West Manchester Radio Club has received an award, pictured, for the recent museums on the air field day that we all took part in. As per a previous post, I was the first on the radio working GB1TT as GB0PIT on 2m, and proud to be a part of this award along with our other operators for the club.
My own radio club, West Manchester Radio Club, has for the last 6 years operated their own 70cm Fusion digital repeater GB7WM.
Although not digitally equipped myself, I understand it is a popular repeater located in the north west of England. It is possible to connect to the repeater from (and to) further afield using Wires-X over the Internet.
Please visit the clubs website page for how to configure your radio to connect to the repeater and have fun.
This years summer Red Rose Rally will be on Sunday 16th August 2026 from 10am until 2pm at Mather Hall, Leigh, WN7 2PR. For more information on the Red Rose rally, please see the West Manchester Radio Clubs website.
Unfortunately, I will be travelling back from my summer holidays on Cornwall that day, so will sadly miss my own clubs summer rally.
Today I had a very enjoyable day with friends from the West Manchester Radio club at the Lancashire Mining Museum at the former Astley colliery which closed in 1970 celebrating museums on the air.
I am pictured making the first contact using special event call sign GB0PIT to another museum, the GB1TT “Turton Tower” museum, operated by Bolton Wireless Club.
With the sun out, and it being a baking hot day, I even managed a cream tea for my lunch, and an ice cream afterwards. Very enjoyable and reasonably priced too with a coffee included.
Here are some photos of the winding engines and other mining equipment including a rescue winder with an eight cylinder Gardener diesel engine, (I have never seen one before), and that largest winding engine left in existence that is still running…
Friends from West Manchester Radio Club all working as a team to make the event possible…
In previous years, as you all well know, I have been involved with the Scouts JOTA, however, I have never been involved in a MOTA (Museums On The Air). Given my late father’s background working for a company servicing mine equipment, it was about time I got involved with a coal pit museum.
MOTA, this year will be held on two weekends in June, the Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June, and also Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June 2026. Link to the RSGB website.
My own radio club, the West Manchester Radio Club, each year activate the Lancashire Mining Museum at the old Astley pit, just off the A580 East Lancashire road, and operating with the special event call sign GB0PIT.
As a club we have six members operating two radios, HF, and VHF/UHF. Radios and antennas yet to be decided.
Due to other family commitments, I can only get involved in one date, Saturday 20th June, which I am looking forward to next month.
As you know, I want to improve my Morse in order to be able to send and receive at initially 8 words per minute, and later 12 words per minute.
I have been studying the following lessons by Thomas K9KJ on You Tube, as I find that the learning speed is about what I require. Here is a link to his channel and first lesson…
I plan to do one lesson per week, so not to over tax my brain, and occasionally repeating a week. I will let you know how I get on.
Mark.
When I was learning to fly helicopters, as part of my ground schooling, I had to learn Morse code in order to identify navigational beacons. To be fair, at the time, I was more excited about the hands on flying than I was about the ground school of aviation law, flight planning, yawn, yawn, yawn. So, at the time, I only paid enough attention to Morse in order to identify the navigational beacons around where I was flying, usually in the North West of England, and scrape by in my ground schooling exams.
This was a big mistake on my part, as now many years later, I wish I had studied Morse in more depth, and kept it up because I feel lost when I tune into a station transmitting in the oldest digital mode of our hobby.
So, my New Years resolution for 2026, is to re-study Morse code, and to get to a level and be able to hold a QSO at approximately 8 words per minute (beginners level) by the end of the year.
I already have a Kent straight key, similar to this stock photo from the Internet, that I intended to use on my ICOM725, and now I have an ICOM726, it simply plugs in the rear.
I also have a universal straight Keyer kit, that I got in the raffle at the West Manchester Radio Clubs Christmas party, so in the New Year, I plan to assemble the kit as part of a Morse project. I think this was sourced by the club secretary Dennis Anderson, so a big thank you.
Anyway, it is New Years Eve, the whisky bottle needs opening, and I need to go and learn the alphabet.
Happy New Year everyone, and lets hope the bands are kind in 2026.
So, what have I been up to in November, well the only thing radio related was fabricating more super heavy duty drive on antenna mast bases for two friends who liked mine so much and wanted their own. The cost to them, at mates rates, was £25 each, which included all the materials, cutting, welding, spray painting and delivery to the club.
Both of these were the 16″ / 17″ wheel diameter, ie the box sections were cut at 300mm, 300mm, and 400mm for the upright. For cutting instructions to make your own, click here.
Here are some pictures…
It is interesting that FM was overlooked and the US military wanted to remain on the unreliable AM. In this YouTube video, it sets out the history of FM adoption by the US military during world war 2…
How One Radio Engineer’s ‘ILLEGAL’ Frequency Hack Gave Infantry 3-Mile Range
None of this is my work, it was a very entertaining and interesting piece of FM history by the WWII Rising Stories channel.
More information on Wikipedia…
I have wanted for a little while a heavy duty drive on mast base that could take the stresses of a large mast plus a large vertical antenna (or antennas) bolted to the top.
I ordered up a section of 50mm box section and 40mm angle iron, both 1m long and 3mm thick, all over engineered. I cut the angle iron into two 500mm lengths, and the box into two 250mm lengths and a single 500mm length.
Taking the two 500mm angle iron lengths and the two 250mm lengths, I arranged them into a square, and tacked them into place with the MIG welder. The internal measurements of the “square” needs to have between 225mm and 240mm between the angle iron sides for the wheel to be able to drive on and the weight of vehicle hold the base in position. My car (and van) needed 235mm. This fits very nicely with the 250mm box section sides. In double checking they were square and of the correct gap, I then welded them properly on both the top and bottom.
This left a single length of 500mm box section left over. This is to form the vertical receiver that the mast will slot into. This was then tack welded into position and checked that it was indeed 90 degree perpendicular to the “base square”. Then the joints were welded properly.
UPDATE EDIT: If you have a 16 inch or 17inch wheel, you may be better off cutting the “end plate box sections” to be 300mm each. This will of course reduce your upright by only 100mm to 400mm. A 500mm upright section may be too long for some people, so this alteration of measurements for a larger wheel may be for you and make the plate easier to stow when not in use.
Lastly a small hole was drilled by my bench pillar drill in order to allow any rain water that may run down the mast to escape.
The whole fabrication took a couple of hours, and spray painted in black Smoothrite paint.
To allow for unlevel ground, and to allow the mast to remain vertical, a test was set up on slightly sloping ground, and a simple solution of a screwdriver wedge allows some adjustment.
Interestingly, the base actually is sufficient to act as a wheel chock to my estate car. In testing, the car handbrake was released and the base held the car in position on this slight slope.
Here I have repurposed a child’s swing’s green legs to make a 40mm “sectional pipe” mast of 2mm walls. This extends about 3.75m above the car in 1m sectional lengths (the top section being shorter). Now to decide what antenna to fit to the top. I am thinking of one of those 80m to 6m multi band verticals that can be assembled in sections to go with this sectional portable mast.
