Obviously one benefit you would get is being able to enter the contests!
But if that’s not justification enough, think of what they’ve being doing on our behalf in respect of the EMF regulations. That’s easily worth this year’s subscription I reckon.
Sorry for OT post; but I recently signed up for email updates from Ofcom, for reasons which now escape me…
However, a recent one referred to an application for a pair of 2MHz wide slices near our 70cm band.
The proposed charge was mentioned: “We are proposing that the annual fee be set at £396,000 per MHz, which is in line with what Business Radio users pay for a UK-wide licence in nearby bands”.
It reminded me how commercially valuable our bands are, and I’m not sure that we would be able to hang on to them without a national body to represent us.
Having said that, whether to join or not is a personal choice, as it should be.
Annoyingly I don’t have a response to those very good points other than “it will do it even if I’m not a member and people shouldn’t feel they have to be one”. Certainly as a union member at work I shouldn’t need to be given the argument presented, but apparently I did, and it’s fair enough.
Perhaps now I’m a bit more financially solvent these days I’ll think about it. But the bottom line is that some amateurs just aren’t as engaged in that side of things or interested in what it offers.
Budgeting how you spend your hard earned income is something personal. I’m just pointing out what many see as a perceived benefit of membership of a national society.
A for example being in the 31 years I’ve been licenced, UK amateurs have lost over 300MHz of allocations and there’s at least another 90MHz under real threat right now.
And don’t forget you will get the nice colourful magazine through your letterbox every month with the odd advert in it for some nice new radio gear 
@M0RPK I sent you a direct message.
@2M0IIG a signal report by ear is fine. If you don’t intend to submit a log, but just ‘give points away’ all you really need to log is your incremental serial number to avoid giving the same number to two people. FM is allowed but as Rick says, most of the activity is on SSB. You don’t have to be an RSGB member to enter the PW (Practical Wireless) contest (same 5W rules and exchange) so if you do work people you could always enter that one to swell the numbers of entries. Do do that wou will need to note all the details exchanged, including time of QSO in UTC.
@M0WIV @M0JLA For RSGB contests the rules say not to use 300 ±5KHz. Better to either search and pounce or just call CQ on a frequency away from 295-305. Do listen on several headings as a seemingly empty frequency could already be in use if beams are facing apart.
I have decided it is too hot to make this worthwhile and have removed my Alert. Hope the contesters and activators have a good day.
73,
Rod
It’s great to see lots of activity planned for tomorrow, and also everyone’s top tips for joining in with the contests, even if you don’t intend to submit a log.
Speaking as a contester, we really do appreciate all calls. I find UK VHF contests to be quite welcoming and relaxed affairs. Plenty of stations are willing to slow down and explain what’s happening to non-competitors, and often take the time to exchange pleasantries with others they know.
Just one point that I haven’t seen addressed upthread yet:
In UK-based contests on VHF the bands and above, my experience is that most stations give reports that reflect the actual strength of signal received, rather than giving everyone 59. Of course it’s fine for these to be approximate.
VHF contesters believe that they give accurate reports, particularly compared to HF contesters. Actually not true in my opinion. Many VHF contesters give the S number by repeating what their signal meter says (thankfully not including when it is “zero”) rather than the number that corresponds to the official definition/description of signal strength. As such, it could well be that a log containing only the blanket 59 / 599 reports, could actually be more accurate / correct than a typical VHF contester’s log!
In VHF contests, same as in SOTA and amateur radio generally, I stick with the G4SSH method of giving one of 33, 44, 55, 57, 59, 339, 449, 559, 579, 599 as appropriate. In HF contests, I follow the majority and issue 59 or 599. I well remember a former SOTA MT member, Les @G3VQO , who seemed to delight in keep ops on their toes by giving non-599 reports in major HF contests!
Hello
Well then, I hope to catch you some of you.
I am today on DM/BW-009… and also in 2m CW / SSB with my 2x3Elt and Transverter with 8 Watts.
73 Armin
5 SOTA QSO’s during contest all on 2m SSB
MW0RPK/P on GW/SW-041, MW0UCL/P on GW/SW-003, GW4IDF/P on GW/SW-020, G4TCU/P on G/CE-002, MW7SHZ/P on GW/NW-001
Plus GW4TQE/P on GWMW-013 much earlier in the day.
144MHz was absolutely flat this morning in JO50. No backpackers heard. ODX 308km. 
Hello
2m was actually not to bad… The beacon F5ZSF in IN88GS was loud and clear.
I had a nice 59/59 s2s with F4ILP/P on F/MC-001 (490km). He had only 3 watts.
But I didn’t hear anything from the backpackers either.
But it was a beautiful day with many great s2s. A nice surprise was the call from EA2IF/P on 10m - Guru was on EA2/NV-047. … and I got many HB9 - summits in my log.
And I had a nice conversation with an OM from the neighbourhood who I got excited about SOTA…he owns an IC 705
73 Armin
My ankle flared up so I decided to not go out and instead opted for a period of recovery leading up to an activation next weekend instead.
I did also fix a break in my Slim Jim and replaced some insulation tape with heat shrink and somehow in the process improved the SWR, so not a totally lost day. Hope everyone else enjoyed today.
I managed only one QSO. I could hear lots of activity but no one could hear me other than someone just a few miles away. So I turned to HF and immediately realised RF power was turned down to almost zero. Doh!
But the HF was more successful (after turning up the power ) with my first ever SOTA CW QSOs including a S2S to HB.
I’ll post a seperate thread on that activation but I also need to look again at my 2m Yagi. The SWR is too high and I need to support it on the pole at the balance point.
Hello John
It’s a pity that my complete didn’t work out.
I heard you today with strong qsb - it would have just worked. Unfortunately, you only heard fragments of my call… 18 Mhz was not the best for our distance.
73 Armin
I probably heard you but my brain couldn’t process it. 
I’ve got a recording of some of the activity today which I will post soon - you may hear yourself.
The conditions were strange, I was hearing clear signals then they vanished but it was a rewarding day. Sorry to have missed you. 
This was my first VHF backpackers contest so I couldn’t say if conditions were good, bad or normal. I was in it only for the pre-contest warm-up then the first 40 minutes or so and using the search and pounce method. I wasn’t expecting much with SSB QRP on VHF and was pleasantly surprised how good the reports were (5/3-5/9 both ways). All contesters, even several ~260km away, were clear as a bell with S0 noise on my FT817 on G/LD-050. I’m sure stations much further away would have been readable / workable had I stayed longer to find them.
My previous experience with 2m SSB is with verticals (e.g. J-pole) and I put yesterday’s results down to both stations using horizontal Yagis (albeit mine was only 3 elements). 5/2 stations often became 5/8 as they swung their Yagis round to face me.
A 3 Element Yagi is what I used first time round when I was on Gummer’s How and there was a lift on. That clearly made a massive difference. My second entry was more what I expected from Red Screes with the 4 Element Arrow Alaskan. 2m SSB can achieve some good distances. You’ll probably find the other end was using a more serious multi-element antenna.
I’ve been licenced 31 years next month and I’ve been VHF and up contesting for 30 of those years. I’ve been part of big setups and also done smaller Backpackers style contests. We don’t have enough members in the contest group to do VHF FD Open, just enough to do Open section in the single band contests. For VHF FD we’re in the Restricted section on 4m/6m, 2m and I don’t know whether the UHF boys are doing 70cms or 23cms this year. Small stations this time, single antenna, no more than 10m AGL, 100W max (40W for 4m ISTR) etc.
I would not say we are a big contest group but we do have a bash and we know we can’t win some contests being in GM and not down at Walton-on-naze etc. we still try to be competitive and more importantly a good quality signal with good operating habits.
What 30 years of doing this has taught me is that you cannot win by only working the big stations. In order to stand a chance we have to work every guy (or lady guys!) working from home with small stations. People genuinely backpacking with an 817 and a 3 ele beam, people who never use SSB but can hear us on the vertical. So from my view as someone who takes part contesting on a bigger scale, it’s vitally important that people like you Mark, Andy and others go out for a period when these contests are on and work the stations. Doesn’t matter if you only work a handful or so and don’t take it too seriously. You are providing the essential ingredient for contests and that is stations on the air.