Sunday the 20th of February 2022 was the day that Ken G3WYN and Sean EI7CV had their 2000th QSO.
I set off just after seven in the morning to go over to see Ken to get the photographs and do a video of the actual QSO taking place.
After this was done I then went up to Whitemans Green about a mile from Ken's house set up the HF mobile so as to join in the special event.
Phil G4UDU
On 4th January 1977 Sean (EI7CV) met Ken (G3WYN) on the 80-metre band.
During a call lasting about 30 minutes, they discovered they had many interests in common. This led to their first face-to-face meeting at Ken’s home a week later. At Ken’s suggestion, a scheduled contact was arranged.
Thus began a regular series of Sunday morning contacts on 80 metres at 08:00 hrs local time. Gradually, members of the Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society were attracted to listen in and later to participate in the regular contacts.
Besides radio contacts, Ken’s wife Stella, and Sean’s wife Nancy, with their children, took part in family meetings in Sussex and Ireland.
By May 1987, contact numbers had reached 500. Another celebration took place in November 1998 when contact number 1000 was made. Ken and Stella travelled to Dunshaughlin to celebrate the event with Sean and Nancy.
Sad to say that although Ken an Sean are still in regular contact every Sunday, Nancy and Stella are no longer with us.
On February 20th 2022, Ken and Sean celebrated contact number 2000. This has been a wonderful achievement in maintaining regular radio contacts on a weekly basis since 1977.
Despite their advancing years, they hope to continue for some time.
A video recording of the 2000th contact can be found on our Videos page.
Thanks also to Mervyn M0WVE for providing an audio recording of the entire net, which can be downloaded below (approx. 12MB)