LEFARS (Loughton and Epping Forest Amateur Radio Soc.) and VMARS member David Coles M0IDF commemorated the 75th anniversary of D-Day by operating portable for a week adjacent to Pegasus Bridge under the callsign F/M0IDF. Operating from the back of his 1942 Bedford MW truck, equipment comprised a WW2 ZC1 Transceiver and Yaesu FT-857 running into a WW2 150ft longwire antenna. 6m operation was also possible using military antennas. Many stations were worked on 80/40/20/6m, in particular on June 6th, where the many UK and mainland European stations keen to make contact caused a major pile-up! Other VMARS and vintage stations were present in Normandy and were worked throughout the week. The station also received many visitors and even a film crew who were fascinated by the vehicle and the station’s operation. For the vast majority it was their first experience of amateur radio and a terrific advert for the hobby.

This article was featured in the August 2019 issue of Practical Wireless