Hatfield Polytechnic Amateur Radio Club video

In 1990 Martin Pipe G7DZS made a promotional video for the Hatfield Polytechnic Amateur Radio Club that provides a glimpse of amateur radio as it was 21 years ago.

Before the days of the Internet, cheap global communication for the masses was possible thanks to the hobby of amateur radio (in the UK, check out www.rsgb.org).

Many 'radio hams' of my era started out using the short-range CB radio, which was popular for a short while during the late '70s and early '80s.
I studied for my degree at Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire) between 1987 and 1990, and belonged to the college's amateur radio society.

This short film - probably the first I ever made - was intended to promote the activities of this society at the annual 'Freshers Fayre'.

Helping me were two guys called Adrian, and my girlfriend of the time (Allison).

Join us as we attempt to make radio contact from Dunstable Downs, and then the 'shack' belonging to one of the Adrians. You'll also see clips from one of our 'fox-hunts' (enjoyable events in which radio amateurs 'track down' a sporadic operator secreted in the countryside) and the society's own 'shack' in the college's electronic engineering department. My, some of that stuff looks dated!

The film was made with an early VHS portable recorder and tubed camera. This recorder was subsequently coupled with a cheap VHS VCR and Akai tape deck (used as a soundtrack mixer for the commentary) to produce the edit. Considering the limitations of this primitive videomaking technology (and the more-than-20 years that have passed) it's amazing the film looks as good as it does...

Watch Hatfield Polytechnic (University of Hertfordshire) Amateur Radio Society, 1990

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