The Bangor Rally

As the song says "didn't we have a loverly time the day we went to Bangor" Sunday 14th June and the troops assembled at the ferry terminal Stranraer to catch the 09:50 HSS ferry to Belfast. This is our annual pilgrimage to the Bangor Rally which is hosted by our Twin Club the Bangor and District Amateur Radio Society. This year the trip was just a bit more special due to Eric "I know everyone" GM4FSZ Sandilands. While we were having breakfast Eric asked one of the stewardess's who todays captain was, when she told him he asked her to tell him Eric Sandilands was on board.

Two minutes later the captain was stood at our table shaking hands with all assembled, it turns out Eric has known this chap since he was knee high to a grasshopper. Needless to say a trip to the bridge was arrranged for all the group. It got a bit scary when Carole and Helen were put in the driving seat but went well, we had super tour of the bridge and shown all the controls for the four engines as well as the navigation equipment, a very interesting half hour.

On arrival at Belfast we wer collected by the guys from the Bangor club and taxied out to the rally. We always enjoy this trip, it's a great oppertunity to meet up with old friends and buy a few bits and bobs........unfortunately no winning raffel tickets this year, better luck next time.

ARDF Presentation

Thursday 18th June was our monthly talk/presentation evening, this month we were given a very interesting presentation on ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction Finding)by Tom Mitchell GM0JHF, Tom is a keen ARDF enthusiast with lots of experience in building and operating the equipment. He brought along a selection of DF units and gave an in depth Power Point and DVD presentation.

Some club members showed a keen interest in the hobby and perhaps they may start an ARDF group within the club, others were more interested in getting some idea on how to DF the "Fox" in next months fox hunt which will be held on Thursday 23rd July.