MKARS News

S.O.T.A. Talk.

Tuesday 28th of January 2014.

A Presentation About S.O.T.A Activity.

By Bob - M3DPQ.

MKARS 2014 Rally

The MKARS Annual Radio Rally, Sunday, 24th August 2014 (Bank Holiday)

Longueville Hall
HammondPark
Whaddon Road
Newton Longville
Milton Keynes MK17 0AT

Following on from our success last year, this superb modern venue, just gets better! With Bletchley Park being close by, you could also combine a visit to our rally with BP and visit the National Radio Centre (NRC) as well.

Just look at some of the main features!!!

• FREE ON-SITE PARKING

• LARGE INDOOR SPACE

• DOGS ALLOWED

• INSIDE CATERING (with sensible prices!)

• PUBLIC BAR

• LARGE CAR BOOT AREA

• LARGE OUTDOOR TRADERS SPACE (over 3x acres)

• CLEAN/MODERN TOILET

• Gates Open At 10:00 AM

• Talk In Station
  

Please click on the 'Rally Info' icon on the left-hand side of this webpage for more information.

Paypal payments now live!

We are pleased to announce that we should now be able to take Paypal payments again.

Enter your name and call sign on the right hand side.

Apologies for any delay.

Farewell To Bletchley Park - GB2BP QSO Party

The Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society (MKARS), the resident radio club at Bletchley Park for nearly twenty years, will be leaving the Park as of the 1st January 2013. To mark this occasion MKARS will be holding a 'QSO party' on the weekend of the 15th-16th December.

All MKARS members and ex-members are invited to come and operate GB2BP from Generator House 2, our current premises at Bletchley Park, for the last time.
GB2BP and MKARS will in the future only be operational from Bletchley Park by invitation during 'radio related' events.

This is possibly your last chance to operate this charismatic call sign. Be a part of MKARS continuing proud history. If you do not normally attend MKARS events, this one is a 'MUST'. So put the Christmas shopping on the back burner and be there.
In the future you will be able to say 'I WAS THERE, my name is in the log'. Will has threatened to cook burgers and Dave is trying to obtain a 'Big Linear'.

Tea and coffee will be provided. Hopefully some beer as well.
The event will start early on Saturday morning, as soon as we can get on to The Park and finish when we have to leave, and the same again on Sunday.
We, MKARS, can walk out of Bletchley Park with our heads held high knowing that all those years ago, when Bletchley Park was on its knees, MKARS was one of the many local groups that helped make the Park into the great museum it is today. MKARS is a great club with a great future. Be a part of it!

We have not lost The Park, The Park have lost us.

Silent Key: Frank Collins (M0RPM)

It is with great sadness to announce the passing of Frank Collins M0RPM, our thoughts and condolences are with his family at this sad time.

Frank joined Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society over 10 years ago. From the start he was a very active member and stood as vice chairman and then chairman for a number of years. His fine qualities as a person made his roll as chairman hugely successful in keeping things running smoothly at a time that was not easy for the club with a degree of uncertainty as to accommodation in the green room at that time. Despite this uncertainty his diplomacy was key in achieving continued discussions with Bletchley Park management. His incredible determination resulted in obtaining planning and erection of the RKO tower and other antenna that still exists on B Block to this day. He also negotiated 2 bays in the Bletchley Park museum where the club shack once existed for a number of years. He even talked to royalty when the Duke of Kent visited GB2BP in June 2004, giving him a tour and explanation of the hobby. All this and more for the benefit of the club and its members.

Those who knew Frank will remember him as a true friend, always good for a joke and willing to help wherever he could. He always had a positive outlook on life even over the last few years when his health was in decline. Frank was a very keen and successful radio amateur fondly known as “the Lavendon Monitoring Station”. Many will know of GB4NGR special event station that Frank arranged every year at the Lavendon Narrow Gauge Railway which so many of us really enjoyed. He had another passion in motor racing and restoring cars hence his suffix in his call sign RPM. One of his final recent achievements, even though he was in poor health, was the restoration of a Fairthorp Zeta which he rebuilt from the remains of a totally burnt out car, again demonstrating the determination and drive of a very fine man.

The hobby has lost a fine radio amateur and we will miss Frank as a true friend indeed. Rest in peace Frank.

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