Bryan (M0BIK) opened the evening by saying that the Talk out of Hat would take the form of interview by Brian (G8GHR) of Clive (G3CWV) as another Meet the Member programme.

Clive was born in Birmingham in 1932 and went to Moseley Grammar School. He got his licence G3CWV in 1947 at the age of 15, which may have made him one of the youngest amateurs in the country. He started with a single valve crystal oscillator Tx and a two valve straight Rx, known as an 0-V-1. This was his station in 1955.

Clive talked about the various companies he had worked for, including Joseph Lucas in Birmingham; Staveley Research Department in Clapham, Bedford; Staveley in Worcester; Birmingham University and finally BAe Space Systems in Stevenage.

In retirement he has continued his interest in amateur radio satellites. He has written many articles for OSCAR News and was awarded in 2001, by AMSAT-UK, the G3AAJ cup for services to the Amateur Radio Satellite Service.

Bryan then introduced Don (G4LOO) who talked about the Mills-on-the Air station (GB4JHM) which the Club had run over the weekend. He said that the location was not ideal for visitors, but that the Club members had enjoyed the event.

Finally Don gave a short summary of the Club’s previous VHF contest results. The view was that a 6m station rather than a 23cm station would be preferred.