https://rsgb.org/main/activity/transatlantic-tests/tct/
Any interest from the UK HF SOTA Community? All bands and modes permitted 160 thru 10.
Rules and arrangements:
https://rsgb.org/main/activity/transatlantic-tests/tct/activators/
73 Phil G4OBK
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Hi Phil, yes I have emailed them, but I think they are struggling to get Co-ordinators involved?
Too much for me to co-ordinate, but would love to do some Calls with G5AT?
plenty of time to get organised though
Tony
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I did think about it Phil, but then forgot. Thanks for the reminder.
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Hi Guys
I have confirmed with Nick, G4FAL this evening at the dinner here, that the transatlantic celebration callsigns can be used from any portable location in England / UK (with appropriate prefix) and WITHOUT the /P suffix. He told me that 60m operation is not permitted due to the limited international allocation allowed for UK stations.
I have agreed to sign up for one of the calls during the ARRL 160m CW contest Dec 2nd-4th when I will do a few hours from my home QTH leading up to sunrise and a little beyond.
I suggest if you have any problem raising a specific callsign coordinator that you contact Nick G4FAL who will be keen to help.
73 de Phil G4OBK
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All booked in I am operating G5AT from Home on 40m and 20m between 1200 and 1800 UTC. 1st 8th 15th 22nd and 29th December .
Hoping to chase some SOTA Activity with it and give a unique call to the activators!
Would also be great to get some Activators using these calls from the summits, so I can get a QSL Card 
Tony
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That would be my plan Tony. However, because of the weather in December it’s difficult to plan anything too far in advance. On looking at the spreadsheet for the Scottish callsign GM3DR, I noticed that it is practically unpopulated, so hopefully plenty of opportunity to plan something in closer to the time.
Hi Fraser, Yes they seem to be having trouble getting people volunteer for a lot of the sessions, That’s why I added to Phil’s Post, to try and help. I really enjoyed doing the GB22GE special call earlier this year, especially as its a challenge for me to concentrate for a few hours doing the same thing. I suppose for operators like me who are mainly “Housebound”, it gives me something different to do, to take away the stress of not being able to get out and about as I would like??
Plus, these calls are celebrating the very roots of our hobby, so worth a go in my opinion, paying homage to the experimenters from the early days??
Sorry for waffling, so will hope more people sign up??
Cheers Tony
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Maybe restricting it to RSGB members only is part of the problem.
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Hi Andy,
Yes certainly could be? I don’t know why that is, but its similar to being able to use your club call (you need to be a member of the club, to use it?? I Think?
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You have to be a member of the RSGB contest club which is only open to RSGB members. It’s a licensing requirement. It’s only October so getting people to sign up for December now is perhaps asking a bit much.
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I find the distribution of available callsigns rather odd - everywhere other than “G” is restricted to 5WS whereas calls that were originally elsewhere in the UK are all allocated just to “G”
It’s because there are far more amateurs in England than in the other nations and CDs so they thought this was the best way to divide it up.
Yes, I do know that only club members can use club licences, I have 2 club callsigns in my name already.
I remember my club took part in the RSGB centenary celebration by operating GB100RS (call?) for 2 or 3 days. ISTR there was quite a lot of demand for that at the time. I wonder if they have reactived more calls and split the day into many bands/slots as they didn’t have enough last slots with GB100RS last time.
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Really? I’ve not read my license conditions recently and with that in mind. It’s hard to imagine Ofcom imposing such a restriction.
Sounds to me like it’s the RSGB imposing that restriction and for the same reason RSGB contests are restricted to RSGB members, i.e. they need ways to attract and retain members.
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To use a club licence you have to be a member of the club. Simple and being a member of the club satisfies the licence conditions. The membership requirements are the prerogative of the people running the club. It’s the RSGB’s club… so they make the rules on membership.
Actually the bumf implies the Tests are open to affiliated societies and clubs as well as members. That would allow members of the affiliated clubs but not members of the RSGB to take part.
But the important fact is it’s the RSGB’s game so it’s their rules. Don’t like it, join the RSGB, get on their committees and change the rules from the inside.
Yes, no disagreement with the RSGB setting their rules regarding their contests and use of callsigns assigned to them. Same for individual clubs. I was querying the phase “It’s a licensing requirement”. As I said, I don’t think [re-reading my Ofcom license conditions] that it is a licence requirement rather it’s a club/RSGB one. As always, I stand ready to be corrected.
P.S. I am a RSGB member.
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Is it a requirement of the licence issued to the RSGB by OFCOM (for these special callsigns)?
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These are reissued RSGB callsigns Barry - G6XX has been used by RSGB Contest Club members already.
From the G6XX QRZ.COM page:
In anticipation of this centenary celebration, with the assistance of Ofcom (the UK licensing authority), the RSGB have renewed five call signs which they held in the 1920s:
G5WS, used for the 1922 tests – “the first to get across”
G5AT, used for the 1923 tests
G6XX, used for the 1923 tests
G6ZZ, used for the first amateur tests on a moving railway train in 1924
G3DR, Scottish Highlands Call – GM3DR.
These historic call signs are being activated by RSGB members and Clubs, using G5WS, G5AT, G6XX, G6ZZ and G3DR (England), GM5WS (Scotland), GW5WS (Wales), GU5WS (Guernsey), GD5WS (Isle of Man), GJ5WS (Jersey) and GI5WS (Northern Ireland).
I am going to bag one of the historic callsigns for old times sake and use it in the Stew Perry 160m CW Contest over Sat December 17 - 1500z to Sun 18 December 1500z (14 hours operation allowed).
73 Phil
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The RSGB put it in the effort needed to get the calls reactivated as club calls with Ofcom. It seems reasonable to me for the RSGB to require you are a member of the RSGB to benefit from their efforts. They could have let anyone join their contest club without being an RSGB member but then people who don’t subscribe to the RSGB get to benefit for free.
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G5AT booked by me for the Stew Perry 160m CW Contest 17/18th December 2022.
73 Phil G4OBK
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