Galashiels and District Amateur Radio Society (GDARS) GM4YEQ

Weekly Club Night

The Galashiels Radio Club meets every Wednesday night in the Focus Community Centre, Livingstone Place, Galashiels, and have a general chat about anything, and either a radio will be set up and played with to see what stations can be heard (and sometimes talked to), or someone will come in with a new/old/ebayed radio for us to take to bits and look inside, or we’ll set up the PC and play on it.

Annual Open Day

Every year we hold an Open Day, or Radio Rally, where we have traders from all over the UK, come and set up tables, selling all manner of things related to the hobby, such as radio equipment, antennas, computers and computer supplies, books, and some people come and set up a table just to sell the radio and electronic junk they’ve had lying around (usually since the last year’s Open Day!). We also hold a Bring ‘n Buy stall, where people can put their old equipment up for sale for other people to look at and buy. The beauty of it is that the buyer can meet and talk to the seller, ask questions about what he’s buying, and maybe even haggle with the price. There’s also a caterer on the day, selling hot drinks, hot bacon rolls and other hot/cold food to get us through the day. The Open Day is the club’s main source of income, with the traders’ tables, admission at the door, and Bring ‘n Buy stall commission. The club is non-profit with all income going towards club equipment and accommodation hire.

Days Out

Occasionally we all go out onto a hilltop somewhere and set up some radios and antennas and see what contacts we can make around the world, sometimes just a last-minute decision to go out on a sunny day, or other times it’s a pre-planned trip to take part in one of many contests that run through the year.