Wick High School Radio Club collects time zones

Wick High School Radio Club, which operates as GM0WHS, has started the new school term with great success. The group recently organised a “collecting time zones” event, that was inspired by a similar activity created by John Hislop, G7OHO.

Lucy, MM7FUV lead the radio club in making their QSOs, which took place over the course of a week in September. Students were active on the D-Star network Reflector 001C speaking to other operators from across the world including from Australia, America, Japan, South Korea, as well as the UK.

The activity aimed to promote the introduction of the Foundation licence course in the school, which is sounds like it has done with success. Loki, one of the club’s new operators has just joined 1st year at Wick High School and has already set his sights on joining the radio club. He said: “I am just amazed that I can talk to people all over the world. I can’t wait to get my Foundation licence”.

Chris Aitken, MM0WIC is the Computing Science teacher at the school and leader of GM0WHS. He aims to give students a wide range of experiences in amateur radio and believes the D-Star has been a great way to build students’ confidence talking on the mic whilst removing some of the challenges of operating in other modes.

Chris said: “I am so pleased with how well our collecting time zones event has been received. Having the radio set up in my teaching room has really piqued interest levels across the school, as the minimal setup using an IC-705 and Pi-Star has meant that more students have been asking questions and asking for demonstrations. The look on their face when they speak to other operators has been really heartening. I do hope this encourages more young people to have an interest in amateur radio”

Category: School Zone stories