From Morse to Micropython: RSGB Marks National Coding Week 2026

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Amateur radio and coding have always had more in common than people give them credit for — both are about learning a language, building something that works, and troubleshooting when it doesn't. This September, the RSGB is leaning into that overlap.

National Coding Week runs from 14th to 20th September 2026, and it's a great excuse for radio amateurs of every age and skill level to build a bit of confidence with digital skills and dip a toe into programming.

To mark the occasion, the RSGB Outreach Team has put together three coding activities designed specifically for National Coding Week. Whether you've never written a line of code in your life or you're already comfortable behind a keyboard, there should be something in there for you. The activities are available to all members now at http://www.rsgb.org/coding, and they'll also be shared directly with youth groups — a nice nod to getting the next generation of hams thinking about the software side of the hobby, not just the hardware.

Solder, Circuits, and a Radio to Take Home: RSGB's Build Your Own Radio Workshop Returns

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If you know a young person who's curious about how radio actually works — not just what it does, but what's inside it — the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park has an event worth putting in the diary.

The Centre is running another round of its popular Build Your Own Radio workshops on Thursday 27th August, with both morning and afternoon sessions on offer. They're aimed at 12 to 18 year olds looking to get a proper, hands-on introduction to amateur radio and electronics — the kind of thing that's a lot more memorable than reading about it in a textbook.

Funded by the Radio Communications Foundation, the workshop has participants build their own VHF FM broadcast receiver from scratch, which they then get to keep and take home. There's something satisfying about walking out with a working radio you built yourself — it tends to stick with people a lot longer than a passing interest.

Attendance costs £11 per session.

To find out more or secure a place, head to the 'What's On' menu at http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk.

25 Years On: K4A Takes to the Airwaves for "9/11 We Do Remember"

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25 Years On: K4A Takes to the Airwaves for "9/11 We Do Remember"

Some anniversaries you mark on a calendar. This one, amateur radio operators mark on the air.

For the sixth year running, the Alabama Contest Group is putting K4A — call sign shorthand for "K4 America" — on the air for the 9/11 We Do Remember special event station. It's a simple idea with a lot of weight behind it: volunteer operators taking shifts across the airwaves, working stations, and giving hams everywhere a chance to share where they were and what they remember.

Twenty-five years. It genuinely doesn't feel that long since the towers fell, the Pentagon was struck, and the passengers of Flight 93 fought back over a field in Pennsylvania to stop a fourth attack. For a lot of us it still plays back like yesterday's news. For anyone licensed since, it's history worth hearing directly from those who lived through it.

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