Radio Society of Great Britain

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First founded in 1913, the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) is the UK's recognised national society for amateur radio operators. The society's patron is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and it represents the interests of the UK’s 60,000 licensed radio amateurs. Long recognised as one of the leading amateur radio organisations in the world, the society is a member organization in the International Amateur Radio Union representing the UK. The society also acts as a medium for communication between the enthusiasts and the UK Government.


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[edit] Role of the RSGB

Acting as the organisational body for amateur radio enthusiasts to interact with the official UK Government body, OFCOM, for regulating radio usage. With them, the RSGB acts as a consultant to new procedures in many areas – from decisions on licensing and bandwidth controls through to the use of ADSL over Power Lines (which it is thought would cause large amounts of electromagnetic noise.

RSGB also acts as a parent organisation to many smaller groups and societies. Some of these societies unite local areas (such as repeater groups) or groups of individuals (such as Forces service groups, or old timer groups) or even people interested in a particular bandwidth (such as 2m groups).

The society also provides a monthly magazine called RadCom.

[edit] History of the RSGB

The RSGB made the first radio transmission across to the United States, but failed to have any receiving equipment. Many members were slightly annoyed by this fact and so formed other sections of the RSGB which were later absorbed into the RSGB itself.

During World War II the entire RSGB Council and many of its members were recruited into MI8, also known as the Radio Security Service. Its mission to was to intercept clandestine enemy transmissions. [1][2]

In 2006 the RSGB co-operated with Ofcom to revise the amateur radio licence. Changes included removing the annual licence fee and requirement to log all transmissions, permission to operate one's amateur radio station remotely, and increasing the spectrum available the lower classes of licenceee. See [[1]].

[edit] Future of the RSGB

The RSGB has to contend with declining popularity in Amateur Radio. This is partly accredited to the rise in interest in Computers and the Internet being accessible to all. Also, ever changing technology has caused knowledge that was once required for the use of a Radio not to be necessary, where new knowledge may be required to use the new technologies.

They also have competing demands from more and more non-amateur users of radio (for example mobile operators and wireless devices). Despite this they have been allocated generous amounts of bandwidth (both as primary and secondary usage) which they subdivide for their use. Over time, this changes.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Publications

[edit] Books

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
  • Brown, Chris (ed) (2001) Radio & Electronics Cookbook Radio Society of Great Britain. ISBN 0-7506-5214-4
  • Dennison, Mike and Lorek, Chris, eds. (2006). RSGB Radio Communication Handbook. 8th Edition. Radio Society of Great Britain. ISBN 0-905086-09-1.
  • Dodd, Peter (1996) Antenna Experimenter's Guide, The Radio Society of Great Britain. ISBN 1-872309-36-4
  • Fielding, John (2006) Power Supply Handbook Radio Society of Great Britain. ISBN 1-905086-21-0
  • Fielding, John (2006) Amateur Radio Astronomy Radio Society of Great Britain. ISBN 1-905086-16-4
  • Hawker, Pat (2002) Antenna Topics Radio Society of Great Britain. ISBN 1-872309-89-5
  • Poole, Ian (2004) Radio Propagation -- Principles & Practice Radio Society of Great Britain. ISBN 1-872309-97-6

[edit] Magazines

  • RadCom The official journal of the Radio Society of Great Britain.

[edit] References

Cited References
  1. ^ West, Nigel. GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War 1900-1986. ISBN 0-340-41197-X.
  2. ^ Radio Security Service. CLUTCH Club.


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