** Note Change to venue for club meeting on 24th April see Events page for details **
The Northampton Radio Club is one of the oldest clubs in the country, founded in 1913, so in 2013 we celebrated 100 years of amateur radio in Northampton.
We are open to anyone with an interest in amateur radio at any level and can provide support and training at our Club meeting place for those wishing to obtain or upgrade a transmitting licence.
We can also provide training and practice for the Morse Proficiency Certificate. The club is active in contests both on HF and VHF/UHF, construction, rallies, special event stations and social activities.
We also have use with kind permision of Gary’s (G6NYH) field which we use for contests, BBQ’s, Training and much more.
We meet on a Thursday evening from 8pm at The Grangewood Club, 50 Barn Owl Close, Northampton NN4 OUA (unless otherwise advised by email). Postcode for the Satnav is NN4 0SL for Peregrine Place – drive to the end, turn left, then Car Park on right
Disabled access and bar facilities for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Come along to one of our meetings, you will be sure of a warm welcome.
** RSGB Friendship on the Air Award our Club Identifier is: NTON **
RSGB Contests supported by Northampton Radio Club in 2025
These are contests for Affiliated Societies, all paid-up club members are eligible to enter, you do not need to be an individual member of the RSGB. See www.rsgbcc.org for rules and current results.
The UK Activity Contests take place every month, January to December, on the VHF, UHF and SHF bands:
Start time is 20.00z (19.30z for SHF) and finish is 22.30z (Local time always is used)
144MHz – 1st Tuesday
432MHz – 2nd Tuesday
50MHz – 2nd Thursday
1296MHz – 3rd Tuesday
70MHz – 3rd Thursday
SHF (2.3/3.4/5.7/10GHz) – 4th Tuesday
We enter as a ‘local’ club meaning that all entrants must have their home location (where their licence is registered with Ofcom) within 80km of the club’s nominal meeting place which is currently in Potterspury (NN12 7PP). This does mean that you can operate portable from anywhere within the UK. All points achieved, however small, add to the club’s score. Have a go and see what you can achieve!
The Club Championship Contests take place from February to July on 80m:
Three modes are used, CW, SSB and Data (RTTY and PSK63)
Start time is 20.00z and finish is 21.30z (Local time is always used)
Session 1 – 1st Monday
Session 2 – 2nd Wednesday
Session 3 – 4th Thursday
The modes rotate around so this year month 1 (February) is SSB then DATA and finally CW, then month 2 (March) is DATA then CW and finally SSB. See the RSGB Contest Committee website for the complete list of sessions.
As with the UKACs we enter as a ‘local’ club so again all entrants must comply with the distance rule and all scores contribute to the overall total.
There are also RSGB weekend contests on VHF and HF, and many others organised by National Societies around the world. A good site to see what is coming up is www.contestcalendar.com.
The club holds two club licences, G3GWB and G8LED, plus the contest callsign G8N. These can be used by club members who hold a full licence, but note that the short contest callsign can only be used in a contest. John G4CZB is the licence holder and must be contacted for clearance to use one of the callsigns as they can only be used by one person at a time.
John G4CZB (g4czb@hotmail.co.uk)