WoSARS

The West of Scotland Amateur Radio Society is located in Glasgow and has a current membershp of around 40. Our membership comes from a wide range of backgrounds, ranging from teens to retired and from newcomers to the hobby to professional radio and electronic engineers. If you are interested in joining or visiting the club, or wish to find out more please feel free to come and visit us on either of our meeting nights, or get in touch via the contact page.

WoSARS activities are divided over three main locations – construction and licence training at the Electron Club, HF operation at the club radio staton and meetings at the Multicutural Centre.

Construction Projects and Licence Training at the Electron Club

We are not currently offering training for exams, please contact us if you would like to know when we are next doing this.

The SOLDER Group (Sessions of Learning and Development in Electronics and Radio) meets for amateur licence training and construction on Wednesdays from 5pm onwards at the Electron Club at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Sauchiehall St.  Courses cover electronic and radio theory, and practical electronics and radio operation. Teaching provided by the club’s RSGB- approved instructors is friendly and informal, and licence candidates can work at their own pace. The club also holds Licence exams, and to date in excess of 40 people have studied for and passed radio exams at WoSARS. Wednesday evening is also construction night, with equipment including multimeters, power supplies, oscilloscopes and an antenna analyser available for members to use. Recent construction night projects have included software-defined radio receivers, PCB fabrication, Morse practice oscillators, Arduino programming, an HF linear amplifier, PC repairs, Linux installation and vintage radio restoration. All levels of technical ability are welcome and experienced members are more than willing to assist newcomers.

Club Meetings at the Garnethill Multicultural Centre
The club’s main weekly meetings take place every friday at the Multicultural Community Centre, Rose St., Garnethill. Meetings begin at 7:30 for 8pm. The meeting usually centres around a radio-related video, or a talk by a club member or visiting speaker. Talk topics have included CTCSS board design, APRS, rig control and logging software, car electronics repair and troubleshooting, Mototrbo digital PMR radio, PC maintenance, microwave band operation and bench power supply construction. There is also a weekly radio and general knowledge quiz and a raffle. Club meetings are also very friendly sociable, and are a great opportunity to meet new people and enjoy the shared interest in amateur radio. Tea and biscuits are available. Members often retire to the Bon Accord for a post-meeting pint.

Club Radio Station
The WoSARS club radio shack is located on the outskirts of Glasgow, and is available for members to use. The shack is equipped with HF and 2 metre rigs, along with loop antennas for the lower HF bands and a yagi on a 40ft mast for 20/15/10m. Members who do not hold a licence can transmit from the station under supervision using the club callsigns GM4AGG and GM7WOS.

Projects Events and Contests
Club events in the past year have included the annual barbecue at the club station, a fascinating visit to the Museum of Communications, and our highly enoyable Christmas dinner. The club participates in a number of contests including CQ World Wide, RSGB CW National Field Day, and SSB Field Day. Each year the club takes a weekend trip to a different Scottish Island to activate it for Islands on the Air (IOTA). Recent destinations have included Eigg, Colonsay, Skye and South Uist. WoSARS also provided significant technical assistance for the University of Strathclyde’s Spacecraft Tracking and Command Station project.