The history of Stockport Radio Society

Stockport Radio Society is one of the oldest radio societies in the UK, even older than the BBC.

Originally formed as Stockport Wireless Society by a group of local radio enthusiasts, we celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2020.

Over the years the society has been nomadic moving to various venues around the borough. However since 2009, Walthew House on Shaw Heath and close to the town centre has provided a permanent settled home offering a focal point for local radio enthusiasts to come together and share their experiences of the hobby and learn of new ones.

Walthew House, which is a local charity supporting those members of the community who have sight and hearing loss, serves as home to our many activities including regular meetings, successful training courses, and much more. We boast a fully equipped “shack” and accompanying antenna system which allows members the opportunity to operate from our HQ plus an audio visually equipped meeting room allowing presentations to take place using the latest video and sound technology.

Helping members to keep in touch are our social media channels plus Google Groups email mailing list. On air nets feature regularly in our calendar appearing on VHF, UHF and Six metres. Radio Sport, or contesting is a popular activity with success in a number of major national and international events.

Our recent success goes beyond contesting having won the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) regional club of the year (large clubs) trophy in 2015, 2016 and 2017.  We are also very proud to have secured third place in the national Club of the Year competition in 2017 which is a massive achievement for the society, and for Region 3 of the RSGB as a whole as neither has reached these dizzy heights before.

June 2020 saw the society clocking up 100 years, and whilst the effects of the pandemic meant celebrations were to be  muted the event was marked with a special callsign G8SRS/100 being activated by members from their own locations.

Intrigued so far? Well, thanks to our former Secretary building on the work of past Chairman Laurie Newman G4ZDO, our history has been documented in a fully illustrated book available from Mid 2021. Interested, if you would like a copy then please email info@g8srs.co.uk.

Leave a Reply