MMØKBT
Co-ordinates: 54o 51' 13" N, 4o 0' 18" W. Locator: IO74xu
NGR: NX713528 WAB: NX75
Dumfries & Galloway
RAYNET
I have been a member of Dumfries & Galloway Raynet since December 2001. My first exercise was the Galloway Hills Car Rally which covers a large area of Galloway with 5 special stages through forest land. The Rally HQ is based in Castle Douglas and Raynet have to provide comms from Start, finish and 4mile intervals of each stage. When you see the geographic layout of the event, this is no mean feat. Being new to amateur radio and Raynet at that time I just arrived at my location and past numbers, not thinking about the logistics. It's a different story now as I was elected Deputy Controller at the 2004 AGM.
I do enjoy the task of checking out sites for talk through repeaters which are necessary for a lot of events in our area. The above picture was taken during the Galloway Hills car rally 2005. We couldn't take any in 2006 as we where to busy making sure it didn't blow over with the strongest gales hitting the area for some time. Trees where falling in many stages and the comms provided by Raynet assisted in the event starting almost on time. The 60ft mobile mast was resurrected in 2004-2005 after laying rusting in the grounds of the late Alex Anderson (GM4VIR), a founder member of DG Raynet. The group is very active and blessed with an enthusiastic membership. We also have great relations with the Dumfries & Galloway Council EPO and hold monthly meeting in the EPO headquarters in Dumfries.
For quite a few of our exercises we have to go off road so I use a 96 Land Rover Discovery kitted out with various radio's and antenna's.
The Group have a great Mobile Radio Control Unit which was donated by Dumfries and Galloway Council and kitted out by some of the members. Over the year this gets used for various events including: Several Scottish Endurance Riding Club rides, some spread over 2 days, Local Marathons, Mountain Bike races, Fun runs and Car rally's to name a few. A Calendar of events is listed on DG Raynet's website.
Please check out Dumfries & Galloway Raynet's Website at www.dgraynet.co.uk