As mentioned elsewhere on the website the Bittern DX Group’s 2011 raffle draw raised £520 for the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind funds. On Saturday 19th November a party of BDXG members arrived at the Bradbury Activity Centre, Norwich for the official cheque presentation at 10.30 in the morning.

The group was greeted by the NNAB Chairman, Mr. John Child and over a coffee he gave them a brief talk about the charity’s work in general. He introduced the group to Dorothy Bowen, who told them about the work of “YoungEyes” which is a group for young vision-impaired friends aged from 0 to 16 years old and their families.

For Bittern DX Group members the ROTA weekend SES wasn’t just about the radio involved, as on the Sunday at midday it was our raffle draw! It was indeed the culmination of many months of hardwork for our raffle promoter, Ken M6KAH aided (slightly) by Keith GØGFQ have been chasing prizes etc. to raise funds for the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind. Over the past few months we’ve tried to sell tickets at all our SES’ throughout the season, plus most members have been badgering their friends and relations! It has been extremely difficult to drum up enthusiasm this year despite having

No, I haven’t gone mad (well not yet, anyway!) with my spelling of this article title as the group’s operating shack for the 2011 GB2NNR event was a Brake Van at North Norfolk Railway’s Holt Station. In fact it was inside a wonderfully restored M&GN (Midland & Great Northern) Brake Van originally built in 1881, stored currently on the track adjacent the museum so we really were a “Railways on the Air” station this time.

This is the third year we’ve participated in the ROTA event which takes place on the weekend closest the 27th September annually and is coordinated by the Bishop Auckland Amateur Radio Club. The date is significant as it celebrates the anniversary of the first steam powered passenger railway which took place on 27th September 1825.

Buoyant from our highest QSO score of 1,192 in 2010, Bittern DX Group members were optimistic of repeating if not improving the feat this time around in this year’s RSGB SSB Field Day contest. Team BDXG armed with a good mixture of experienced to novice contest operators descended upon the newly christened George Weston Community Field in Weybourne, early on the Saturday morning. We were joined by Neil G3RIR our latest recruit to our ranks, who certainly brings with him some vast experience and Jim 2EØHPJ out for his first taste of HF SSB Field Day contest. Other operators were Steve G7VRK, Linda GØAJJ and Ken M6KAH looked after by the back-up crew of Roy G1NGE, Alec G3YOA, Tim GØOOD and of course Peter M3YKX.

BDXG’s set-up this was vastly different year with a TH-7DX available for the HF bands and aided by the group’s latest acquisition of a mobile shack caravan. Although the conversion is still far from complete, the transformation from GB2BML is quite noticeable and the operators certainly felt the benefit in our open and sometimes extremely windy location. All the G6IPU/P antennas were soon erected and Team BDXG familiarised themselves again with WinTest, our chosen software this year and they were on the air well before the off.