The roots of the Halifax & District Amateur Radio Society go back a long way.

The phenomenon of electromagnetic radiation was discovered by scientists such as Heinrich Helmholtz in the 1880s and put on a sound mathematical basis by James Clark Maxwell in 1888. It remained a curiosity until an Italian amateur Guglielmo Marconi showed that it could be used as a means of communications. A practical radio communication system was developed in Britain by Marconi around 1910 but his activities fascinated people who also wanted to experiment with this new technology.

Around the country, groups of men – and it was predominantly men – came together to investigate radio and experiment with it. Governments were not keen to allow irresponsible groups, i.e. amateurs and so unanswerable to the Government, unrestricted access to radio and imposed a structure of licensing controlled by the Post Office. Persons wishing to transmit had to apply for a licence citing valid reasons for their request and were issued with a licence and call-sign on payment of an annual fee. Initially, if the annual fee wasn’t paid, the right to use that call sign lapsed and the call sign was re-issued.

In 1909 Mr Percy Denison rented a hut on land near Wainhouse Tower at King Cross, Halifax, and was given permission to erect a wireless station using the Tower to support the aerial for transmission and reception. The wireless station, “which had a range of 800 miles”, closed after four years of operation but the Tower was again used for supporting aerials associated with a later experimental radio station. Mr Denison used the call sign 2KD and set up a business building and selling radio receivers at Stonecliffe Works, Wakefield Gate, a short distance from the Tower.  His activities must have enthused other local, scientifically-interested men with the possibilities of radio.

To pursue their interest, local enthusiasts formed a society with the aim of educating their members in all aspects of radio. We know that Frank Clay and his son, James Clay, Louis Wood and others had formed the Halifax and District Amateur Wireless Association before 1915 to investigate and experiment with radio because their activities were reported in the October 1914 edition of Wireless World. Furthermore, Wireless World in October 1915 reported on the AGM which had been held in May that year so the Society would seem to have been well-established by the end of 1920. Indeed, Wolverhampton Amateur Radio Society quotes one of its past presidents as referring to a group in Halifax holding regular meetings in the pre-1920 period.

Yet confusingly, in 1920, a series of adverts appeared in various radio magazines asking those interested in forming a Wireless Club in Halifax to contact J.R.Clay. Presumably J.R.Clay was the same James Clay who was a founder member of the Halifax and District Amateur Wireless Association. Whether James Clay had fallen out with the Association or whether he was hoping to form a Society with different aims, we may never find out.

James Clay was licensed as 2YR and the Halifax & District Amateur Wireless Association received the call sign 2GU – one of the first tranche of call signs issued after the First World War. 2GU appears to have been re-issued several times making tracking the early days of the Society difficult but 2GU and the Halifax Wireless Club occur sufficiently frequently in various publications that we can be sure 2GU was definitely the Society’s call sign by 1920. In 1923, the Halifax & District Amateur Wireless Association was calling itself the “Halifax Wireless Club and Radio Scientific Society” – as the officers appeared to be the same, this may have been a merging of two local groups but the new name was used interchangeably with “Halifax Wireless Club” throughout that year. However, in a letter to Wireless World in 1933, Louis Wood signed himself as “Hon. Sec. Halifax Wireless Club (since 1919)”. Furthermore, Halifax Wireless Society became the Halifax and District Amateur Radio Society (HADARS) from at least as early as 1943 but without the Society’s minutes we cannot be sure when – or why – those changes happened.  Interestingly, Mr Denison 2KD was never listed as an officer of Society although he gave regular talks and demonstrations as well as to other clubs in the region.

These Edwardian men were made of stern stuff and there are some photographs of Society members with, presumably, their wives on the moors near Blackstone Edge with a portable radio set. The photographs show the men dressed in suits wearing ties and hats with a group of ladies – presumably their wives – sat in the background and probably wondering what on earth was possessing their husbands! Unfortunately, the aerial is not visible but it was likely to have been a rather substantial structure judging by the guy wires running across the pictures. A third photograph shows at least one car parked at the roadside.

Various meeting places were used during the Society’s life. Initially it was registered at the Y.M.C.A. – at that time at Clare Hall, Halifax – and had a room devoted to a transmitter. In May 1920, on the occasion of Princess Helena Victoria’s visit to the Y.M.C.A. in Halifax, the Society received a radio message from the R.S.G.B. in London which message was presented to the Princess.

The Halifax Radio Society’s original call sign was 2GU but somehow this became G2UG.  This may have been the result of a mistake when the national prefixes were issued but what we know is that, as mentioned below, the RSGB’s Bulletin shows that HADARS was active in 1943 with G2UG.   Various suggestions have been proposed for the change in call sign but possibly, at some point, the club had allowed its licence to lapse and when it was re-activated G2GU was not available and so the club accepted G2UG instead.

Understandably, there was a bit of a lull in reported activities between 1939 and 1945 although a report in the RSGB’s Bulletin in 1943 shows that HADARS participated in a contest with the call sign G2UG and used a Drake TR5/R7 and sloping dipole.  There seemed to be a lot of interest in the new technology as the Halifax Experimental Radio Society was also active before, possibly during, and after WW II, the Heckmondwike & District Wireless was active around 1922-3 and the Todmorden District Amateur Radio Society flourished from before 1965 up to at least 1991.  There were other groups at Huddersfield and elsewhere locally.

Regrettably, in the early 1960s there was a split among the members and dissenting members formed the Northern Heights Amateur Radio Society. This split seemed to cause a bit of confusion as Wireless World reports activity of the “newly formed Halifax & District Amateur Radio Society”. After the split, both Clubs were still going as evidenced by the item in Short Wave Magazine in 1962. Northern Heights ARS flourished for the next twenty years with a very active programme of events. Its secretary for most of that time was Arthur Robinson G3MDW who ran the Candy Cabin at Ogden. Despite being disabled with difficulty in walking, Arthur seemed to be very active and his exploits and those of the Northern Heights ARS are recorded on the Society’s website www.nhars.org.uk. To confuse matters even further, it appears that Arthur Robinson G3MDW was Secretary to both Halifax radio clubs for several years and reports of activities and events in various magazines may have been attributed to the wrong group.

From the time of the split, HADARS went into a slow decline with fewer mentions in the various radio magazines and by the end of 1968 had no transmitting members on the committee. It appeared to be defunct for the next 12 years but in 1981 was re-formed or re-energised as the Halifax & District Amateur Radio Society using the call sign G2UG.

Northern Heights ARS finished in 1998 and we presume any active members joined HADARS. Since its re-activation in 1981, HADARS has experienced changing fortunes but has managed to keep going, to keep the spirit of amateur radio alive in Halifax and its environs and kept G2UG and its variations on the air.

In the meantime, we continue delving into the history of the Halifax & District Amateur Radio Society and its antecedents and will update this page with further information as and when it becomes available.