AN auction item which was made and donated by Westbury man, Roy Bailey, has raised £1,025.99 for The Radio Society of Great Britain. The RSGB match funded up to £1,000, bringing the total to over £2,000 for “NHS Charities Together.”
Roy, radio call sign G0VFS, is an active member of the Trowbridge and District Amateur Radio Club. He handcrafted his special Morse key during lockdown.
The key was auctioned for the ‘NHS Charities Together’ as part of the Radio Society of Great Britain and NHS campaign ‘Get on the air for Christmas’ (GOTA4C), which was held on 19th December.
Earlier this year Roy had won the Lockdown Category in the RSGB’s Annual Construction Competition with his Morse key which was made entirely during the Covid period of self-isolation.
The Morse key, a beautifully engineered hand-made key was Roy’s take of the iconic VIBROPLEX bug key, an innovative, semi-automatic key invented by Horace Martin in 1905 which is still popular among radio amateurs around the world today.
Roy placed a plaque on the key with the following inscription: ‘The VirusPerplexed Bug CW Key. This Morse key was handcrafted by G0VFS while STAYING at Home to Protect our NHS during the Corona Pandemic – Spring 2020’. This was done to give the key a link (like a time capsule) to what has been an extraordinary and challenging time in history for us all, but most profoundly for the NHS.
The key drew a lot of interest on Facebook from around the world and a comment was left suggesting it would make a great auction prize. Unsure how to do this Roy contacted the RSGB who took up the idea, setting up the auction, and arranging the necessary publicity. Roy and the RSGB were delighted with the generous response of the radio amateur community for this worthy cause.
Roy said the greatest pleasure in making something is when someone else also appreciates and values it.
