Alex Discovers Amateur Radio

9 Hi there - Amateur Radio offers lots of different activities. There are always lots of other contests, competitions, and activities to take part in. Many amateurs collect contacts for Islands on the Air - IOTA . Every year radio stations are set up in Mills all over the country for Mills on the Air weekend. Many amateurs with similar interests meet up regularly on the same frequency – called NETS . One of the most regular and biggest UK nets is the Barometric Net on 80m. There are also geographic nets such as the Euro Net . I enjo y ARDF – where you have to find a hidden transmitter (the fox). It’s a sort of radio orienteering when there are several hidden transmitters. There are prizes too! Hi Bill! So there are contests and competitions too? I’m working for a Worked All Britain Certificate. I’m also collecting call signs for a Summits on the Air Award – SOTA. Bill’s a member of the same radio club as my dad. There’s an amateur radio on the International Space Station? Yes! Radio Amateurs talk to th e International Space Station regularly – we also have lots of satellites in orbit. Wow! That’s cool! I want to be an astronaut like Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut. Helen used the Amateur Radio call sign GB1MIR whilst in space. I would also like to contact the International Space Station – it has an Amateur Radio Station on it. http://www.nationalradiocentre.co.uk/ardf/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3XeXt7F-UI