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On Sunday I went with Derek 2E0MIX to the NARSA radio rally at the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool. Olga came too to keep an eye on me and make sure I remembered to take my tablets on time. She also took the photos (which is why there isn’t a picture of her, oops!)

G4ILO and Derek 2E0MIX

 It was good to be able to do something I would normally have done in years gone by. I met friends and also people who only know me (and Olga!) from my blog, spotted my callsign badge and came up to say hello.

G4ILO and Hylton G6AVL

I didn’t go to the show with any specific goal, just to have a look round. The only thing that I would have liked to go home with was the magnificent Kenwood TS990S on the Waters and Stanton stand. It was in a plexiglass cage so I was unable to get “hands-on” or even get a decent photograph of it.

There seemed to be surprisingly little interest in this very expensive radio. I suppose most people looked at it, realised it was unattainable and moved on. I dropped a few hints to Olga that it would make a nice present for my 60th birthday in a few weeks time but she, ever practical, pointed out that it would be too big for my operating desk. Oh well, it was worth a try!

Waters and Stanton were also showing a number of Elecraft products, including the K3 and KX3. It was good to see these excellent radios on display at this show for the first time.

G4ILO and Jim G3ZPD on the Workington Radio Club stand

WOTA (Wainwrights on the Air) didn’t have its own stand but I was pleased to see that Workington Radio Club had a poster about WOTA on their stand.

Discussing WOTA

It was good to meet some of the people I had worked on activations and put a face to the call. Several people came up to thank me for starting WOTA, saying that it had given them a new interest or got them visiting parts of the Lake District they would never have gone to before. It isn’t often that you get a chance to change people’s lives but for some activators and chasers WOTA has done just that. (I suppose some of the credit should go to SOTA (Summits On The Air) for having the original idea.)

It was a good day out. Thanks to Derek for the ride.