Last weeekend was the RSGB Convention this time at the new location at Horwood House near Milton Keynes which was a beautiful venue and closer to home then past conventions which was an added bonus, Dad (M3JFM), Janet (2E0LLM) and myself got to the venue Friday afternoon for around 4 oclock, checked in and found our rooms which took some walking.
Once we found them and unpacking suits and other bits, we headed back to the main meeting areas for a look around, coffee, tea & hot chocolate the time soon passed and it was soon time for the Friday buffet on a whole the dinner was fantastic although service was rather slow this was due to people taking too long to get there food from the serving area and the fact there was only one serving area, after the dinner we moved to the bar area to carry on chatting and a few drinks.
Saturday
Surprisingly the Jimmy’s (youngsters) were pretty knackered by midnight and went back to our rooms to get some much needed sleep before breakfast, which we all turned up for without hang overs rather impressive for us! might even be a first 😀 the day kicked off at 9:30 with the first lectures, In the morning I attended
- IOTA Update by Roger Balister, G3KMA followed by Kaglin Island, Alaska by Mike Crownover, AD5A.
- Line Islands (T32) by Derek Cox, G3KHZ.
Then decided to take some time out to rest due to health so a few of the Jimmys retreated to the Games Room which we had decided would be our base during the day before getting some lunch with Dad. Afternoon lectures soon started though with
- World Radiosport Team Championship by Dave Lawley G4BUO: Which was very interesting to learn about the station and the experiences Dave had while in Russia.
- Chesterfield Islands 2009 (TX3A) by Tomi Pekarik, HA7RY & Chris Hildebrand, HA5X/M0XXA.
- Blowing away the smoke and mirrors of antenna operation by Roy Lewallen, W7EL.
Then it was time to have some more social time, before getting ready for the DX Dinner on Saturday night which was excellent both food and company and as it was table service it was a lot quicker too. Then it was back to the bar for a few more drinks with the Jimmy’s which proved to be rather entertaining when Glyn (Santa) GW0ANA turned up to share his years of knowledge although at times we had no idea what he was on about!
We continued in-till the early hours of Sunday morning before I left some of the Jimmys and headed to bed to get some much needed rest before yet entertaining day!
Sunday
Before I knew it, it was the last day of the conference lectures started at 9am which I personally thought was a bit early by the time we had gotten up and had breakfast and needed to pack our bits up ready to be checked out of the rooms by 11am, so Dad and & Myself missed the first lecture of the day to get sorted out!
Once I did get ready for lectures I attended
- Clublog by Michael Wells, G7VJR & Alan Jubb, 5B4AHJ.
- HF Contest Awards by RSGB Contests Committee.
- Digital/D-Star by Darren, G7LWT and Gavin, M1BXF: Well you have to support a fellow Jimmy! even if it is just to haggle and wind things up 🙂
- Skimmer and RBN – more fun or the end of amateur radio? By Olof Lundberg, G0CKV.
At this point it was time for the Raffle, we had all complained when we bought the raffle tickets we never won anything, this weekend proved different though with Paul (M0TZO) and myself won a prize each and we got a suitable cheer from the Jimmys! Sadly non of us won the grand price of the IC7000 or the FT450 maybe next year? then suddenly the conference over we all said our good byes and returned home.
Notes
- You can find all my other photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/m3php/sets/72157625135428692/with/5069272906/
- We tweeted throughout the weekend using the hashtag #RSGBC http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23rsgbc might be worth a read
Thoughts?
- Good
- Confusing everyone else calling each other Jimmy
- Great weekend meeting the Jimmy’s & everyone else!
- Nice choice of lectures
- Good food at both the dinners & lunch you could easily have put some weight on!
- Being entertained by Santa.. (Actually maybe not “Good” but amusing!)
- Bad
- Chairs for the lectures were uncomfortable (Maybe I’m being picky)
- Bar wasn’t big enough and not enough seating!
- Bar was expensive unless you bought the RSGB £1 beer.
- Wifi was poor
- Everyone seemed to struggle to get mobile signal (Orange worked fine though!)
- 9am lectures on a Sunday..