200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar
Over the weekend of 21 – 23 October 2005, there will be many celebrations to mark the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. There will be a number of special amateur radio stations active as part of the celebrations.
Cray Valley Radio Society will be operating a world class amateur radio station from the prestigious National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, between 17 and 24 October 2005 as part of the celebrations. The special callsign GB200T has been agreed by Ofcom, which regulates amateur radio in Great Britain.
The radio station will give the local community the opportunity of being part of the 200th Anniversary celebrations. Entry to the National Maritime Museum is free, and the station will be operational from 10am until 5pm daily. Visitors will be able to pass a 'greetings message' to various countries around the world.
With the approval of the National Maritime Museum, GB200T will also be active outside of public opening hours so that as many radio amateurs around the world as possible have the opportunity of making a contact with the station. In total, GB200T will be on the air from 8am (0700z) until 10pm (2100z) daily. Outside of public opening hours, the GB200T team will operate 'DX-pedition' style.
HMS Victory. (Photograph courtesy of Trewellard Radio Group)
This site will be updated daily to provide up-to-date information about the event. An On-line log will be provided daily.
Members of Cray Valley Radio Society (CVRS) are no strangers to operating high profile amateur radio stations, having made 48,000 contacts in 2 months as M2000A from Ranger’s House, adjacent to the Prime Meridian of the World and within the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, in 2000. In 2002, they operated as GB50 from Windsor Castle to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, making 24,000 contacts in ten days of operation.
There are many diverse aspects to the hobby of amateur radio. In addition to the HF, VHF and UHF communications on display at GB200T, radio amateurs are actively involved in experimentation, from very low radio frequencies right up to microwaves also used by professionals in the telecommunications field. Amateurs world-wide actively aid their communities during emergencies by providing additional communications, including during the recent American hurricanes 'Katrina' and 'Rita'. Amateur radio was also used on board the International Space Station to communicate with schools, and some of the crew of the recent Discovery mission were radio amateurs. And, of course, there was a radio amateur on the recent Big Brother!
We all know that you can talk to people using mobile phones or computers, but the Cray Valley team promise something different – they can even talk to people in far off places using morse code or data modes, where messages are keyed in at the keyboard and use a computer’s sound card to modulate the transmitter.
As part of the celebrations, GB200T has also arranged to send and receive special messages to Gibraltar, New Zealand, and other locations connected with Nelson and the Royal Navy. The Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society is providing a static maritime display, and Icom UK are providing a hands-on display of the latest in maritime communications. The national radio society, the Radio Society of Great Britain, will also be providing literature about the fascinating hobby of amateur radio, and you will be able to find out more about how to become a radio amateur yourself.
We hope you enjoy exploring this site. If you can get to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich between 17 and 24 October, we look forward to seeing you. If you cannot visit us, please look for us on the amateur bands. We will be waiting for your call...