About IOAARC and Amateur Radio

Club History

Avalon ARC was was formed in early 2016 by a small group of dedicated local radio amateurs, with the intention of providing a common forum for all those in the Glastonbury, Street and Wells area with an active interest in radio communication (whether they are licensed amateurs or not). The club is a means of getting like-minded people together on a regular basis, sharing new ideas, getting used to new equipment, and generally learning more about our common interest in radio.

Affiliation

The club is currently organising with a view to seeking affiliation to the RSGB.

Club Meetings

We meet every Friday (take a look at the calendar for which days). at site 2 from 6pm, this is near the Sweet Acre garden centre. This is NOT the Scout Hut, please contact the Membership secretary if you need to know how to get there, or call us on 145.475 MHz if you are already licensed. If you have found the garden centre, look for the aerials as you go down the road towards the rugby club.

Please note that this location is not indoors, dress warmly and be prepared for rain!

We monitor 145.475 MHz around 18:00 in case anyone requires a talk-in.

Club nets

Chairman’s note September 2026

We are concentrating effort of fixing the shack roof collapse so there are no scheduled nets at the moment

ends

Groups

Within the Club a number of special interests are represented, including:

Short wave listening Contest operation, including SOTA Computer assisted radio and digital modes Long-range (‘DX’) high-frequency operations Portable / emergency / resilience systems

Events

The Club hopes to bring a demonstration exhibit to a number of public events such as fetes, steam-rallies, etc. during this year; details will be announced on the blog as these events are arranged.

About Amateur Radio

Amateur radio is as old as radio itself. Its name is misleading. Radio amateurs do not imitate professional practice as ‘fans’; rather, their methods, once sufficiently reliable, are commonly adopted by professionals. It is often said that the great Marconi, who developed and made commercially useable the scientific discoveries of Heinrich Hertz and others, was at the beginning of his career the first radio amateur.

The global status of amateur radio is reflected by its recognition and governance by the United Nations through its agency the International Telecommunications Union - Radiocommunication Sector ITU-R. Frequencies allocated to amateur radio by the ITU-R are not available for commercial use though some bands are shared between amateurs and other users, usually military. Member nations are expected to protect amateur radio allocations from interference and from commercial encroachment; in the UK this function is carried out by Ofcom.