Norfolk ARC Club of the Year 2016

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The RSGB Have announced their club of the year 2016 - and the winners are the Norfolk Amateur Radio Club.

The group have been rewarded for the groups work in promoting the hobby to their 100+ members and the wider community.

“We were very pleased to win the award, which recognises the massive amount of work that goes on within the club to promote the hobby and provide radio communications training.”
— Steve Nichols G0KYA, NARC’s Public Relation Officer

WWII Veteran Still Taps out Morse code

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Having learned morse code at the age of 20, Merle Taylor VE1VCI is still practicing Morse code from her station located Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Ms Taylor was part of the Allied war effort after joining the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Ms Taylor was tasked with teaching CW to Pilots.

“There were 59 airbases built across Canada to accommodate the boys from England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. It was that group of boys that I taught Morse code to.”

”It’s a signal that will get through because of the sharpness where a voice couldn’t. And the other thing is you could send a secret message.”
— Merle Taylor VE1VCI

Battleship Radio Exam Location

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The ARRL-affiliated Emergency Amateur Radio Club (EARC) in Honolulu held the first-ever Amateur Radio licensing classes and test session aboard the battleship USS Missouri, now a World War II memorial berthed in Pearl Harbor. The October 2016 test session culminated 5 weeks of classes and a tour of KH6BB, the ship’s club station. The club reported that eight applicants passed the Technician exam, and two of them went on to pass the General class test as well.

Applicants included a couple that lives aboard a sailing vessel and are part of the cruising community. They wanted to be able to stay in touch while under way. Four military personnel wanted to get ham tickets, “so they would be better at their jobs,” the club said. One military dependant always wanted to get licensed and “thought it would be fun,” according to the EARC. A teen who had worked on a project in Alaska involving satellites also was among the successful applicants. A team of four volunteer examiners from the EARC administered the tests.

The USS Missouri — also known as “Big Mo” or “Mighty Mo” — was the last battleship that the US commissioned, and it was where the Empire of Japan surrendered in September of 1945, ending World War II. After seeing service as recently as the early 1990s, the vessel was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association in 1998 and now is a museum ship. 


The battleship’s radio room now is home to KH6BB, operated by the Battleship Missouri Amateur Radio Club.