We are an amateur radio club in Salisbury, founded in September 2026 and open to anyone with an interest in radio — licensed or not, experienced or starting from nothing at all.
Where we came from, which is not far
The club held its first meeting on Sunday 6 September 2026. A handful of local amateurs had been saying for a while that Salisbury ought to have a club of its own again, and eventually somebody booked a room instead of just saying it.
So there is no long history to tell you, and we are not going to invent one. What there is instead is an unusual amount of room to shape things: the programme for the coming year, what the club station ends up being, whether we run a contest station or spend the summer on hilltops. If you join in the first year you are not joining somebody else’s club, you are helping decide what this one turns into.
What we actually do
We meet
In Salisbury, [on the first Monday of the month], at [venue and postcode]. Sometimes there is a speaker, sometimes a bench evening with soldering irons out, and sometimes it is simply a natter night with somebody’s half-finished project spread across two tables. Tea, biscuits, and people who will explain the same thing twice without minding.
We get on the air
A club net every week, so there is somewhere to find each other between meetings. You do not have to be a member to check in and you do not have to say much — listening is a perfectly respectable way to start. If you are new and not sure how to reach us, email and someone will talk you through it.
Getting started
You do the free online course and sit the exam at home. We do the rest: which radio to buy, getting it programmed, an aerial that fits your garden, and somebody sitting next to you the first time you transmit.
We go outside
Portable operating, field days and special event stations, because a wire in a tree on a good day beats a great deal of expensive equipment indoors. It is also the easiest way to see what the hobby can do without buying anything first — turn up, watch, have a go on somebody else’s rig.
Who the club is for
Anyone interested, is the honest answer. In practice that tends to mean four sorts of people, and all four are welcome on the same terms.
- People with no licence and no equipment. The commonest way to start, and no apology needed. Bring nothing. Ask anything. Nobody here has forgotten being the person who did not know what CTCSS was.
- Newly licensed amateurs. A callsign and a cheap handheld is a fine place to be. What is usually missing at that stage is somebody to answer the small practical questions, and that is most of what a club is for.
- Amateurs coming back after years away. A good deal has changed, most of it in your favour. The licence you hold is still valid.
- Young people. Anyone under 18 is welcome and comes along with a parent or guardian, who stays for the evening. We have a safeguarding policy and a named Safeguarding Officer, and both are on the documents page below rather than tucked away.
Visitors may come to meetings three times a year without joining. After that we will ask you to become a member, mostly so that the insurance and the accounts make sense.
How the club is run
Formally enough to be fair, and no more formally than that. Members elect a Committee at the Annual General Meeting; the Committee handles the ordinary running of the club between AGMs, and the things that ought not to be decided by four people in a car park — changing the constitution, setting the subscription, winding the club up — go to the membership. Anyone may stand for the Committee and every full member has a vote.
The constitution says how all of that works, in plainer English than most. It is worth ten minutes if you are thinking of joining, and it is on the list below along with everything else we hold ourselves to.
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Chairman
Steve M1SDH
chairman@g5srs.co.uk
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Member
David M0WDG
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Secretary
Steve M7WLT
secretary@g5srs.co.uk
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Treasurer
Ray M7XRW
treasurer@g5srs.co.uk
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Vice-Chairman
Kris M6OER
vice-chairman@g5srs.co.uk
The club’s papers
Published rather than filed away, because a member is entitled to read the rules they are agreeing to.
Club documents
These are the papers the club runs on. Members are entitled to see all of them; we publish them so nobody has to ask.
- Constitution — the rules the club is run by
- Safeguarding policy — how we look after young people and adults at risk
- Privacy notice — what we hold about you and for how long
- Membership form — to print, or fill in on a phone and email back
- Parental consent form — for anyone under 18
Finding us
Still working on it
Anything else, ask the Secretary: secretary@g5srs.co.uk. Questions about training go to training@g5srs.co.uk.
Come to a meeting first
You do not have to join anything to turn up, and we would rather you saw the club before you paid for it. When you are ready, the joining page has the form and the subscription.