Bunkers on The Air, Cold War Bunkers, R O C, Observation Posts, Nuclear War, Nuclear Bunkers, Amateur Radio
G 8 G M U
Bunkers on The Air
CAUTION - DO NOT ENTER ANY BUNKER THEY ARE OFTEN DANGEROUS,
DO NOT ENTER FARM OR OTHER LAND WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE LANDOWNER
Brief background
Very broadly there are dozens if not hundreds of underground defensive & observation structures throughout the UK, many constructed in the 1950's and 60's and generally de-commissioned in the 1990's
It is beyond the scope of this page to describe all the bunker types uses & locations, the Subterranea Britannica website covers this. Subterranea Britannica
Individual ROC Bunkers can be found at This link gives all known Royal Observer Corps Bunkers locations and their status. The list is on 157 pages, plenty to choose from.
This link allows searches with various criteria This link helps if you are searching by county, or 'style of bunker'
How it began
Bunkers on the air was an idea after G8GMU & M3HBM used the bunker site at Wolston as the location of the 'fox' on a radio direction finding contest with the Coventry Amateur Radio Society.
It was decided to activate bunkers 4 of the local bunkers on 70cm, 2 and 4 Metres, this has ben tried on several occasions & it has been shown not all the local bunkers would have been able to communicate using low power VHF & UHF systems with a simple antenna.
Last known activations
Bulkington(Bedworth), Harbury, and Napton Bunkers, were actvated on Friday 11th June 2010. The activity was on the 2, 12. and 80 Metre bands.
With sucessful communication between all bunker sites. Heavy QRM from broadband was noted at the Bedworth site on 12 Metres.
We were joined on air by many more stations this year.
Again Friday the 12 th June 2009 at about 8.00 PM (BST) saw a further round of Bunkers on The AIR, again on 2 & 4 Metres with the additional bands of 10 & 80 Metres SSB again using simple antennas, dipoles, & verticals. These activations were an activity by The Coventry Amateur Radio Society.
This is open to all to try please join us on the air from your local bunker site, please heed the warning at the head of the page.
Through Castles & Stately Homes on The Air there are castle numbers for some bunkers:-
G151 - BEDWORTH
G152 - Fleckney
G153 - Lutterworth
G154 - Meriden
G156 - Hasley Knob
G161 - Wolston
For other castle & bunker number please contact CASHOTA, but don't keep it to yourself. Please let me know any new numbers a soon as possible. Please see the CASHOTA link on the home page.
Please note there is no connection between Subterranea Britannica and this activity, despite E mailing them many time they chosen not to reply. If someone has a method of being able to communicate with this this group please me know as I am sure we could all work together & make this a national event with the 2 groups working in harmony.
Google have maps showing some local bunkers - Clicking this link takes you away from this site.
Good luck & good bunkering.
For further information Contact The Coventry Amateur Radio Society
G8GMU Home Page
G 8 G M U
DO NOT ENTER FARM OR OTHER LAND WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE LANDOWNER
Brief background
Very broadly there are dozens if not hundreds of underground defensive & observation structures throughout the UK, many constructed in the 1950's and 60's and generally de-commissioned in the 1990's
It is beyond the scope of this page to describe all the bunker types uses & locations, the Subterranea Britannica website covers this. Subterranea Britannica
Individual ROC Bunkers can be found at This link gives all known Royal Observer Corps Bunkers locations and their status. The list is on 157 pages, plenty to choose from.
This link allows searches with various criteria This link helps if you are searching by county, or 'style of bunker'
How it began
Last known activations
Again Friday the 12 th June 2009 at about 8.00 PM (BST) saw a further round of Bunkers on The AIR, again on 2 & 4 Metres with the additional bands of 10 & 80 Metres SSB again using simple antennas, dipoles, & verticals. These activations were an activity by The Coventry Amateur Radio Society.
Bunkers on the air was an idea after G8GMU & M3HBM used the bunker site at Wolston as the location of the 'fox' on a radio direction finding contest with the Coventry Amateur Radio Society.
It was decided to activate bunkers 4 of the local bunkers on 70cm, 2 and 4 Metres, this has ben tried on several occasions & it has been shown not all the local bunkers would have been able to communicate using low power VHF & UHF systems with a simple antenna.
Bulkington(Bedworth), Harbury, and Napton Bunkers, were actvated on Friday 11th June 2010. The activity was on the 2, 12. and 80 Metre bands.
With sucessful communication between all bunker sites. Heavy QRM from broadband was noted at the Bedworth site on 12 Metres.
We were joined on air by many more stations this year.
This is open to all to try please join us on the air from your local bunker site, please heed the warning at the head of the page.
Through Castles & Stately Homes on The Air there are castle numbers for some bunkers:-
G152 - Fleckney
G153 - Lutterworth
G154 - Meriden
G156 - Hasley Knob
G161 - Wolston
Please note there is no connection between Subterranea Britannica and this activity, despite E mailing them many time they chosen not to reply. If someone has a method of being able to communicate with this this group please me know as I am sure we could all work together & make this a national event with the 2 groups working in harmony.
Google have maps showing some local bunkers - Clicking this link takes you away from this site.
Good luck & good bunkering.
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