Welland Valley Amateur Radio Society "Lest we forget"
In 2016, one of our members G1FJH, decided to research one of his relatives
who had lost his life in the trenches of the First World War.
During his search, he turned up British Army Records including the
Regimental Dairy which detailed what happened on the day of the battle which
took his life. He also managed to obtain copies of the German Hospital
records of which gave details of his injuries and the eventual cause of death.
He was also able to locate the grave site at which he was buried. This prompted
a field trip to the Somme, France, to see for himself what the battlefield looks
like today.
In June 2017
G1FJH
gave a very moving talk to club members on what he had
discovered on his search, and with the help of a Power Point presentation
containing images from 1918 next to images taken recently, he managed to bring
the horrors of the Great War to life. He also put a number of items he had
discovered while walking the battlefield that had been brought to the surface by
recent ploughing. This is known as the iron harvest. Some of the tens of
thousands of used and live rounds, empty bullet cases, buckles, shrapnel and
shell parts that still litter the area 100 years after the final battle.
Following the talk members of the club decided to put on a series of special
event stations in 2018 to mark the end of the War to end all wars, and in
remembrance of the 18 million who lost their lives and the 24 million injured on
all sides. A total of 12 special call signs have been applied for and will be
put on air during the year.
GB1GW
JANUARY 2018
GB1FWW
FEBRUARY 2018
GB2GW
MARCH 2018
GB2FWW
APRIL 2018
GB4GW
MAY 2018
GB4FWW
JUNE 2018
GB5GW
JULY 2018
GB5FWW
AUGUST 2018
GB6GW SEPTEMBER 2018
GB6FWW
OCTOBER 2018
GB8GW
NOVEMBER 2018
GB0AD NOVEMBER
10/11 2018
A special QSL will be sent out for all contacts at the end of 2018, we will also
be confirming via LoTW and EQSL. Details can be found on QRZ.com, OQRS via Club
Log.
Four on line certificates will also be available for amateur stations who have
worked the required number of special event calls at the end of 2018. These will
also be available for SWL's who confirm receiving the required number of special
call signs.
BRONZ AWARD
WORKIN/HEARING 4 STATIONS
SILVER AWARD
WORKING/HEARING 6 STATIONS
GOLD AWARD
WORKING/HEARING 10 STATIONS
PLATINUM AWARD WORKING/HEARING 12 STATIONS
Up to 5 missing special calls can be substituted with WVAES members calls or the
WVARS club call sign, a list of these can be found bellow.
G0SFJ
G1FJH
G1IVF
G1IVG
G4XEX
G7CZZ
G7PZB
G8PAN
M3HZN
M3IAA
2E0WPT
M3MRA
M6IVZ
2E0XVX
G1ZHD
G8JFX
G4WVR
Members of the club also run a number of internet gateways. QSO's through the
gateways are also accepted for the awards.
Local
Internet Gateway's
MB7AMH HubNetUk 430.0625 NBFM 77Hz CTCSS
MB7AWB Echolink 430.0125 MHz 77Hz CTCSS
MB7IMH WinSystem 145.2875 MHz 103.5Hz CTCSS
Requests from amateurs and SWL's should be sent by email with the time, date,
band, call sign and name to appear on the certificate to
wvarsaward@gmail.com.
All details can be found on QRZ.com and on the WVARS web site
www.wvars.com
We hope to meet you all on air during 2018.