Churches and Chapels on the Air (CHOTA) 2026
On Saturday 12th September 2026, SADARS took part in Churches and Chapels on the Air (CHOTA). This year marked a milestone for the club, as it was the first time we operated two stations simultaneously from two different locations.
One team activated St Mary’s Church, Aston (GB2SMA), while the second team operated from All Saints Church, Willian (GB2ASW).
All Saints Church, Willian
The All Saints team arrived early to prepare the station before the event. Royston (G4SWH) arrived at around 9:00 am, followed by Martin (M0KNM) at 9:15 am and Ian (G0KOA) shortly afterwards. Royston climbed the church bell tower to lower a rope, allowing us to secure one end of our full-size G5RV antenna to the tower, with the other end tied to a tree in the churchyard. Dave (M7WVX) joined us just before the event began.
CHOTA ran from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm. Our station consisted of the club’s Yaesu FT-991A, a laptop running the logging software, an MFJ-939 automatic antenna tuner, and a Superlux HMD-660 headset.
The day was a great success. The weather stayed warm and sunny throughout, and the wonderful ladies of the church kept us well supplied with tea, coffee, and homemade cake—a much-appreciated bonus!
We finished operating at 3:57 pm, having made 115 QSOs. After packing away the station, everything was cleared and we departed by 4:30 pm.
A huge thank you to everyone at All Saints Church for their warm hospitality and support, and to all the operators who made SADARS’ first dual-site CHOTA activation such a memorable event.
All Saints Willian (GB2ASW)
Saint Marys Aston (GB2SMA)
