About the club
Clubs of any kind can get a bit demanding, let’s face it and amateur radio clubs are no different. What with demands on your time, egos getting in the way and, of course, subscriptions, they can get a bit much. That’s why at Heckington and District Radio Group, we’re trying to do things a bit differently.
Firstly, there are no subscriptions. That’s right. Membership is completely free. Diddly squat. You’ve worked hard enough for your hard earned cash, without us trying to take some of it it away from you. If we need money, we’ll think of something!
Secondly, there are no radio snobs. Whether you’re a CB operator, a radio amateur, a PMR446 user or you’ve not used a radio yet, if you’re interested in radio communications, then you’re welcome at H&DRG.
In fact, so keen are we to include everyone that we’ve chosen PMR446 Channel 3 as our home channel. That means you can join in and join us on PMR, without any form of licence and with a radio that cost as little as £10 or £20. As far as we know that makes us pretty unique. Encouraging more people onto radio by keeping the group fully accessible to all is a cornerstone of what we’re trying to achieve at H&DRG.
We meet at 7pm on the last Wednesday of the month. During the colder months, we’re at the Pavilion, Heckington. It’s a great venue, with loads of free parking, a bar/cafe and lots of outdoor space. In the summer, we’re usually up at Haverholme Park Lake which is a lovely place to do radio.
We’ll also be organising more outside events around Heckington in 2025, to publicise the group and hopefully encourage more people onto the air and into our fantastic hobby.
RSGB Affiliation
While we may not be your run-of-the-mill radio group, we did decide to form a conventional committee, principally so that we could affiliate to the RSGB.
While you may or may not be a fan of the Radio Society of Great Britain, they are the representative body for amateur radio in the UK. For that reason, if you’re into radio, then it makes sense to support them.
We also now have a small but growing contesting group which takes part in the RSGB’s UK Accredited Clubs (UKAC) League.
Watch this space for further news and if you’d like to contest for H&DRG, please get in touch (an**@******************up.com).
Plus, of course, if we ever want to raise funds through grants, the local lottery and sponsorship, for example, then a bank account and a Committee with a treasurer is a must.
You can read our inaugural HRG Constitution here.
The Committee
In the Chair is Andy Mellett Brown, 2E0VPX. Andy was previously Vice Chair, Chair and Club President at Milton Keynes ARS, based at Bletchley Park. He was also a member of Spalding ARS and RAF Waddington ARC. Andy has been licensed since 2008.
Our Vice Chair is Jason Ross 2E0IZA. Jason was a keen CB operator back in the 1980s and rediscovered his love of radio in 2023. He self-taught the Foundation, with a little help from Andy and now has his Intermediate amateur radio licence.
Our Secretary is Carl Whitney, known to his friends as the ‘Firestarter’, due to his tendency to set radios and especially power leads ablaze. Carl also has fond memories of 1980s CB and has rediscovered a passion for radio communications with H&DRG. He is presently studying for his Foundation.
Our Treasurer is Gary Lloyd-Coxhead, M7LHE who took his Foundation having discovered amateur radio via H&DRG.
Our Committee Member, Andy Ashby 2E0YNT is a long time licensed radio amateur with heaps of experience across amateur, CB, PMR and digital radio. He joined the Committee in 2025.
Our final inaugural Committee Member is Gerry Jannetta, G4NYC, our most experienced radio amateur by far. What Gerry doesn’t know about radio is probably not worth knowing. His advice and willingness to directly assist his less experienced fellow members is already legendary.
Together, the 2025 Committee exists to take the group forward on it’s mission to make ‘Radio for all’.