With just over two months to go until the RSGB Convention 2026, tickets are on sale and the programme is taking shape — and if you hold a Foundation licence, this might be the best year to make your first trip to Milton Keynes.
I know what you’re thinking. “Isn’t the RSGB Convention for the seasoned operators with towers in their gardens and callsigns starting with G3?” Not at all. I went to my first Convention as a relatively fresh licensee and came home with a notebook full of ideas and a shopping list I definitely couldn’t afford. Here’s why it’s worth your time in 2026.
What Is the RSGB Convention, Exactly?
The RSGB Convention is the UK’s flagship amateur radio event — a long weekend of lectures, workshops, demonstrations, and general radio chatter held every October. This year it runs from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October 2026 at the Kents Hill Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. Think of it as a cross between a conference, a hamfest, and a very large radio club meeting where everyone brings their enthusiasm and nobody judges you for not knowing what a balun is (though you’ll probably know by the time you leave).
Tickets are available now via the RSGB website. The full weekend covers lectures across all licence levels, hands-on workshops, and plenty of opportunities to speak to experienced operators who genuinely want to help newcomers get more out of the hobby.
Free Entry If You’re Under 21
This is worth flagging specifically: if you’re under 21, entry to the RSGB Convention is free, with tickets issued on the door. The RSGB Youth Committee has put together a dedicated programme of youth-specific activities running across the weekend. If you’re a younger Foundation licence holder or you know one, this is a genuine no-barrier opportunity to immerse yourself in the hobby for a whole weekend.
The amateur radio community has been working hard to bring younger operators in, and seeing that effort reflected in the Convention programme is encouraging.
A Keynote Worth Listening To
This year’s keynote speaker is the President of the IARU — the International Amateur Radio Union, the global body that represents amateur radio to regulators and international organisations. The IARU does a lot of work most of us don’t think about day-to-day: defending spectrum allocations, negotiating frequency plans, and making sure that when Ofcom or the ITU sits down to review something that affects our licences, there’s a knowledgeable voice in the room making the case for amateur radio.
For a Foundation licence holder who’s still getting to grips with what the hobby actually involves, hearing directly from someone at that level about where amateur radio is heading can be genuinely useful context.
Practical Workshops, Including One on RFI
One of the most talked-about sessions this year is a members-only Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) workshop on the Friday, run using SDRPlay receivers. RFI is the bane of modern amateur radio — the noise floor in suburban areas has crept up considerably over the past decade, driven by everything from switch-mode power supplies to LED drivers and EV chargers. Understanding what it is, how to identify sources, and what you can do about it is genuinely practical knowledge for any licensee.
There will also be lectures covering propagation, FT8, and VHF and above. Propagation talks are always worth attending regardless of your licence level — understanding why signals travel the way they do is fundamental, and the explanations you get in person are usually far more accessible than reading about it online. As for FT8, if you’ve got HF privileges with your Foundation licence and haven’t tried it yet, a Convention lecture is a brilliant way to get oriented before you sit down at the radio.
What to Expect as a Newer Licensee
Going to your first RSGB Convention can feel a little daunting. My honest advice: don’t try to attend everything. Pick two or three lectures that genuinely interest you, wander the exhibition area, and talk to people. The hobby is full of operators who will happily spend twenty minutes explaining antenna theory or software-defined radio to someone who just wants to understand it better.
Bring a notepad. Seriously. You’ll leave with more ideas than you arrived with, and you won’t remember half of them if you rely on memory alone.
If you’re thinking about upgrading from Foundation to Intermediate, the Convention is also a good place to pick up information about courses, exam sessions, and what to expect — the RSGB exam team are usually represented and happy to talk.
How to Get Your Ticket
Tickets for the RSGB Convention 2026 are available now at rsgb.org/main/about-us/rsgb-convention/. Under-21s, remember, get in free on the day — but it’s worth checking the RSGB site for any registration steps. The venue is Kents Hill Conference Centre, Milton Keynes, and the event runs across all three days of the 9th to 11th October weekend.
If you’ve been on the fence about making the trip, consider this a nudge. The RSGB Convention is one of those events where you leave feeling more connected to the hobby than when you arrived — and that’s worth a day out to Milton Keynes.
With just over two months to go until the RSGB Convention 2026, tickets are on sale and the programme is taking shape — and if you hold a Foundation licence, this might be the best year to make your first trip to Milton Keynes.
I know what you’re thinking. “Isn’t the RSGB Convention for the seasoned operators with towers in their gardens and callsigns starting with G3?” Not at all. I went to my first Convention as a relatively fresh licensee and came home with a notebook full of ideas and a shopping list I definitely couldn’t afford. Here’s why it’s worth your time in 2026.
What Is the RSGB Convention, Exactly?
The RSGB Convention is the UK’s flagship amateur radio event — a long weekend of lectures, workshops, demonstrations, and general radio chatter held every October. This year it runs from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October 2026 at the Kents Hill Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. Think of it as a cross between a conference, a hamfest, and a very large radio club meeting where everyone brings their enthusiasm and nobody judges you for not knowing what a balun is (though you’ll probably know by the time you leave).
Tickets are available now via the RSGB website. The full weekend covers lectures across all licence levels, hands-on workshops, and plenty of opportunities to speak to experienced operators who genuinely want to help newcomers get more out of the hobby.
Free Entry If You’re Under 21
This is worth flagging specifically: if you’re under 21, entry to the RSGB Convention is free, with tickets issued on the door. The RSGB Youth Committee has put together a dedicated programme of youth-specific activities running across the weekend. If you’re a younger Foundation licence holder or you know one, this is a genuine no-barrier opportunity to immerse yourself in the hobby for a whole weekend.
The amateur radio community has been working hard to bring younger operators in, and seeing that effort reflected in the Convention programme is encouraging.
A Keynote Worth Listening To
This year’s keynote speaker is the President of the IARU — the International Amateur Radio Union, the global body that represents amateur radio to regulators and international organisations. The IARU does a lot of work most of us don’t think about day-to-day: defending spectrum allocations, negotiating frequency plans, and making sure that when Ofcom or the ITU sits down to review something that affects our licences, there’s a knowledgeable voice in the room making the case for amateur radio.
For a Foundation licence holder who’s still getting to grips with what the hobby actually involves, hearing directly from someone at that level about where amateur radio is heading can be genuinely useful context.
Practical Workshops, Including One on RFI
One of the most talked-about sessions this year is a members-only Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) workshop on the Friday, run using SDRPlay receivers. RFI is the bane of modern amateur radio — the noise floor in suburban areas has crept up considerably over the past decade, driven by everything from switch-mode power supplies to LED drivers and EV chargers. Understanding what it is, how to identify sources, and what you can do about it is genuinely practical knowledge for any licensee.
There will also be lectures covering propagation, FT8, and VHF and above. Propagation talks are always worth attending regardless of your licence level — understanding why signals travel the way they do is fundamental, and the explanations you get in person are usually far more accessible than reading about it online. As for FT8, if you’ve got HF privileges with your Foundation licence and haven’t tried it yet, a Convention lecture is a brilliant way to get oriented before you sit down at the radio.
What to Expect as a Newer Licensee
Going to your first RSGB Convention can feel a little daunting. My honest advice: don’t try to attend everything. Pick two or three lectures that genuinely interest you, wander the exhibition area, and talk to people. The hobby is full of operators who will happily spend twenty minutes explaining antenna theory or software-defined radio to someone who just wants to understand it better.
Bring a notepad. Seriously. You’ll leave with more ideas than you arrived with, and you won’t remember half of them if you rely on memory alone.
If you’re thinking about upgrading from Foundation to Intermediate, the Convention is also a good place to pick up information about courses, exam sessions, and what to expect — the RSGB exam team are usually represented and happy to talk.
How to Get Your Ticket
Tickets for the RSGB Convention 2026 are available now at rsgb.org/main/about-us/rsgb-convention/. Under-21s, remember, get in free on the day — but it’s worth checking the RSGB site for any registration steps. The venue is Kents Hill Conference Centre, Milton Keynes, and the event runs across all three days of the 9th to 11th October weekend.
If you’ve been on the fence about making the trip, consider this a nudge. The RSGB Convention is one of those events where you leave feeling more connected to the hobby than when you arrived — and that’s worth a day out to Milton Keynes.
If you’ve spent any time in UK amateur radio Facebook groups or forums lately, you’ve probably noticed a word appearing over and over again: Meshtastic. And more recently, MeshCore. These two pieces of open-source firmware are powering a quiet revolution in off-grid communications, and for Foundation licence holders, there’s a lot here worth understanding.
Let me explain what’s going on, why amateur radio operators are excited about it, and what you can actually do with it yourself.
What Is Meshtastic?
Meshtastic is open-source firmware that runs on small, affordable LoRa (Long Range) radio modules. The most popular hardware is based around the Heltec or LILYGO T-Beam boards, which you can pick up for somewhere between £20 and £50. Once flashed with Meshtastic, they form a decentralised mesh network — meaning every device acts as both a receiver and a repeater, passing messages across a chain of nodes even when there’s no mobile signal, no internet, and no infrastructure at all.
It’s essentially a text messaging system that runs on radio waves, needs no SIM card, and keeps working when everything else goes down.
Where Does It Operate in the UK?
Here’s where it gets interesting for anyone thinking about the regulatory side. In the UK, Meshtastic operates on 868 MHz — part of the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band, which is licence-free. The default long-range channel sits at 869.525 MHz, with a maximum of 27 dBm ERP and a 10% duty cycle. That duty cycle restriction means devices can only transmit for around six minutes in every hour — a limitation worth understanding before you rely on a Meshtastic network in a time-critical situation.
No licence is required to use Meshtastic on 868 MHz. You don’t need your Foundation licence, your Intermediate, or your Full — anyone can buy one of these modules and start experimenting.
So Why Are Amateur Radio Operators So Interested?
The overlap with amateur radio comes from a few directions. First, there’s the emergency communications angle. RAYNET — the UK’s Radio Amateurs’ Emergency Network — has been watching mesh networking with interest precisely because a Meshtastic network can be deployed rapidly without relying on any fixed infrastructure. Power cut, mobile mast down, internet gone: your Meshtastic nodes keep talking.
Second, there’s the pure experimentation factor. Working out how far a signal carries, how many hops a message takes across a chain of nodes, how a mesh self-heals when one node drops — this is exactly the kind of practical radio experimentation that the amateur licence exists to encourage.
And third, some operators are exploring whether LoRa mesh networking has a future on licensed amateur allocations rather than the ISM band. Running higher power, building dedicated gateways, and experimenting with different frequencies would all require a licence — and would open up a different set of possibilities entirely.
The Essex Ham Switch: Meshtastic Out, MeshCore In
One significant development in the UK community this year has been Essex Ham’s move from Meshtastic to MeshCore. Essex Ham had been running Meshtastic nodes since March 2024, but in 2026 they completed the switch — same hardware, different firmware.
MeshCore takes a different architectural approach to Meshtastic. Rather than a fully decentralised flood-routing model, MeshCore uses a more controlled packet routing system that its proponents argue is more efficient and scales better across large networks. It’s a more recent project and still evolving quickly, but the fact that a well-established UK amateur radio group has committed to it is worth paying attention to.
If you’re thinking of buying your first LoRa board and wondering which firmware to go for, the Essex Ham comparison page lays out the tradeoffs very clearly — it’s an excellent starting point before you spend any money.
What Can You Do as a Foundation Holder?
Whether or not you have a licence, you can get started right away:
Buy a LoRa module — the Heltec V3 or LILYGO T-Beam are the most popular choices in the UK right now, typically £20–50
Flash it with Meshtastic or MeshCore — both projects have step-by-step guides and active forums
Connect the Meshtastic app on your phone via Bluetooth and start sending messages over radio
Find your local mesh — there’s a growing UK network, and the app will show you nearby nodes
With your Foundation licence, the door opens further. You can experiment on amateur radio allocations, operate at higher power, and build infrastructure on bands that aren’t subject to ISM duty cycle restrictions. The licence gives you options the ISM band simply doesn’t.
For now, though, the barrier to entry on the licence-free side is refreshingly low. This is practical radio experimentation you can start for under £30 and a weekend afternoon — which, if you’re still working towards your Foundation licence, makes it a great way to get hands-on experience with radio propagation before your first HF contact.
The mesh revolution is just getting started. Get involved.
This weekend, thousands of curious people descended on Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Herefordshire for EMF Camp 2026 — the Electromagnetic Field event that brings together geeks, makers, and technologists for four days of talks, workshops, and experimentation. And right in the middle of it all, flying the flag for amateur radio, were three brilliant organisations: AMSAT-UK, the British Amateur Television Club (BATC), and the UK Microwave Group (UKuG).
Their joint village at EMF Camp was doing something that I think deserves a lot more attention in the Foundation licence community: showing that talking to, and through, satellites is not some exotic pursuit reserved for radio engineers with rooftop antenna farms. It’s something any licensed amateur can work towards, often with surprisingly modest kit.
What Was Happening at EMF Camp?
The AMSAT-UK, BATC, and UKuG village (operating on the special event callsign GB26EMF) was set up to demonstrate live satellite ground stations, amateur television, and microwave operating techniques throughout the weekend. The headline act, for many visitors, was making contacts and watching digital amateur television (DATV) through the QO-100 satellite — a geostationary transponder sitting 36,000 km above the equator that any licensed UK amateur can use, right now, from their garden.
There were also talks covering topics like building your own satellite ground station, LoRa from space, and even an ambitious session titled “An Internet for the Solar System.” It’s exactly the kind of thing that reminds you why you wanted to get into this hobby in the first place.
What Is QO-100, and Why Should You Care?
QO-100 (also known as Es’hail-2) is a communications satellite operated jointly with amateur radio transponders. Unlike the old-school Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites that zip overhead in a few minutes and require you to track them with a moving antenna, QO-100 is geostationary. It sits in a fixed position over the equator, visible from the UK at all times. Point your dish at it once, and it stays there.
The narrowband transponder on QO-100 accepts uplinks in the 2.4 GHz band and sends the downlink back on 10 GHz. Here’s the good news for Foundation holders: the 2.4 GHz (13cm) band is included in the Foundation licence, so you’re permitted to transmit there. You’ll need a small dish for the downlink side — many people repurpose an old Sky dish — and a suitable uplink transverter or dedicated setup. It’s a project, but not an impossibly expensive one, and the BATC’s WebSDR at eshail.batc.org.uk lets you listen in right now without any hardware at all.
What About LEO Satellites? Even Easier to Start
If the dish and microwave setup sounds like a stretch for now, LEO FM satellites are a brilliant place to begin. These are small satellites in low orbit that pass overhead several times a day, and many of them have simple FM voice repeaters on board — just like a terrestrial repeater, but 400 miles up.
The uplinks are typically on the 70cm band (around 435 MHz) and downlinks on 2m (around 145 MHz). Both bands are available to Foundation licence holders. You can make your first satellite contact with nothing more exotic than a dual-band handheld — the classic Yaesu FT-65 or Baofeng UV-5R that many of us started with — and a home-made Yagi or even a simple crossed dipole.
The key things to get right are:
Doppler shift: as the satellite races towards you and then away, the frequency shifts slightly. You’ll need to retune during the pass, or use software like Gpredict to automate it.
Pass prediction: apps like ISS Detector or websites like n2yo.com tell you exactly when a satellite will be overhead and at what angle — essential for pointing your antenna.
Listen first: before you transmit, have a few passes just listening. You’ll hear the distinctive sound of SSB signals and — on FM birds — actual voice contacts. There’s nothing quite like that moment when you first hear someone talking through a machine in orbit.
Getting Started: Resources Worth Bookmarking
AMSAT-UK have put together some of the best beginner resources around. Their “How do I start with satellites?” page is well worth an evening’s reading, and they have specific guides on working FM satellites and even using your handheld transceiver for satellite work.
For QO-100, the BATC forum and the AMSAT-DL operating guidelines are your friends. And if you want to just dip your toes in before committing to any hardware, spend half an hour with the BATC’s QO-100 WebSDR and listen to what’s happening up there. I did exactly this when I was still M7RJJ, and it was one of those moments that made me want to upgrade and get properly active.
Mark Your Diary: RSGB Convention in October
If EMF Camp has whetted your appetite for this kind of experimentation, the RSGB Convention is taking place at Milton Keynes between 9–11 October 2026. It’s the biggest gathering of UK amateur radio operators of the year, and there’s always a strong satellite and space radio presence. Tickets are already on sale — worth considering if you want to talk to the people who were running that QO-100 ground station at Eastnor.
The Bigger Picture
What EMF Camp demonstrates every time is that amateur radio isn’t just about HF contacts and contest weekends. It’s a living, experimental hobby that stretches from the bottom of the bands all the way to geostationary orbit and beyond. As an M7 or newly upgraded M0, you already have the licence to participate in most of it.
The satellite side of the hobby has a bit of a reputation for being complicated and expensive, and there’s a grain of truth there for the full QO-100 station setup. But listening to QO-100 costs nothing. Working a pass on an FM LEO satellite costs the price of a handheld and an afternoon making a tape measure Yagi. The learning curve is real, but it’s genuinely one of the most rewarding corners of the hobby I’ve explored.
Something rather special happened in the UK this week. Between 8 and 13 July 2026, the World Radiosport Team Championship — WRTC for short — touched down on British soil. If you have never heard of WRTC, you are not alone. But if you hold a Foundation licence and you are wondering what all the fuss is about, it is worth knowing about. This is effectively the Olympics of amateur radio contesting, and it came to our back garden.
What is WRTC?
The World Radiosport Team Championship is held every four years and brings together the best contesting operators on the planet to compete on an equal footing. Teams of two operators are each given identical antennas and equipment, set up in the same geographic area, and let loose on the HF bands at the same time. The only variable is operator skill. No fancy antenna farms, no high power — just the ability to work as many stations as possible in a set time period.
It is, in short, the purest form of competitive radio operating there is. Previous championships have been held in Slovenia, the United States, and Germany. In 2026, it was our turn. The RSGB served as an official partner throughout, with volunteers on site all week and coverage appearing on BBC News Online and local radio.
Why should a Foundation licence holder care?
Fair question. As an M7 holder you are probably not entering international contesting championships just yet. But events like WRTC matter to all of us for a few reasons.
First, they bring attention to amateur radio as a serious, skilled activity. One of the quiet frustrations of being a new operator is explaining to people that this is not CB radio. WRTC makes that case better than any shack conversation — international competition, years of training, mainstream media coverage. It legitimises the hobby in a way that sticks.
Second, contesting is one of the most accessible ways to get on the air when you hold a Foundation licence. You do not need to win. You do not need sophisticated equipment. I made my first contest contact as M7RJJ with ten watts and a wire strung out of a window. The goal for a beginner is simply to call CQ contest, exchange your callsign and a serial number, and log it. Every contact counts.
Getting started with contesting as an M7
The RSGB runs a packed contest calendar, and many events are perfectly approachable for a Foundation holder. The 70MHz Activity Contests, which run on Thursday evenings through the summer, are a relaxed starting point if you have any VHF capability at all. Simple rules, local contacts, manageable pace.
If you want to try HF, look out for the RSGB IOTA Contest at the end of July. Islands on the Air is one of the more forgiving formats — you are working stations associated with islands, which are plentiful around the British Isles, and even a handful of contacts feels rewarding. Foundation holders can operate on HF within their permitted power limits, and nobody expects a rate of 200 contacts per hour from someone who is new to this.
The key thing is simply to try it. Put in a few calls. Log what you work. You might be surprised how far ten watts gets you when propagation is on your side.
Following the results
If you want to find out who took the WRTC 2026 title, the official site at wrtc2026.org has the full coverage. The RSGB’s news pages at rsgb.org are also worth checking — they have been posting regular updates throughout the week.
It is genuinely good to see amateur radio making the mainstream news for the right reasons. WRTC in the UK is a reminder that this hobby spans everything from a nervous first QSO on two metres to a world championship on HF. There is a place in it for all of us.
Something rather special happened in the UK this week. Between 8 and 13 July 2026, the World Radiosport Team Championship — WRTC for short — touched down on British soil. If you’ve never heard of WRTC, you’re not alone. But if you hold a Foundation licence and you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, it’s worth knowing about. This is effectively the Olympics of amateur radio contesting, and it came to our back garden.
What is WRTC?
The World Radiosport Team Championship is held every four years and brings together the best contesting operators on the planet to compete on an equal footing. Teams of two operators are each given identical antennas and equipment, set up in the same geographic area, and let loose on the HF bands at the same time. The only variable is operator skill. No fancy antenna farms, no kilowatts of power — just the ability to work as many stations as possible in a set time period.
It is, in short, the purest form of competitive radio operating there is. Previous championships have been held in Slovenia, the United States, and Germany. In 2026, it was our turn.
The RSGB has been an official partner to WRTC 2026, with volunteers and staff on site throughout the week. Coverage appeared in BBC News Online and BBC Radio Shropshire, which is exactly the kind of mainstream visibility amateur radio does not always get. If you know someone who has been curious about the hobby, now is a good moment to point them at the headlines.
Why should a Foundation licence holder care?
Fair question. As an M7 holder you are probably not entering international contesting championships just yet. But events like WRTC matter to all of us for a few reasons.
First, they bring attention to amateur radio as a serious, skilled activity. One of the quiet frustrations of being a new operator is explaining to people that this is not CB radio. WRTC makes that case better than any conversation I could have — international competition, years of training, media coverage. It legitimises the hobby in a way that sticks.
Second, contesting is one of the most accessible ways to get on the air when you hold a Foundation licence. You do not need to win. You do not need sophisticated equipment. I made my first contest contact with ten watts and a wire strung out of a bedroom window. The goal for a beginner is simply to call CQ contest, exchange your callsign and a serial number, and log it. Every contact counts.
Getting started with contesting as an M7
The RSGB runs a packed calendar of contests, and many of them are straightforward for a Foundation licence holder to dip a toe into. The 70MHz Activity Contests, which run on Thursday evenings, are a relaxed starting point if you have any VHF capability at all. The rules are simple, the contacts are local, and the pace is manageable.
If you want to try HF contesting, look out for the RSGB IOTA Contest at the end of July. Islands on the Air is one of the more forgiving formats — you are working stations from islands, which are plentiful around the British Isles, and even a handful of contacts feels rewarding. Foundation holders can operate on the HF bands within their permitted power limits, and no one expects you to run a rate of 200 contacts per hour.
The key thing is just to try it. Put in a few calls. Log what you work. You might be surprised how far ten watts gets you when propagation is on your side.
Following WRTC 2026
If you want to read more about the championship — including finding out who won — the official site at wrtc2026.org is the place to go. The RSGB has also been posting coverage through their usual channels, and the BBC coverage is worth a read even if you are already familiar with the hobby.
It is genuinely nice to see amateur radio making the mainstream news for the right reasons. Long may it continue.
There is a particular thrill in hearing a voice come back to you out of the static for the first time. Mine came as M7RJJ, on a Foundation licence I had spent months working up the courage to use. More than five years later, I sit in the same shack (it’s also my work-from-home office) as M0LGI, and the journey between those two callsigns has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.
This is the story of how I got there, and a few honest reflections on what the path actually felt like.
It started with a curious child
My fascination with radio goes back further than I can properly remember. There is something almost magical about the idea that a voice, a song, or a Morse code character can travel hundreds or thousands of miles through nothing but air and ionosphere. As a child, I would tune through the shortwave bands on the family radio and listen to broadcasts from places I could barely find on a map. I did not know it then, but the seed was already planted. What I barely realised as a child was that ordinary people could actually do this themselves.
I also remember a visit to the local town show where the (now defunct, I think) Dudley and District Amateur Radio Society took over a ballroom at Himley Hall to house a ham station for the weekend. Everything was there from Analogue Fast Scan TV to the noisy RTTY teleprinters. I probably had a very glazed look on my face as I went round the room, listening to the chatter and ‘Donald Duck’ like noises of off-tune SSB.
The discovery that amateur radio was a thing, and that with a bit of study I could be on the air talking to those distant voices rather than just listening to them, lit a spark, but it would be many years before I could convince myself that I had both the time and technical literacy to do it.
I’m not from a scientific family. I’m from a council estate in Dudley. I was the first in my family to get any qualifications (seriously, I don’t think my parents, aunts and uncles have as much as an O Level between them) I’m also colourblind, so while I was always ok with things like code, circuits and resistors are largely impenetrable to me. I’m also a ‘words guy’ (politics degree).
My maths ability is poor, and it took me three attempts to get my GCSE. The only reason I persisted was that I needed it to get into university. Despite that, I decided, aged 38, that maybe I should find something to do now that I was married and had given up on ‘wine, women and song’.
Foundation Licence: the first hurdle
The Foundation licence is designed to be welcoming, and on paper it is. In practice, sitting down with the syllabus for the first time was still a moment of doubt. There were diagrams I did not understand, rules I had not encountered before, and an alphabet soup of terms that all seemed to mean something slightly different.
I got there with repetition. Lots of repetition. Flashcards became my best friend, and I drilled them on the train, in the kitchen, and in those quiet five minute gaps that turn up during a working day.
When the pass came through, and M7RJJ landed in my inbox, I held off transmitting for nearly a week. The first contact, when it finally happened, was a short and slightly stumbled exchange that I will never forget.
Intermediate Amateur Licence: the licence I cannot quite remember
Here is a confession that feels apt for a blog about memory. I cannot, for the life of me, recall my 2E0 callsign.
I held it. I used it. I made contacts with it. And somewhere in the move from Intermediate to Full it slipped out of my head and never came back. There is something quite funny about that, given how much of this whole journey has been about wrestling with a memory that does not always cooperate.
The Intermediate exam itself was a genuine step up. The maths started to bite, the regulations grew teeth, and the practical element forced me to actually solder rather than just nod along to a diagram. It took longer than Foundation, with more false starts and more evenings spent staring at a textbook or following a self guided online course, wondering why I had ever thought this was a good idea. But each small breakthrough felt earned, and that mattered.
The full amateur radio licence: the long climb
The Full Licence was where the journey nearly stalled. The syllabus is broader, the maths is much harder, and the volume of material to retain is genuinely demanding. For someone whose memory is, let us say, selective, this was the part of the path that demanded the most patience.
I gave up on cramming and went back to what had worked for Foundation level. Repetition. Flashcards. Little chunks, often. I would tackle one topic at a time, drill it until it stuck, then move on. When something refused to land, I would leave it and circle back a week later. Sometimes it had quietly taken root in the meantime. Sometimes it had not, and I would start again.
I studied with Bath and District Amateur Radio Club remotely. I can’t say enough good things about the syllabus and the quality of the teaching. But, I still had a false start, where I had to delay my entry and take the next course, due to feeling overloaded with the pressure from my then day-job.
The process took a solid five months from the initial assessment quiz (that I took on holiday in Greece) to the completion of the course. This was weekly 2 hour Zoom lessons and massive amounts of reading material and doing other online teaching modules and watching YouTube videos for more details, as well as building physical circuits.
The exam day itself was nerve wracking. It’s something you can do from home as long as you have an additional camera that can see you from behind and see under your desk. It was a Sunday morning in Mid-January and I had 2 hours to complete the exam.
I remember reading questions twice, then three times, convinced I was missing something. I got to the end, and the multiple-choice test was marked in an instant. When the pass came through, the feeling was not so much triumph as relief. M0LGI was issued a few days later, and a chapter that had taken more than five years finally closed.
The contact that made it all worth it
While the plan for the future is to operate overseas in France and Greece while staying with family (something you can’t do without the HAREC certification that comes free with a full amateur radio licence), the thing that made me think I was on the right course came early courtesy of my Xiegu G90.
Every operator has a contact that sticks with them. Mine happened while I was still M7RJJ, running the 10 watts that the Foundation licence then allowed. Ten watts is not very much. It is roughly the power of a dim light bulb, and the conventional wisdom is that you should not expect miracles from it on HF.
That afternoon I worked the ARRL Headquarters station in the United States. This is the US equivalent of working the UK’s National Radio Centre. I still remember the moment my callsign came back across the Atlantic. Ten watts from a modest UK station, into the headquarters of American amateur radio. It was the sort of contact you read about in magazines and quietly assume happens to other people. The exchange was short, as contest exchanges always are, but the meaning of it was anything but small. A handful of watts had crossed an ocean. Every flashcard, every late evening with a textbook, every moment of doubt felt repaid in that one short exchange.
That is the thing about amateur radio. The reward is not the licence itself. The licence is just a door. The reward is everything that happens once you walk through it.
What I would tell my Foundation licenced self
If I could send a message back to the operator who first keyed up as M7RJJ, it would be short.
You are going to forget your Intermediate callsign. That is fine. You are going to find some exam topics harder than you expected. That is also fine. The journey is not a race, and the operators you meet on the air will not care how long it took you to get there. Take it at the pace your memory and your life will allow, lean on repetition when the material refuses to stick, and remember why you started.
A child once listened to voices coming out of the static and wondered how on earth they got there. More than five years of study answered the question. The answer is that you put in the hours, you trust the process, and one quiet evening, a signal finds your antenna and the whole thing makes sense.
73 from M0LGI, formerly M7RJJ, and briefly something with a 2 in it that I really should write down somewhere.
If you have spent any time on the HF bands in recent years, you will know that digital modes have transformed amateur radio. FT8 and FT4 made it possible to work weak signals that would be lost in the noise on SSB or even CW.
Now there is a new arrival on the scene, and it is faster than anything that has come before it. It is called FT2, and this post will walk you through what it is, how it works, and why so many operators are excited about it.
So, what is FT2?
FT2 is a digital mode designed for amateur radio, built specifically for short, efficient contacts on the HF bands. It was created by Martino Merola, callsign IU8LMC, with the support of ARI Caserta in Italy. The very first FT2 contact in the world took place on 16 February 2026 between IU8LMC and IZ8XXE on the 40 metre band.
The headline figure is the cycle time. Where FT8 uses a 15-second transmit and receive cycle, and FT4 uses 7.5 seconds, FT2 squeezes the same job into just 3.8 seconds. That makes it roughly four times faster than FT8, with a complete contact typically wrapping up in around 6 seconds.
How does it relate to FT8 and FT4?
This is where things become reassuring for anyone already familiar with the existing modes. FT2 uses the same underlying codec as FT8 and FT4. The 77 bit payload, the LDPC(174,91) forward error correction, and the 4-GFSK modulation are all identical. In other words, FT2 is not reinventing the wheel. It takes the trusted protocol core that has been refined over the years and packages it into a much shorter cycle.
What makes the difference is how that information is transmitted and decoded. The transmission bandwidth is wider at 167 Hz (compared with 50 Hz for FT8 and 83 Hz for FT4), and the effective transmit time is much shorter at around 1.89 seconds. Combined with a clever new decoding engine, this produces a mode that is both fast and remarkably sensitive.
The numbers that matter
A quick comparison helps put FT2 in context:
Parameter
FT8
FT4
FT2
Cycle time
15 seconds
7.5 seconds
3.8 seconds
Bandwidth
50Hz
83Hz
167Hz
Sensitivity
-21db
-16.5db
-23db
Full QSO
~60 seconds
-30 seconds
-6 seconds
Max contacts per hour
60
120
450
That sensitivity figure of -23 dB SNR is particularly impressive. It means FT2 can pull signals out of the noise that are weaker than what FT8 can manage, which is no small achievement given the shorter cycle.
The Raptor Engine and Shannon’s limit
The software that powers FT2 is called DECODIUM, and the current decoding engine is named Raptor. Without getting too technical, Raptor uses a refined approach to digital signal processing that pushes performance close to what is mathematically possible.
Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, proved back in 1948 that every noisy channel has a theoretical maximum capacity. The Raptor engine is described by its developers as operating at the practical limit of Shannon’s theorem for 77 bit blocks on HF. As the project’s tagline puts it, “more power is not the answer, better math is.”
Asynchronous transmission
One of FT2’s most interesting features is asynchronous transmission, or ASYMX as it is called in the software. Traditional digital modes require all stations to be synchronised to a precise clock, usually using NTP or GPS. FT2 does away with this requirement. It begins transmitting within about 300 milliseconds of decoding the previous message, with no need for the even and odd time slot dance that FT8 operators will recognise.
For new operators, this means you do not need to worry quite so much about keeping your computer clock perfectly aligned. The mode works around clock drift and timing variations in a much more flexible way.
FT2 – Officially recognised by ADIF
A digital mode is not really part of the amateur radio mainstream until logging software supports it properly. FT2 cleared this hurdle on 22 March 2026, when the ADIF Development Group voted unanimously, 22 to 0, to include FT2 as an official submode in ADIF 3.1.7. This was the highest participation ever recorded by the group, and it means every major logging platform now recognises SUBMODE=FT2. Names you will know, including LoTW, DXLab Suite, Log4OM, Cloudlog, eQSL, Wavelog, and Fldigi, all voted in favour.
Getting started with FT2
The software you need is called DECODIUM 4.0, codename Shannon. The latest public beta was released on 19 May 2026, and it is available as a free download for Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon), and Linux. There is also a Raspberry Pi port for anyone wanting to build a compact portable FT2 station.
You can find the official downloads at ft2.it, and there is a Telegram beta group where you can ask questions and get help from other operators. With over 2,000 active operators and more than 500,000 QSOs logged across 40+ DXCC entities, the community is already a healthy size for a mode this young.
Should you try FT2?
f you already enjoy FT8 or FT4, the learning curve for FT2 is gentle. The on-screen workflow is familiar, the message structure is the same, and your existing rig and interface should work without modification. The main differences you will notice are the rapid pace and the absence of strict timing constraints.
For contesters and DXers, the appeal is obvious. Roughly 450 contacts an hour is a serious rate, and the improved sensitivity means you stand a better chance of working that rare station whose signal is barely audible. For more casual operators, FT2 offers a chance to make many short contacts in a single session without committing to the longer cycles of FT8.
Either way, FT2 is a notable step forward for amateur radio digital modes. It builds on what FT8 and FT4 established, takes advantage of modern computing power, and pushes performance close to the mathematical limits of what is possible. Whether you are a seasoned digital operator or just starting out, it is well worth a look.
The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) stands as one of the world’s oldest and most influential amateur radio organisations, with a history spanning over a century of technological advancement and community building. Founded in 1913 as the London Wireless Club, the organisation emerged during the pioneering days of wireless communication, when radio was still a mysterious new technology capturing the imagination of experimenters across Britain.
The society’s transformation from the London Wireless Club to the Radio Society of Great Britain reflected its growing national influence and the expanding amateur radio community. Throughout the early 20th century, the RSGB played a crucial role in establishing the foundations of amateur radio in the United Kingdom, advocating for radio amateurs’ rights and helping to shape the regulatory framework that would govern the hobby for generations.
During both World Wars, the RSGB and its members demonstrated their strategic importance to national communications infrastructure. Amateur radio operators provided vital emergency communications capabilities and many served as wireless operators in military service, their pre-war experience proving invaluable to the war effort. This period established amateur radio’s reputation as both a technical hobby and a source of skilled communicators in times of national need.
Post-War Growth and Modernisation
The post-war era brought unprecedented growth to amateur radio in Britain. The RSGB adapted to serve an expanding membership, introducing new services and publications to meet the evolving needs of radio amateurs. The society became instrumental in frequency coordination, technical standards development, and international amateur radio relations through organizations like the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).
As technology evolved from valve-based equipment through transistors to modern digital communications, the RSGB remained at the forefront of technical education and standards development. The organisation helped British amateurs navigate the transition from traditional CW and phone operations to include new modes like packet radio, digital signal processing, and eventually internet-enhanced amateur radio technologies.
The Modern RSGB: Comprehensive Services for Today’s Amateurs
Today’s RSGB operates as the UK’s national amateur radio society, serving thousands of members through a comprehensive range of services designed to support every aspect of the amateur radio experience. The organization serves as the UK national amateur radio organization providing GB2RS News, RadCom, Clubs, Education, Forums and much more.
RadCom: The Flagship Publication
At the heart of RSGB membership benefits lies RadCom, the RSGB members’ magazine sent free every month to members of the Society, which has the largest amateur radio readership in the UK and is respected throughout the world. This monthly publication delivers cutting-edge technical articles, equipment reviews, construction projects, and news from across the amateur radio spectrum. RadCom has maintained its position as one of the premier amateur radio magazines globally, consistently delivering content that ranges from beginner-friendly tutorials to advanced technical discussions.
Complementing the main magazine is RadCom Basics, a digital supplement to RadCom for Members new to the hobby or who just want to refresh their knowledge of key areas at the core of amateur radio. This resource bridges the gap between newcomers and experienced operators, ensuring that fundamental knowledge remains accessible to all members.
Licensing and Education Services
The RSGB plays a vital role in amateur radio education and licensing support. The organization maintains comprehensive resources for all three UK licence levels: Foundation, Intermediate, and Full. Through affiliated clubs and training organizations across the country, the RSGB facilitates access to amateur radio education, helping thousands of new amateurs enter the hobby each year.
The society provides guidance on Ofcom’s licensing processes, including information about online licensing portals and renewal procedures. This support is particularly valuable given the complexity of modern amateur radio regulations and the technical requirements for different licence classes.
Technical Standards and Band Planning
The RSGB continues its historic role in technical standards development and frequency coordination. The organization publishes annual band plans that incorporate VHF and UHF changes in response to increased demand prompted by new amateur licensing provisions, as well as updates from international amateur radio conferences. These band plans ensure efficient spectrum usage and minimize interference between different amateur radio activities.
The society’s technical committees work continuously to address emerging challenges in amateur radio, from EMC issues in densely populated areas to the integration of new digital modes and protocols. This work helps maintain amateur radio’s technical relevance in an increasingly complex RF environment.
GB2RS News Service
The RSGB operates GB2RS, one of amateur radio’s most comprehensive news services. This weekly broadcast provides timely information about amateur radio developments, regulatory changes, contest announcements, and technical updates. GB2RS serves both as an information source and as a unifying element for the UK amateur radio community, ensuring that important developments reach operators regardless of their preferred communication methods.
Membership Benefits and Community Building
Modern RSGB membership extends far beyond traditional services. Members receive RadCom monthly, access to online member content including archives and digital publications, plus exclusive resources available only to RSGB members. The society has developed extensive online resources, forums, and digital archives that preserve decades of amateur radio knowledge and experience.
The RSGB maintains strong relationships with affiliated clubs throughout the UK, providing support for local amateur radio activities and helping coordinate national events and competitions. This network ensures that the society’s influence extends into local communities while maintaining national coherence in amateur radio development.
Advocacy and Representation
Perhaps one of the RSGB’s most important modern functions is its advocacy work on behalf of UK amateurs. The society represents amateur radio interests in regulatory proceedings, works to protect amateur frequencies from encroachment, and maintains relationships with international amateur radio organizations. This advocacy work often occurs behind the scenes but is crucial for maintaining amateur radio’s access to spectrum and operating privileges.
The RSGB has been particularly active in addressing modern challenges such as interference from consumer electronics, power line communications, and other RF noise sources that threaten amateur radio operations. The society’s technical expertise and established relationships with regulatory authorities make it uniquely positioned to address these complex issues.
Supporting Diversity and Accessibility
The modern RSGB actively works to make amateur radio accessible to all, including supporting disabled amateurs and promoting inclusivity within the hobby. The organisation recognises that amateur radio’s future depends on welcoming new participants from all backgrounds and circumstances, leading to initiatives that break down barriers to amateur radio participation.
Digital Services and Modern Communication
Recognising the digital transformation of amateur radio, the RSGB has expanded its online presence significantly. The society provides comprehensive web-based services, digital publications, online forums, and streaming content including live webinars and educational programs. Despite continuing challenges, the amateur radio community stayed strong in 2024 with RSGB support, demonstrating resilience and adaptation.
Looking Forward: The RSGB’s Continuing Evolution
As amateur radio continues to evolve in the 21st century, the RSGB faces the challenge of maintaining relevance while preserving the hobby’s core values. The society has demonstrated remarkable adaptability, transitioning from serving a small community of wireless experimenters to supporting a diverse, technically sophisticated amateur radio population.
The organisation maintains democratic governance through its annual general meeting process, ensuring member input continues to guide RSGB development. This participatory approach helps ensure that the society remains responsive to its membership’s changing needs and interests.
The RSGB’s commitment to education, technical excellence, and community building positions it well for amateur radio’s future challenges. Whether addressing spectrum pressure, integrating new technologies, or fostering the next generation of amateur radio operators, the society’s century of experience provides a solid foundation for continued leadership in amateur radio development.
Conclusion
From its humble beginnings as the London Wireless Club to its current status as a comprehensive national amateur radio organisation, the Radio Society of Great Britain has consistently demonstrated the value of organised amateur radio advocacy and support.
The RSGB Yearbook 2025 represents the most comprehensive guide to amateur radio in the UK and worldwide, containing expanded information about the RSGB, its committees and services, illustrating the organisation’s continued commitment to serving its members and the broader amateur radio community.
The RSGB’s success lies in its ability to balance tradition with innovation, maintaining the experimental spirit that founded amateur radio while adapting to modern technological and social realities. As amateur radio continues to evolve, the RSGB’s role as educator, advocate, and community builder ensures that this remarkable hobby will continue to thrive in the United Kingdom for generations to come
.For those interested in amateur radio, whether newcomers seeking their first licence or experienced operators looking to deepen their involvement in the hobby, the RSGB offers a gateway to one of technology’s most enduring and rewarding pursuits. The society’s comprehensive services, technical expertise, and vibrant community make it an essential resource for anyone serious about amateur radio in the 21st century.
What is FT8 and Why Should Foundation Operators Care?
FT8 (Franke-Taylor design, 8-FSK) has revolutionized amateur radio digital communication since its introduction in 2017. For Foundation licence holders operating with limited power and antenna restrictions, FT8 offers an incredible opportunity to make worldwide contacts that would be impossible with traditional voice modes.
This weak-signal digital mode can decode signals as much as 21 dB below the noise floor, making it perfect for QRP (low power) operations. With just 10 watts and a modest antenna, Foundation operators can regularly work DX stations across the globe.
Understanding FT8: The Technical Basics
FT8 uses 8-tone frequency-shift keying (8-FSK) with a symbol rate of 6.25 symbols per second. Each transmission lasts exactly 12.64 seconds, followed by a 2.36-second gap, creating precise 15-second time slots. This timing synchronization is crucial – your computer’s clock must be accurate to within ±1 second for successful decoding.
The mode occupies just 50 Hz of bandwidth and uses structured messages that follow a specific protocol. A typical FT8 QSO consists of six transmissions (three each way), exchanging callsigns, grid squares, and signal reports automatically
The Soundcard Interface: Your Digital Gateway
The connection between your transceiver and PC soundcard is the heart of any FT8 station. This interface allows your computer to generate the audio tones for transmission and receive audio signals for decoding.
Audio Connections
Most operators use one of three interface methods:
Built-in Soundcard Interface: Many modern transceivers include USB connections that provide both audio in/out and CAT (Computer Aided Transceiver) control. Popular models like the Yaesu FT-991A, Icom IC-7300, and Kenwood TS-890S offer this convenience.
External Sound Interface: Dedicated amateur radio interfaces like the SignaLink USB or RigBlaster series provide audio isolation, level matching, and PTT (Push-to-Talk) control. These units protect both your radio and computer from ground loops and audio level mismatches.
Simple Soundcard Connection: Budget-conscious operators can build basic interfaces using audio isolation transformers and PTT switching circuits, though this requires more technical knowledge and careful level setting.
Audio Level Management
Proper audio levels are critical for FT8 success. The transmit audio should drive your transceiver to approximately 25-30 watts output (for 100-watt radios) while maintaining clean modulation. Most FT8 software includes built-in level indicators and ALC (Automatic Level Control) monitoring to help optimize settings.On the receive side, audio levels should provide good signal strength in the software without overloading the soundcard input. Too much gain can cause intermodulation distortion, while too little reduces weak signal sensitivity.
Essential Software for FT8 Operations:
WSJT-X remains the gold standard for FT8 operations. Developed by Nobel Prize winner Joe Taylor (K1JT), this free software handles all aspects of FT8 communication, from frequency coordination to log integration.
JTDX and JS8Call offer alternative implementations with additional features. JTDX provides enhanced band activity displays and contest features, while JS8Call enables keyboard-to-keyboard messaging using FT8 technology.
Most operators also use logging software like Ham Radio Deluxe, N1MM Logger+, or LOTW (Logbook of the World) integration for contest participation and QSL management.
Band Planning and Frequency Coordination
FT8 operates on specific frequencies within each amateur band. Foundation licence holders should focus on:
40m: 7.074 MHz (most popular for domestic contacts)
20m: 14.074 MHz (excellent for DX during daylight hours)
80m: 3.573 MHz (good for evening local/regional contacts)
10m: 28.074 MHz (sporadic E and solar cycle dependent)
The software automatically manages frequency coordination within the ±3 kHz FT8 sub-band, but operators should monitor band conditions and QRM levels when selecting their operating frequency.
Station Setup and Configuration:
Computer Requirements:
FT8 demands accurate timing synchronization. Install time synchronization software like Meinberg NTP or Dimension 4 to maintain clock accuracy. Most modern computers can handle FT8 processing easily, but avoid running processor-intensive applications during operation.
Antenna Considerations for Foundation Operators:
While FT8’s weak-signal capabilities work miracles, a good antenna system remains important. Foundation operators often achieve excellent results with:-
Wire antennas: End-fed half-waves, dipoles, or random wires work well
Vertical antennas: Ground-plane or end-fed verticals for DX work
Magnetic loop antennas: Excellent for restricted spaces, though bandwidth-limited
Even compromised antennas can produce surprising results with FT8’s digital signal processing advantages.
Operating Procedures and Etiquette:
FT8 follows automated protocols, but good operating practices remain important. Monitor before transmitting, use appropriate power levels, and avoid calling stations you can’t copy clearly. The mode’s popularity can create crowded conditions, so patience and courtesy benefit everyone.
Understanding the message structure helps troubleshoot problems. Watch for partial decodes that might indicate timing or level issues, and adjust your station accordingly.
Troubleshooting Common Issues:
Timing Problems:
GPS disciplined oscillators or internet time synchronization solve most timing issues. Check your computer’s time against WWV or online atomic clocks.
Audio Interface Issues:
Ground loops, level mismatches, and RF feedback cause most audio problems. Proper grounding, ferrite cores, and appropriate interface equipment resolve these issues.**Decode Problems**: Poor receives often result from computer overloading, inadequate antenna systems, or local interference. Address each potential cause systematically.## Advanced Techniques for Foundation Operators
Grid Square Optimisation: Learn your Maidenhead grid square and surrounding grids to maximize contact opportunities during contests and DXpeditions.
Band Condition Awareness: Monitor propagation predictions and solar indices to optimize band selection and operating times.
Contest Participation: FT8 contests offer Foundation operators excellent opportunities to work rare stations and improve their digital operating skills.
Conclusion: Embracing Digital Communication
FT8 opens incredible communication opportunities for Foundation licence holders. The mode’s weak-signal capabilities, combined with modest equipment requirements, level the playing field between QRP and high-power stations.
Success with FT8 depends on proper station setup, good operating practices, and understanding the technology behind the magic. Start with basic equipment, learn the software thoroughly, and gradually optimize your station for maximum performance.
The future of amateur radio increasingly includes digital modes like FT8. Foundation operators who master these techniques position themselves for decades of exciting communication adventures, regardless of power limitations or antenna restrictions.
Whether you’re working your first transatlantic contact or chasing rare DX entities, FT8 proves that in amateur radio, technical knowledge and good engineering often matter more than raw power. For Foundation licence holders, that’s particularly good news.
