS team at Sandford Mill 12 Sept 2014
CARS team at Sandford Mill 12 Sept 2014

The three events were part of First World War centenary commemorations, highlighting the Essex Regiment and their dedication to their country from 1914.

CARS at Sandford Mill

The callsign in use for the two-day special event station at Sandford Mill Museum was GB100MWT, and on the first day, two HF stations were active.

John G1UZD and James 2E1GUA working GB100MWT
John G1UZD and James 2E1GUA working GB100MWT

Data at Sandford Mill

Charlie M0PZT working data at Sandford Mill
Charlie M0PZT working data at Sandford Mill

In addition to usual Sandford Mill modes: SSB voice and CW, Charlie M0PZT fired up some data – QSOs were made on 20m, 17m, 15m and 10m. Here’s a map showing the data QSOs

Data QSOs logged from Sandford Mill 12 Sept 2014
Data QSOs logged from Sandford Mill 12 Sept 2014

The QSO to T6T in Afghanistan was on 10m with 50w and made by sheer chance to test the auto-ATU’s tuning ability. A nice couple over to the USA on 17m and 20m/15m produced the usual central/eastern-European stations. PSK was running at 35w on the radio which sees about 25w of RF produced (keeping the ALC under control).

CARS at Oaklands Park

The final day of the three day events was at Oakland Museum, home to the CARS club nights. A single HF station as in operation, but with a lot of passing trade from the public, it was a good opportunity to talk to the public and hopefully stimulate some interest.

Oaklands Museum 13 Sept 2014
Oaklands Museum 13 Sept 2014
Promoting amateur radio at Oaklands Museum
Promoting amateur radio at Oaklands Museum

Highlight of Saturday’s event was a fascinating, and at times noisy, look at the Essex Regiment back in 1914, including a demonstration of uniforms and rifles.

Essex Regiment reenactment at Oaklands Museum
Essex Regiment reenactment at Oaklands Museum

Well done to CARS for being part of the World War I commemoration events in Chelmsford, and for putting on stations to highlight our hobby at the museum open days.

More Photos

Jim 2E0RMI pointing to his origins...
Jim 2E0RMI pointing to his origins…
John Yates operating GB100MWT at Sandford Mill
John Yates operating GB100MWT at Sandford Mill

Some pictures kindly supplied by Charlie M0PZT and James 2E1GUA

2 Comments

  1. dorothy 14 September 2014 Reply
    • Pete M0PSXAuthor 15 September 2014 Reply

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