RSBG Membership is it worth the price?

Post by **nay27uk** » 05 Dec 2016, 17:29

As the title says

Is the RSBG Membership worth the price @£51 a year?
What do members get out of it? Do we get any discounts on new radio gear etc.
Do you actualy need to be a Licenced HAM to Join?

I am thinking about Joining but from the joining page on the RSBG website it doesn't seem to offer a lot for £51 a year bar a few magazines.

The RSBG news on a Sunday Morning on the local repeater GB3CF is good but even that is what I have already read a week earlier on the internet.

Apart from some news on a local repeater once a week that is usualy copied from the internet anyway and a couple of magazines probably copied from the internet as well what exactly does your £51 a year get you?

I am not knocking the RSBG or anything like that but I am just curious what exactly £51 a year gets a member when the site says a couple magazines and the only other thing I have seen or heard is that RSBG members at the end of the Sunday Morning news get priority over the other listeners and stations.

Also one question left for me to add is this.

The guy that reads the Sunday News on behalf of the RSBG says on GB3CF, "TO ALL STATIONS" and "TO ALL SHORTWAVE LISTENERS", how is 145.600 MHZ anywhere near the Shortwave band? Shortwave is HF and HF only works up to no more than 30 MHz (thats how I believe it to be anyway) so how is 145.600 MHz a shortwave band? I am sure that 145.600 MHz is VHF.

Is there a Shortwave transmission on HF that I don't know about that is transmitting the same news that I am hearing on the local 2M VHF Repeater? or is he wrong for saying TO ALL SHORTWAVE LISTENERS?.

I have been wondering about this since 9:00AM this sunday, I have been a SW Listener for over 10 years now, and even further back than that I think i was 11 or 12 Years old when I first got into SW Radio and as a result everything RADIO related, so about 29 - 30 years ago and I have never, not ever, heard any RSGB news on HF (SW).

Post by **k40** » 05 Dec 2016, 18:20

In 18 yrs of being an amateur I've only had it for 1 year and that was when they did it for a pound or there abouts.

Post by **nay27uk** » 05 Dec 2016, 18:25

Thanks K40 that explains a lot

Post by **Admiral** » 05 Dec 2016, 18:34

It's the same script that gets read an all frquencies, so just an all encompassing generic greeting.

I will reserve my thoughts about RSGB Ltd, personally I would not urinate on them if they were on fire, but I do recognise that they have some very dedicated and clever disciples that do a lot of good in the radio community.

Post by **Adriano9966** » 05 Dec 2016, 18:36

As a rule of thumb I'm certain the RSGB news is usually read out on Sunday morning at 10 AM on or around 7.150 Mhz LSB by a ham in Germany

I personally think that the RSGB despite it's shortcomings is the best representation for radio operators/enthusiasts in the UK but that is my viewpoint you must decide for yourself.
Many people have received help and support from the RSGB in matters relating to EMC and in respect of aerial planning but I think the QSL Bureau itself is also a worthwhile benefit of membership once again just my point of view

Post by **nay27uk** » 05 Dec 2016, 18:59

Again thanks to all for the replies.

I have never tried 7.150 MHz at 10:00 AM as the RSGB news is always read at 9:00AM here in Leicester UK at 145.600 MHz on the GB3CF repeater 2M Repeater be that Summer or Winter so to me it seems like a mix up in UTC/GMT time frames, it is either 9.00 AM or 10.00 AM GMT, UTC is the worldwide variant of GMT and GMT is england time, however UTC should be following GMT directly, but UTC does not seem to take into account the daylight saving that GMT does.

This GMT/UTC is a confusing area in itself so in germany it is 10:00 AM winter while in the UK it is 9:00 AM GMT Winter so does that mean then that when it is 9:00am here in the summer (BST) (Daylight Saving) that in germany it is the same time in UTC?

Post by **WeatherWatcher** » 05 Dec 2016, 19:32

Was a member before the Internet but not any more other than through my local radio club. Never even remember to tune in on 145.500.

Post by **takara** » 05 Dec 2016, 19:47

As already mentioned it's a generic broadcast on many frequencies, the schedule can be downloaded from:-
http://rsgb.org/main/gb2rs/gb2rs-news-b ... -schedule/

GMT and UTC are the same. Germany is always 1hr ahead of UK and does use DST,
so 09.00 GMT/UTC is 10.00 BST and 11.00 CET (Central European Time ) in Summer. Hope this clears up your misunderstanding.

Post by **nay27uk** » 05 Dec 2016, 22:52

Thanks takara yes that helps

Post by **Tigersaw** » 05 Dec 2016, 23:30

Re: RSBG Membership is it worth the price?
Depends on your funding, its a pretty hefty lump - However, a subscription to PW would be £44, and that’s a **** poor and biased mag IMHO, so for a bit more you get radcom which these days is pretty good, access to the deeper parts of the website and a badge (or maybe they have stopped that).
Personally I'm with Admiral, but I have a grudge against them that goes back years.

Post by **Buick Mackane** » 05 Dec 2016, 23:38

What ???

The RSGB Charge folk to join ?

They sent me a free copy of radcom a few months ago. Full of ad's for overpriced sh1te. Can't even wipe yer ass with it, The corners are too sharp

Post by **Tigersaw** » 05 Dec 2016, 23:46

It was £2 a year when I was a lad and they were based in Doughty street London - guess their expenses have increased somewhat

Post by **nay27uk** » 06 Dec 2016, 06:37

PLL02A wrote:What ??? The RSGB Charge folk to join ? They sent me a free copy of radcom a few months ago. Full of ad's for overpriced sh1te. Can't even wipe yer ass with it, The corners are too sharp

Yep £51.00 for Individual Membership and if you want to pay using paypal add another £2.00 on top of that so £53.00

http://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/Online ... GB_22.html

Thanks all for the replies and making my mind up which is I will give it a miss

Post by **MrWeetabix** » 06 Dec 2016, 08:41

k40 wrote:In 18 yrs of being an amateur I've only had it for 1 year and that was when they did it for a pound or there abouts.

Same here. a year's worth of the magazine and a pin badge for a quid...... that was decent value. Not sure I;d feel the same if it cost me £53 mind

I had a flick through some of the articles, but I gave the magazines away in the end. I still have the pin badge though, just in case I find a nice tweed jacket to pin it to some time

Post by **andymuza** » 06 Dec 2016, 11:18

You also get to use the QSL Bureau to send QSL cards if that's your thing.