A Radio Club is like a Transmitter-
No Input > No Output
THE NORTHUMBRIA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB HISTORY. GX4AAX
By ‘Jacques G4DGQ’ one of the earlier members
The club met in the ground floor room of a house at the right of the passage, just behind the Lloyds Bank in nul Morpeth. I believe it was subleased to the club by the Railway model club, itself using the upstairs room.
Sometimes we got on the air on the club rig, and discovered that on certain frequencies, we set off the next- door Bank’s alarm. Finding at the end of the meeting, the place surrounded by police cars and policemen wondering why the Bank’s alarms had suddenly come to life…
Of course, we stopped transmitting immediately, but eventually they found out, and we were asked to leave the premises, as was the model railway club
Now a period of wandering started. We met first, in the bar of the Turk Hotel on the main street of Morpeth
I was then made the club’ treasurer’, and it was my duty to make sure we had the funds not only to pay for the small outlay of the club, but also to build a kitty just in case we needed it later. I was gratified, and honoured that a bunch of Englishmen, trusted an ex Frenchman with their money.
A new member from’ Whitley bay’ Al Osborne convinced us to meet at the ‘Fat Ox’ pub in ‘Holywell’ between ‘Earsdon’ and ‘Seaton Delavalod of sebebera After three or four meetings there, we found it inconvenient due to the long distance for some of us to travel. Bill Ricslton G4ADD had to travel from Longhorsley.
We then used a hut in ‘Cambois’ belonging to the British Legion, there again, there were no facilities for the ar members, apart having a chin wag
A handful of members operated mobile on 144 MHZ and there were not many activities otherwise.
From there, after a time, we met in the Veterans hut at Newbiggin by the Sea’. We started to look like a Traveller club, always on the move. We got very few new members, as nobody could find where we would meet the next week. There was discontent regarding the lack of facilities and not being sure of being accepted and be there very long. There was talk of the Veterans selling their hut to us. The general conditions of the hut were not favourable, and we agreed to abandon the idea.
About the same time the GPO built a new larger telephone exchange in’ Ellington’. We learnt through the grapevine, that the old exchange could be bought if we wanted it. We had also been looking at some, dilapidated premises isolated on the moors near Eshott.
It was decided that the members would purchase the Old Telephone Exchange on Cresswell road in Ellington outright from the GPO and this is what we did and we have been here ever since.
Jacques
De G4GDQ
Now sadly SK ( Silent Key ) .