This was our fourth bank holiday weekend at Kew Bridge Steam Museum (www.kbsm.org)‘and we were once more supported by our RSGB Area Rep Alison G4ROG who acted as our ‘meet and greet’ and explained the role of the RSGB to the public.

Our Club HF station operated on 80m, 40m, and 20m and was kept busy on both days with radio enthusiasts from around the world calling in. The public were able to hear the two way conversations as we had a prominent position within the museum.

Our radio station comprised of our club radio an Icom Pro 3 with matching ATU and 400w amp, a G5RV which was fixed from the very top of the museum tower down to a old steam beam by the car park. Many stations were worked and we are looking forward to receiving their QSL cards which we will display at next years event (GB0KEW).

Our past events at Kew were organised by Mike Hearn (G1WIA) who sadly passed away last year however, the club was extremely pleased that club members Linda (2E0YVR) and Bob (2E0ZBW) took up the challenge in conjunction with the RSGB to demonstrate and explain to the Kew visitors about amateur radio.

We were pleased to incorporate the weekend with “Pumping Stations on the Air” and we hope that those stations also taking part enjoyed their weekend as much as we did.

The club would like to thank Jo Willis and the staff of Kew Bridge Steam Museum for the invitation to use the museum and we look forward to next years event which will be our 5th .. Do look at Kew Steam web page and see the world’s largest collection of steam pumping engines, many of which you can see working every weekend.

This is the 4th year & sadly for the club the 1st without Mike G1WIA at the helm.

The event will be open on Sunday 29th and Monday 30th at 11am until 5pm. The club will be operating on HF with CW and SSB using the callsign GB0KEW.

As in previous years the museum will be open and other events will be happening around Kew, although you know you’ll only be attending for the radio, but whilst there you can learn about Kew as well.

We look forward to seeing any visitors who wish to visit us on either of the two days.

Any WARG members wishing to visit the museum have been given a reduced club rate fee of just £6.00. The full rate for non-club members is £9.00.

Kew Bridge Steam Museum link

What a great weekend undertaking a special event station at Kew Steam Museum http://www.kbsm.org/ . We would like to say within our web page a ‘big thank you’ to the Kew Steam Museum for allowing us to take part (August Bank Holiday Weekend, (26th and 27th August) while Kew Bridge Steam Museum stepped back to the 1940’s and inviting us along for the journey. Throughout the weekend there was many different activities for all the visitors to take part in. We was able to explore all aspects of life on the home front, from make do and mend to how to make nutritious meals from the rations.

The Kew Steam Museum Café served a special menu which includes dishes from ration recipes and once you’ve tasted them, the man from the Ministry (of Food) will be there to show you how to make the rations stretch further, using vegetables from our Dig for Victory garden. As well as a food collection dustbin for pigs! (not Greyhounds)

Outside they had the Auxiliary Fire Service on standby in case incendiary bombs fall on the site and also explained how bomb disposal takes place.

The make do and mend ladies were on hand to show you how to make the clothes ration stretch by reusing old clothes, darning and patching, as well as how to support our soldiers by knitting for the forces. Having been to a number of radio rallies over the year’s maybe we should ask these ladies to attend Kempton!

For children visiting the open day there was the opportunities to dress up in 1940’s costume, to help the war effort may making your own recycled envelopes and to hunt the spy that has left a clue somewhere in the museum. You can also ‘dig for victory’ and be evacuated on our waterworks railway. The pumping station itself demonstrated the measures taken to ensure that water supplies get through despite the effects of air raids and shortages.

And for a special something extra on the Monday we was able to see the wartime dancing team the GI Jitterbugs will be doing demonstrations and have a go sessions. This I will not expand on but to report that quite a few of our club members who wish to remain nameless had a go!

We was also given a special Metropolitan Water board wartime pass and a limited edition Kew News giving you information about the timetable for the weekend and tips for the blackout as well as other wartime stories.

Our HF Station was located at the foot of the main water Tower next to the air raid balloon with our antennas supported by a rope. To attach the antennas it was necessary to climb 273 steps! up the tower. Our station consisted of an Icom and a Yaesu amp supplying 400w to mono band dipoles.

GB0KEW success was due to of the number of stations calling us therefore, helping to demonstrate our great hobby. However, for those who we did not manage to make contact with us we apologise but the demand for the call sign together with the considerable frequency background noise combined with a steam train whistle, air raids siren and the public asking questions it was a great effort for our operators to hear stations calling in. You will see from the photograhs that we did not want the station isolated from the public by headphones or barriers but wanted the public to be looking over our shoulders to see the the radio station in action.

So how many contacts did we manage between 10am and 5pm each day?

20M 16 – 40M 118 – 80M 15

CW 17 – SSB 131 – SSTV 1

Countries
CZECH REP. 1
DENMARK 1
ENGLAND 8
GERMANY 13
IRELAND 1
NETHERLANDS 6
NORTHERN IRELAND 6
NORWAY 1
SCOTLAND 1
SLOVENIA 1
SPAIN 1
SWEDEN 1
SWITZERLAND 2
WALES 2

We have over the years taken a number of photographs from our Church Tower and from the top of Kempton Race Course and placed on our web page but please do make a point of reviewing our photographs taken from the top of the Kew Steam Museum water Tower as they show West London on a sunny clear day. What a great view!

* Hubert HB9TXJ (QTH is Thoerishaus, near Berne) thank you for your email received while the station was ‘on the air’ and the recording of GB0KEW it was most appreciated.

This special event HF station at Kew Steam Museum was a huge success for the club and allowed amateur radio to be showed to the public at its best. It could be said that this event has been one of the finest we have undertaken for some considerable time because of Kew Steam Museum welcoming us and allowing the club the opportunity to demonstrate our hobby to the public.

Well done to Mike G1WIA in arranging the station facility and to all of those who participated with GB0KEW.

QSL cards will be produced for GB0KEW and sent via the RSGB.

M3ESQ:- Why can’t we invest in a 30 amp PSU???

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