BBRC’s 80th birthday special event station

Burnham Beeches Radio Club 80th Celebrations
in association with Burnham Beeches

Burnham Beeches Radio Club (BBRC) celebrated its 80th birthday in 2017. As part of the celebrations a special event station, callsign GB8OBB, was active on the weekend of 24/25 June. The station was put on in collaboration with the Corporation of London at the historic Burnham Beeches woodland, located approximately 25 miles West of Central London in South Buckinghamshire (nearest postcode SL2 3LB).

Burnham Beeches is a 374.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Farnham Common in Buckinghamshire. The southern half is owned by the Corporation of London and is open to the public. It is also a National Nature Reserve and a Special Area of Conservation.

BBRC ran the 48hr event in this public location with the aim of introducing as many people as possible to Amateur Radio. The event was timed to coincide with the ARRL field day contest so visitors could see and hear plenty of activity on the HF (short wave) bands.

Interactive activities for the public included morse decoding and exhibitions of amateur satellite communications and historical radio equipment.

BBRC provided a special QSL card at the event and publicity material as handouts. The QSL cards was also available to other Amateur Radio stations contacted during the weekend. The club had HF and VHF stations on the air, with the HF station participating in the HF field day contest.