By Dave Bloomfield G0KUC.

After I took over the duties as RAFARS callsign coordinator in August, I thought it might be a good idea to put one of the RAF calls on the air for September to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. I gave myself authority to use GX7RAF after informing the license holder. 1st September came round very quickly so I sat down with a cup of tea ready to go. Well did I get quite a shock? The band was full of GB and SP “RAF” callsigns. It appears that the Polish amateur community had the same idea and had organized a Polish Wings event also to remember the 85th anniversary. Needless to say, that every time I made contact with one of the event stations, I had half a dozen other stations call me. So, if you like to be busy on the air then I fully recommend it. I sent an email to one of the SP stations and was quite surprised when I got a reply from his son Jack M0JWT. He told me that the SES calls they were using reflected the Polish squadron numbers used during the Battle of Britain. 15 GB and 15 SP stations. He also told me that there were two Polish amateur Clubs here in the UK M0SQC and M0KKN. Both have pages on qrz.com. Also just call up any of the event calls i.e. GB300RAF on qrz.com and follow the links for more information. They are hoping to do it all again in five years’ time and wonder if we might like to join in?

I managed to receive the above award and I would like to thank all of the organizers and operators on a very good job. Well done.

I definitely spent too much time on the radio during the month and the call was definitely very popular. I finished up filling 119 log pages. The B o B stations were not the only ones I worked. I did also manage to work the Italian Navy and get their award. I worked all continents and also got FK8 and T30 in the log. Most of the contacts were on digital, due to the high noise levels I get here but I did manage a few ssb contacts after brushing the dust of the mic.

After a short rest I guess I would do it all again. Perhaps not for a whole month though!

I would like to remind all members that the unallocated RAFARS callsigns may be used by any full license holders who are current members. All you need to do is to contact me with the reason why you wish to use the call, the date, who is the responsible person (full license required) and where the call is to be used. I also require a copy of the logs after the event which will enable me to upload the them to eqsl.cc and qrz.com. It is my job to record this as it is a condition imposed by Ofcom so we have permission for the members to use our unallocated calls from various locations. I have also sent envelopes to the G3, G4, G6 and G7 RSGB sub bureau managers so any cards received will be sent to my qth. Outgoing cards will be the responsibility of the responsible person authorized to use the call but as the calls belong to RAFARS they should be accepted by the RSGB, but a covering note may be helpful, hi!