MFARS Operating News

The Burghead Guides have asked the club for assistance for thinking day on the air on Sunday the 19th of February. We hope to start setting up around 9am at the Primary School and have been granted access to the school hall which should make operating condition significantly more warmer  than it was two years ago. We have a small team helping out on the 19th but would appreciate more help on the day from club members.  If you cant make it down please listen out for us on the GB3SS repeater, on 145.500Mhz and on the HF bands. We hope to be on the air as soon as we are ready to go.  Further Details at the February Club Night

Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival

Special Event Stations GB2SWF, GB4SWF, GB5SWF

MFARS are running three stations to help promote the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival covering the period of the Easter and May Day holiday weekends (including the Royal Wedding, so a good excuse to come out and play). The stations will be located at Craigellachie Distillery, Strathisla Distillery in Keith and Glenfarclas Distillery situated between Aberlour and Ballindalloch.

The operation of these stations is not automatic and we require helpers, mainly as operators but also to assist with set-up and take-down. Operating a Special Event station is a great challenge, it might be one of the few times (outside of contests) when you could experience a pile-up of global proportions and yet be completely in charge of how that pile-up is handled. You can decide whether to have a chat with every caller or to work contest-style to get through as many as possible. You can decide on which band to operate and what mode. With Special Event stations the operator is King! What might make all the difference is that there is a bottle of Malt up for grabs for the station anywhere in the World which makes the greatest number of Band/Station/Mode contacts with the SE stations during the event.

Each station will operate on 40m during the day and 80m during darkness hours plus any other bands that are open. You can also contact them via the repeater, GB3SS, if you find time to help.

If you would like to take part and operate, the stations can be available during the day, in the evenings, even through the night; surely you can find a few hours to help. Please contact Barry Horning GM4TOE who is helping coordinate rosters (the licensees have enough on their plates right now) and make this an event MFARS can be proud of.

See also STV article