Joining a radio club

On joining a radio club

Why join a club?

Potential Clubs

There are a number of clubs local to me in the Bristol area and a few further afield that offer good online resources that I am considering.

Local Bristol clubs

There are two clubs in Bristol, imaginatively titled the North Bristol Amateur Radio Club NBARC and the South Bristol Amateur Radio Club SBARC. NBARC have a twice weekly net on local 70cm repeater (GB3BS) that I try to listen into and they seem a friendly bunch so I might give them a visit once lockdown eases and meetings are allowed again.

I did my Foundation Training with Chippenham and District Amateur Radio Club CDARC, and they offer a lot of online content and I could feasibly attend the odd meeting. It would be good to give something back in thanks for all the effort they put into the course, so I might join for a year and make a visit.

OARC - Online Amateur Radio Community

In the short term, I joined the OARC, which as its name suggests is a radio club but all conducted online, and with a great Discord server and other online resources. I've also started to learn Morse code with the club, and signed up for my Intermediate Course which should start in June / July time.

Next Steps

I've joined CDARC, if only just to give something back for the support getting my Foundation License. Only a tenner so its the least I could do.