Club news, broadcast nostalgia & radio chat
Once a month, a growing number of UK radio clubs swap the committee minutes for a tape-measure Yagi and a hidden transmitter. Here's what happens when a village hall night turns into a polite, high-vis treasure hunt — and why newcomers keep coming back.
Early-morning club nets are quietly becoming a fixture on UK bands, pulling in retired members, shift workers and anyone who likes their radio with a side of sunrise. We look at why the 6am net sticks, how it differs from the evening club night, and how to start one without treading on anyone else’s frequency.
A dormant radio club is rarely dead — it is usually just waiting for two people with a key, a kettle and a plan. We look at three UK societies that went quiet and then found their way back, and pull out the practical steps, pitfalls and small wins other clubs can copy.
One good mast, ten eager members and a booking sheet that has to survive everything from gale warnings to family Sundays. This is what shared aerial access really looks like at a UK radio club in 2026, and why the rota is as much about manners as it is about metres.
Every radio club has one member who stares at a blank spreadsheet and wonders how to fill fifty-two Thursday nights without repeating last year's hits. We talk to the programme secretaries quietly holding the calendar together — and find out why the best-laid plans often leave room for a spontaneous net.
Across the UK, clubrooms are setting aside one evening a month for shortwave listening rather than transmitting. Members bring portables, SDRs and logbooks, compare schedules and chase distant broadcasters over tea and biscuits.
Village halls are wonderful, but a growing number of UK radio clubs are taking their Sunday net onto footpaths, bridleways and the occasional muddy stile. Here’s how the club ramble net works, from route planning and 2-metre etiquette to the pub stop that turns a quick check-in into a proper day out.
Nobody claps when a 2m repeater stays on air for another year, and hardly anyone notices when it doesn't. We spoke to the volunteers who pay the site rent, hunt down the interference and drive ninety minutes to press a reset button — and asked the awkward question: is a club right to keep funding a machine that barely gets used?
AGM season can empty a clubroom faster than a power cut. But a well-run annual general meeting is not a bureaucratic ritual — it is the club's yearly health check, succession plan and excuse for a decent slice of cake. Here is how UK radio clubs are making theirs worth turning up for in 2026.
Every radio club has a last meeting eventually. The trick is not to let the door close on the gear, the paperwork and the knowledge at the same time. Here is a practical, unsentimental but hopeful guide to legacy planning for UK radio clubs in 2026.
Once tucked into shoeboxes and biscuit tins, QSL cards are being pinned, framed and curated again by UK radio clubs. We look at the practical side of preserving them, the stories behind favourite confirmations, and why a piece of cardboard still makes a clubroom feel alive in 2026.
Across the UK, radio clubs are turning spare handhelds, scanners and telescopic masts into lending libraries. Here’s how to run one without losing gear, goodwill or your insurance cover.
A village hall full of members and a streamed audience can share the same speaker, quiz or show-and-tell. Hybrid club nights are here—but only if someone remembers to unmute the room.
From spring table-top sales to summer field days, the 2026 rally season is a patchwork of village halls, rugby clubs and damp picnic tables. Here is how to enjoy it, host it and come home with something better than another box of mystery coax.
Planning quirks, neighbourly nerves and conservation-area rules are turning stealth aerials into a proper club skill. Here is how UK workshops are helping members stay on air without turning the garden into a battleground.
From the magic smoke to 'I'm only listening', British radio clubs have a language all of their own. This affectionate decoder explains what the phrases really mean — and why they are part of the social glue that keeps club nights going.
Village halls across the UK are filling up as radio clubs enjoy a revival, but packed rooms bring waiting lists, volunteer strain and wobbly tables. A practical look at how organisers are coping — and what secretaries can do before the chairs run out.
Every autumn, a few hundred UK hobbyists point their cars at the coast, string wire between fence posts and wait for darkness. We look at the practical realities of seaside listening — corroded connectors, seawater ground planes and the small club events that make a winter DX season worth the drive.
WhatsApp has eaten club conversation and left nothing behind. An argument for treating the monthly newsletter as a proper production — with a deadline, a running order, an audio edition and an archive that outlives the group chat.
As more local services drift away from medium wave, radio clubs are turning listening nights into proper archiving sessions. We look at how members are capturing jingles, travel bulletins and late-night dedications, and how you can help without filling your spare room with dusty cassettes.