Amateur Radio Society in Town on Lib Day

In previous years the radio society has operated a station from Castle Cornet and the Albert Pier and the last time, on the 70th anniversary of the Liberation, it contacted more than 3,000 radio stations around the world.

It confirmed the contacts using QSL cards – similar to postcards – sent to each individual radio station.

The society would like to operate again in 2020 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands and hopes to use the popular radio modes along with DATA and satellite communications.

Contact with the International Space Station may also be possible during the period of operation.

‘Two of our members are currently building a copy of the crystal sets used in Guernsey during the Occupation, as well as the sets used by the SOE during operations behind enemy lines,’ a spokesperson for the society said.

‘Amateur radio is a popular technical hobby that uses designated radio frequencies for non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training and emergency communications,’ he explained.

‘As a radio amateur you are able to transmit radio signals on a number of frequency bands allocated specifically to the radio amateurs.’

Radio amateurs make use of their frequencies in a number of ways:

• Contacting people all over the world by radio, which often leads to developing international friendships

• Competing in international competitions to test how effective equipment is and how good a person is as an operator

• Technical experimentation — many of the leaps forward in radio technology have been initiated by radio amateurs

• Communication through amateur space satellites or with the International Space Station (which carries an amateur radio station)

• Providing communications at times of emergencies and undertaking exercises to ensure people keep the capability to do so.

For more information and updates about Liberation Day follow the Facebook page Liberation Day Guernsey.