Nostalgia

 

As with all Societies we have collected a variety of material in media of all sorts over the years. This page attempts to provide a repository where members past, present and future can delve into the past and see what we got up to. Scroll down to enjoy.

Foundation of the Society

The Society was founded in 1948 by a group of local amateurs led by Stan Dutton. The video below was produced by Alan Warne G4EZO in 1988 to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Society. The video is important in that it captures a lot of information from members no longer with us and includes images and cine footage that are not in the Society's archives. The original production was in VHS so the video quality is not up to modern standards.

 

Newsletters of the past

The editions reproduced below date to between 1950 and 1984 therefore providing a unique record of the Society from its earliest days. Production techniques were primitive by today's standards and it is a testament to the enthusiasm and ingenuity of past Editors that they were produced at all. It is believed that other newsletters were published but not retained in the Societies Archives. Anyone who does have a copy of an old Newsletter is encouraged to contact the Hon Sec.

1950	May	July	August	October	December
1951	April	May	June	July/August	September	Oct/Nov
1952	January	February	July	December
1953	January	February	August
1954	February	March	September	October
1957	January
1959	March	November
1960	February
1969	February	July	August
1970	November
1972	January
1983	February	March	April	May/June	July/August	Sept/Oct	December
1984	Winter

 

The Vintage Wireless Collection of G3ETH.

Long time member John Goldberg, G3ETH, who died in 2012, made a video of his extensive Vintage Wireless collection in 1993. The video, produced by Dave, G6IFA has been cut into two parts available now for all to see. Part 2 is below - note low audio levels.

 

Inauguration of Basil O'Brien as RSGB President 1981

In 1981 The Society hosted the inauguration of Basil O'Brien G2AMV as RSGB President at the Queens Hotel in Chester. We provided 2m talk in facilities and played an important role in making Basil's big day a success. Archive footage of the event can be viewed below.

 

 

 

DXpeditions Past.

Members of the Chester & District Radio Society having been visiting far flung places to put our call signs (G3GIZ and G8GIZ) on the air from the early 1960's. Much of the photographic and video evidence of these trips has either been lost or suffers from the poor quality 8mm Cine film and VHS Video provided. The video below brings together extracts from some of the video taken and starts with a few photographic memories. It also emphasises the need for employing professional presenters.

 

 

Shetland Islands 1990 & 1992.

These trips were undertaken by Harry G3MCN, Dave G4JMF, Dave G6IFA and Paul G3TZO. This video combines footage shot on two trips to the Islands by Dave G6IFA. It's presented in its unedited form so apolgies for a few rough edges.

 

 

The Other Man's Shack (Vintage 1980)

A regular feature of Society Meetings over the years has been a video record of members being interviewed in their shacks. This edition from 1980 features a number of past and present members who were unwise enough to submit themselves and their shacks to the interrogator of the day. In this case it was the late Alan G4EZO. None of the callsigns and associated locations are now accurate after 52 years!

 

 

Japanese Morse by Norman Kendrick G3CSG

A favourite speaker who visited the club many times in the 1970's and 1980's was Norman Kendrick, G3CSG, from The Wirral Club. Norman had been posted to the Far East during WW2 and had a feast of stories recalling his time there. Notable among these were his reminiscences of monitoring Japanese military communications using CW. This two part recording in MP3 format recalls one such lecture given at the Chester YMCA on 20th January 1981. For those listening today you will appreciate that some of the material and comments made then would not be acceptable by today's standards of taste and decency. If you think you might be offended please don't listen. There is a short silence at the beginning of the audio in Part 2. The introduction to Part 1 is by the then Chairman Dave G4JMF.

Part 1 (47 mins running time)

Part 2 (40 mins running time - Note silent intro)

Photo Galleries

Over the years we have collected (and lost) many photographs of past events both large and small. The following collections have been donated by a number of members both past and present.

From Chris G8ICT

The selection of photos below have been provided by Chris G8ICT and date to the 1980's when the club used to meet at the Chester Rugby Union Football Club in Hare Lane, Vicars Cross, Chester. The Rugby Club was also used for summer Barbecues, NFD's and other portable operations. It was during this era we started our regular inter club quizzes with Wirral & Distric Amateur Radio Club.

During this period of the club we were a little more active than today and could be seen promoting the Society at Local Ralleys and embarking on great expeditions to the far North to activate the club callsign. Trips to Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides and even the Faroe Islands became regular occurences.

Click on each image to enlarge;

Dave G4JMF operating	Dennis G3EWZ at the helm!	Did we have fun...........	Barbecue at Rugby Club
Chester Quiz Team	WADARC Team	G3TPY on a "Fox Hunt"	NFD at Broxton
Vince NFD at Broxton	VHF NFD Rhosesmor	Post VHF NFD Rhosesmor	35th Anniversary Cake
En route to Stornoway	Club stand at Southport	Quiz team (G8ICT centre)	The team at Pontins
Ops from Upton School	G4JMF on the mike.	Alan G4EZO with Howell G3ATZ	Upton Scouts Geoff (now GW3ATZ)
G4EZO, G3FNV & G3ATZ cutting the cake in 1988	On the Mull of Kyntyre	Broxton NFD Field	Broxton NFD
Unknown Field Day venue, possibly Poulton Airfield.	A Chester Quiz team with unknown member, G4JMF & G4EZO	G8AWS, Alan, G8ICT, G3EWZ & G4UXD	Chester RUFC Carnival 1977. Note the KWM2A.

 

From Ray G1PRL

These photos provided by Ray some years ago were taken at the Chester Rugby Club almost certainly on the occasion of an HF National field Day sometime in the early to mid 1980's. It's interesting to note that during this time the club owned two 50ft Masts and had access to a portable lattice tower belonging to Harry G3MCN.

Tent erection	Mast erection	Peter G4YCA with Howell G3ATZ	G4EZO, G3ATZ and G3TZO (rear)
Dave G4JMF	Alan G4EZO	Dave G6IFA with Alan G4EZO	Paul G3TZO
Howell G3ATZ	G3TZO, G4YCA & G6IFA (seated)	Peter G4YCA	Harry G3MCN
Harry G3MCN & Dave G6IFA	Dennis G3EWZ	Dennis G3EWZ & Paul G3TZO	Peter G4YCA
Dave G4JMF	Big discussions	The Mess Tent	G4JMF, G3EWZ, G3TKD, G8AWS
G4UXD & Jean, G4YCA, G6IFA	All hands required.	Going up!	A Serious Antenna.
Anybody brought petrol?	Arthur G8AWS doing HF!	Many hands make light work	You beauty!

 

From Tony G3TRL

These Jamboree on the Air photos and press cuttings have been contributed by Tony G3TRL. Led by Arthur Brighton, the Chester Oldfield Scouts were active on JOTA from 1983 with regular participation in the early years by members of the C&DRS. Please note image sizes behind the thumbnails below vary considerably.

The first JOTA in 1983	On the air	Amateur TV courtesy G4EZO	The Tuck Shop!
2nd Jamboree in 1984	G4EZO in 1986	From 1994	In 2000
A visit from the Mayor 2003	Arthur explains all	2003 operations	Pat the Brownie looks on
Shack in 1983	Antennas in 1983	Antennas in 2000	Antennas in 2003

 

Press Cuttings

There will have been others but these press cuttings are the only ones to have survived for publication here so far. If you have more yourself please send them to our Webmaster. As with the photos above these clippings are of variable sizes. You may need to zoom in to read some of these articles even after double clicking to see the original image size.

 

RSGB "Bull" Front Cover 1966	Nov 1966 RSGB "Bull" article	Short Wave Magazine 1967	SWM Sept 1967 article
Short Wave Magazine Nov 1985	Short Wave Magazine Sept 1953	Ham Radio Today June 1987	Chester Courier 1967
Circa 1980's	Circa 1980's	Evening Leader Oct 1985	JOTA 1986
JOTA 1987	JOTA 1984 with G4YCA	G4EZO in 1984 JOTA	In the news!