SOS Radio Week has been in operation now for 16 years. It was born out of a sponsored amateur radio activity that David Hughes (M3LFC) undertook when he was just ten years old. He raised £300 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The year after, a few of us took part and repeated the feat, raising some more money. The following year we went national and SOS Radio Week was born. Over the years, the participants in SOS Radio Week have raised thousands of pounds for the RNLI.
SOS Radio Week now supports many more volunteer coastal rescue services
SOS Radio Week now celebrates the amazing work performed by the volunteer crews and watch keepers of the RNLI, National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) and the many independent lifeboat stations and coastal rescue teams around the British Isles.
When, where and how?
Official registered stations can be operated by individuals, or clubs, using individual, club, or special event callsigns. They can operate from home, their club, or any other location they want – some like to operate from the local lifeboat/Coastwatch station which we support providing permission from the station is obtained first. Operations can take place on any band, using any mode and they can last from a few hours to the whole month.
All registered stations will be entered into the SOS Radio Week League and our new Awards Manager will be issuing 1st, 2nd and 3rd place certificates after the event to operators by band and mode.
Registered stations can raise money, in addition to awareness, for an individual lifeboat/Coastwatch station, or the RNLI/NCI/NILA themselves. The SOS Radio Week organising team does not get involved in this but there are some links to help you with this on out website.
Register now and join in the fun
We hope that you have a passion for the volunteer rescue services that keep people safe around the coasts of the British Isles (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Eire, Isle of Man and Channel Isles) and far out to sea and that you can join us. For further details and to register, please visit our website.
Why SOS Radio Week?
Oh, one more thing. I bet you’re wondering why the event is called SOS Radio Week when it is a month long. It has never has been a week long, but it sounded good when we started it. The RNLI had a fundraising week that to place at the end of January; it was called SOS Week. To give participants the opportunity to operate on one of two weekends (some lifeboat stations are flooded on one weekend, but not the other – Lytham is a good example) we decided to include the weekend before SOS Week and the one of SOS Week. So SOS Radio Week was nine days long.
Unfortunately, January is a bitter month to go out fundraising, and to operate from many lifeboat stations as it happens. So the RNLI moved their event to May Day bank holiday weekend. That suited their fundraisers and a lot of our operators who felt the cold of those early days of the year. So we had a nine day event in May. Then the RNLI changed their event again to incorporate the Mayday Mile, a month-long sponsored walking marathon; so SOS Radio Week became a month long too. And to be honest, that suits us, because it gives much more time to operate and raise awareness and funds.
The thing was, throughout all these changes, the name “SOS Radio Week” has stuck, it rolls off the tongue nice and easy, we’ve got the domain name and branding, and to be honest, it draws attention to itself because it’s not a week long. Think of it as four SOS Radio Weeks all rolled into one.