Airfields 2025

Introduction

Middlezoy Aerodrome is located just outside Westonzoyland on part of the site of the wartime RAF Westonzoyland Airbase. Not the easiest place in the world to find, it isn’t exactly hidden away either and the site is used for a number of public events including Westcountry WarAg and the Somerset Aerofest. The postal address is: Middlezoy Aerodrome Ltd, Middlezoy, Somerset, TA7 0JS. However, there are some additional details that will be of interest to Radio Hams:

• Lat/Long (WGS84 Geoid): 51.10259°N, 2.902985°W
• OSGR: ST 36873 34087 (6 figure ST368340)
• IARU Locator: IO81nc
• WAB: ST33
• IOTA: EU005 (Mainland UK)
• What 3 Words: ///flow.triangles.clustered (Entrance to the Operating Post)
• What 3 Words: ///unstated.chapters.rounds (Entrance to the Site)

Location

The wartime Westonzoyland Airfield no longer exists in full. The site was returned to agricultural use in 1969 having last seen active duty in 1958. This image of the airfield in 1944 shows how different things are compared to present day:

The most notable missing element in the photo above is the lack of the A372 which now bisects the original airfield. Overlaying (to the best of our abilities) the original runways on a modern map shows the changes that have occurred.

In fact the “new” A372 appears to have been built on a section of the original wartime runway 11/29. The airfield to the north of the “new” A372 has retained the Westonzoyland name and is currently used for Micro-Lights as the home for Westonzoyland Flying Club. To the south of the “new” A372, but still well within the boundary of the original wartime Westonzoyland Airfield, is Middlezoy Aerodrome and this was to be our “home” for the weekend of Airfields on the Air.

Operation

Equipment

There had been some minor changes at the aerodrome, most notable being the addition of some side cladding to one side of the “dutch barn” that serves as our antenna support which gave us some concern over the effects this much metal beneath our antenna might have. The “Meteor” had been re-sited but the Nissan Hut that we use as our base of operations is still a wonderful tribute to all things aviation. This year we used:

1. Nissei DPS300GL power supply,
2. Yaesu FT991 HF/6m/2m/70cm multi-mode transceiver,
3. MFJ 993 auto atu,
4. 80m flexweave half-wave doublet fed with 450Ω ladder line supported at the feedpoint by a MFJ-1908H 13m telescopic mast,
5. Acer Aspire 8942 laptop running CQRLog under Debian with the Cinnamon Desktop,
6. Behringer XENYX 302USB audio mixer,
7. Logitech external powered speakers,
8. 9m telescopic “roach pole” (yes, this is the very same one that we broke last year), and
9. 2.5kW petrol generator.

Operation

Our resident “avgeek” and 100 Squadron historian, Greg 2W1BUF is the main reason that we do this event. He was the instigator of our involvement and central to the selection of Middlezoy Aerodrome, part of the former RAF Westonzoyland and his enthusiasm for this location and event is undeniable. Andy G7KNA was the first on site on Saturday and began setting up the interior equipment. Shortly after Greg 2W1BUF joined him and with the assistance of Dave M7DVY the antenna was put up in its usual place.

Conditions were not great, propagation was unreliable with a lot of QSB (fading). After some time both searching and calling we managed to open our account with a contact into the Netherlands followed by: Wales, Scotland, Germany and France before a local contact secured England for us. This was quite a flurry of countries and gives an indication of how variable the propagation was.

RAF North Weald was the first participating Special Event Station that we worked although this was quickly followed by GX1IDR the Amateur Radio Station that represents or belongs to a Glider Club based at part of the former RAF Husbands Bosworth. To us, this sounds like a fantastic combination of hobbies. We have heard that Gloucester Airport is up for sale although the asking price is probably considerably more than the Coventry Glider Club paid for their section of RAF Husbands Bosworth in 1965.

Although we only made 33 contacts on the Saturday it was still a good day.

We made use of a convenient TV to provide a second monitor to the Club laptop. This was just a clone of the laptop display which is not greatly interesting. What would be nice in circumstances like this when we can make use of such a facility would be to have a screen that either mapped the station being work ed or provided some other automated graphical element such as loading the QRZ page of the station being worked. Something to think abut for next year perhaps.

Sunday saw similarly fine weather to Saturday with the added advantage that the wind had dropped enough to let the planes fly. Our initial setup was, therefore, somewhat disrupted, in the nicest possible way, by a couple of light aircraft departures and their later return to base. We felt that these interruptions were well worth the spectacle that they provided.

Propagation was still hard work but like yesterday we persevered as conditions improved through the day.

Like yesterday our first contact of the day was with the Netherlands, this time with PA80LIB. Interestingly their QRZ Page says that this callsign will be active from 21 february 2025 – 23 February 2025 to commemorate the liberation of the Dutch town of Bergen Lb. Either another town took the callsign on or they extended their period of operation as we worked them on 6 April which is at least a month and half after they were supposed to be using the callsign, but no matter.

We added Belgium and Eire (Southern Ireland) to our list of countries worked and made 43 contacts bringing the weekend’s total to 76. Not as many as we’ve worked in previous years and a testimony to the propagation conditions but still a great weekend when we were treated to some flying aircraft in addition to having some radio fun. We’re already looking forward to 2026.

Map of Participating Stations Worked

GB0WZL Log 2025

Date (UTC)	Time (UTC)	Station Worked	Band or Freq (MHz)	Mode	Sent		Received		Operator’s Name	QTH	IARU Locator	Dist (km)	Notes
					RST	No.	RST	No.
05/04/25	11:36	PA6KWZ	7.113	SSB	59		58		Peter	EU
05/04/25	11:46	MW0NXT	7.159	SSB	43		59			EU
05/04/25	11:49	MM7JDY	7.159	SSB	33		57		Arthur	EU
05/04/25	12:06	DL7OO	7.159	SSB	58		59		Klaus	Cologne EU
05/04/25	12:23	PA4AR	7.159	SSB	59		59		Arie	EU
05/04/25	12:30	F5VBD	7.159	SSB	59		59		Frank	50km south of Geneva EU
05/04/25	12:33	G4YOH	7.159	SSB	59		59		Wayne	Chard EU
05/04/25	12:35	MM3UBB	7.159	SSB	59		57		Ged	Flotta (Orkneys) EU
05/04/25	12:38	DK4KAI/P	7.159	SSB	59		58		Kain	Bremmen EU
05/04/25	12:42	M7FKN	7.159	SSB	59		59		Adam	Bridgwater EU
05/04/25	12:45	PA3BO	7.159	SSB	54		59		Corl	Rotterdam EU
05/04/25	14:38	GB0WAO	7.133	SSB	59		58		Ed	RAF Chipping Ongar			Operated by Harlow & District ARS Harlow and District ARS
05/04/25	14:54	GB0IARU	7.141	SSB	59		59		Ed	Littlehampton EU			100W Inverted Vee
05/04/25	15:03	GB2NWA	7.141	SSB	59		59		Richard	RAF North Weald			Operated by LEFARS
05/04/25	15:07	G4GMN	7.141	SSB	59		59		Ray	Chigwell EU			FT101D 400W
05/04/25	15:11	G4NAQ	7.141	SSB	59		59		Clive	Clevedon EU
05/04/25	15:12	G7EHR	7.141	SSB	59		59		Bob	East Devon EU			FT DX3000 Double Bazooka
05/04/25	15:18	GX1IDR	7.141	SSB	59		58		Brian	RAF Husbands Bosworth			Operated by The Gliding Centre ARS Gliding Centre Amateur Radio Society
05/04/25	15:21	M1EUX	7.141	SSB	59		59		Chris	Buckingham EU			100W Half Wave Dipole
05/04/25	15:24	G1GDB	7.141	SSB	59		59		Derek	Bothel nr Keswick EU
05/04/25	15:24	G8LOJ	7.141	SSB	59		59		Simon	Bridport west Dorset EU			FT DX101D 400W – 500W Doublet Antenna
05/04/25	15:26	G1BBY	7.141	SSB	59		59		Walter	EU			Hustler Tri-Band vertical
05/04/25	15:29	G7RMG	7.141	SSB	59		59		Jeff	Wimborne EU
05/04/25	15:34	GW5GDP	7.141	SSB	29		55		Graham	Caerphilly EU
05/04/25	15:37	2E0FDS	7.141	SSB	59		59		Keith	Helsby EU			TS890 110′ Inverted Vee Doublet
05/04/25	15:42	G6TEQ	7.141	SSB	59		59		Ian	Torquay EU
05/04/25	15:46	G3OKA	7.141	SSB	59		59		John	Liverpool EU
05/04/25	15:48	G4YKQ	7.141	SSB	59		59		Paul	High Wycombe EU			400W 40m Delta Loop
05/04/25	15:51	MW0CHZ	7.141	SSB	59		59		David	Carnarvon EU
05/04/25	15:53	MW0CDO	7.141	SSB	59		59		Paul	EU
05/04/25	15:56	G0JMR	7.141	SSB	59		59		David	Colm Lancashire EU			100W 66′ Wire
05/04/25	16:00	M0LMG	7.141	SSB	57		57		Peter	West Sussex EU			10W
05/04/25	16:02	GW4YNT	7.141	SSB	59		59		Martin	Port Talbot EU			50W G5RV
06/04/25	09:46	PA80LIB	7.1335	SSB	59		57		Frank	EU
06/04/25	10:16	TM17REF	7.13	SSB	59		59		Alan	EU			F6BFH
06/04/25	11:29	G3PXT/P	7.164	SSB	58		57		Gordon	Clacton EU
06/04/25	11:35	GB0BAM	7.146	SSB	57		59		Derek	Boscombe Airfield EU
06/04/25	11:45	GX1RAF	7.127	SSB	58		59		Tony	RAF Halton			Operated by Halton Radio Club
06/04/25	12:05	MOVIE	7.109	SSB	59		59		Kevin	Crewe
06/04/25	12:13	GM4FZH	7.109	SSB	52		59		Clive	Dumfries EU
06/04/25	12:14	M0DUU	7.109	SSB	57		57		David	Northampton EU
06/04/25	12:28	G0FIU	7.094	SSB	56		59		Roger	Bury St. Edmunds EU			QRP station running 5W
06/04/25	12:32	M7PDJ	7.094	SSB	59		59		Paul	Salisbury EU
06/04/25	12:44	GW4HQB/P	7.094	SSB	55		59		Phil	SOTA – Rhyader EU			SOTA – GWMW0017
06/04/25	12:44	ON4HS	7.094	SSB	59		57		Hubert	Ghent, Belgium EU
06/04/25	12:47	MOMEB	7.094	SSB	58		58		Eamonn	Shrewsbury
06/04/25	12:51	EI7CC	7.094	SSB	59		59		Pete	Dublin EU
06/04/25	12:54	G8JQS	7.094	SSB	59		58		Goeff	Biggin Hill EU
06/04/25	12:58	G3VHH	7.094	SSB	59		59		John	Langley EU			Former WW2 relief landing ground
06/04/25	13:00	M1TES/M	7.094	SSB	56		59			EU
06/04/25	13:03	G3VCG	7.094	SSB	59		59		Don	Chelmsfoord EU
06/04/25	13:19	G6LJV	7.094	SSB	59		59		Steve	Doncaster EU
06/04/25	13:24	M1AEB	7.094	SSB	59		59		John	Sherwood Forest EU
06/04/25	13:28	G4VDX	7.094	SSB	59		59		George	Bupen Wood EU
06/04/25	13:30	G0WYM	7.094	SSB	59		59			EU
06/04/25	13:38	G7PNG	7.094	SSB	59		59		Bob	NW Leicestershire EU
06/04/25	13:43	M0NMI	7.094	SSB	59		59		David	Swindon EU
06/04/25	13:48	M0KKM	7.094	SSB	59		59		Kevin	Kings Lynn EU
06/04/25	13:53	G3LWJ	7.094	SSB	59		59		Colin	St Neots EU
06/04/25	13:58	G1BED/M	7.094	SSB	59		59		Andy	EU
06/04/25	14:00	2E0JIU	7.094	SSB	59		59		Andy	Clacton on Sea EU
06/04/25	14:07	GW6OHV	7.094	SSB	59		59		Steve	Llandudno EU
06/04/25	14:10	M7NKW	7.094	SSB	55		59		Peter	County Durham EU
06/04/25	14:12	PD1WDL	7.094	SSB	57		59			EU
06/04/25	14:14	M0SKT	7.094	SSB	56		56		David	St Neots EU
06/04/25	14:21	G1KAT	7.094	SSB	59		59		Clive	Coalshill EU
06/04/25	14:25	M7XTH	7.094	SSB	57		55		Karen	Morden EU
06/04/25	14:33	M0BZZ	7.094	SSB	59		59		Bob	Wirral EU
06/04/25	14:45	G1YPQ	7.094	SSB	59		59		Karl	W Yorks EU
06/04/25	14:50	2E0KSF	7.094	SSB	57		59		David	West Rainham EU
06/04/25	14:53	M0IDF	7.094	SSB	59		59		David	NE London EU
06/04/25	14:58	M6BAQ	7.094	SSB	46		47		Brian	Dover EU
06/04/25	15:02	G4DST	7.094	SSB	59		59		Rob	Abbots Bromley EU
06/04/25	15:06	M7PUC	7.094	SSB	59		59		David	Chippenham EU
06/04/25	15:16	G0JUW	7.094	SSB	59		59		Trevor	Sittingbourne EU
06/04/25	15:21	2E0JNB	7.094	SSB	59		59			EU

10 Year RSL Tracker (2016 – 2025)

The Regional Secondary Locators (RSLs) are optional (except in the case of Intermediate Licences commencing with a 2 when they are mandatory) letters altered or added to an individual or club amateur radio callsign to denote which part of the United Kingdom the station is operating from, the map and table below indicate the principles:

Location	Foundation Callsigns	Intermediate Callsigns	Full Callsigns	Club Callsigns	Special Event Callsigns
England	M#☐☐☐	2E#☐☐☐	G#☐☐☐ M#☐☐☐	GX#☐☐☐ MX#☐☐☐	GB#☐☐☐ Typically Special Event Callsigns are of the form GB + 1 Number (0-9) and 3 letters. However, Special Special Event Callsigns can have 1, 2, 3 or even 4 letters after 1, 2 or even 3 digits following the “GB” prefix if the significance can be justified. Changes to this system are promised as part of the Licence overhaul.
Guernsey	MU#☐☐☐	2U#☐☐☐	GU#☐☐☐ MU#☐☐☐	GP#☐☐☐ MP#☐☐☐
Isle of Man	MD#☐☐☐	2D#☐☐☐	GD#☐☐☐ MD#☐☐☐	GT#☐☐☐ MT#☐☐☐
Jersey	MJ#☐☐☐	2J#☐☐☐	GJ#☐☐☐ MJ#☐☐☐	GH#☐☐☐ MH#☐☐☐
Northern Ireland	MI#☐☐☐	2I#☐☐☐	GI#☐☐☐ MI#☐☐☐	GN#☐☐☐ MN#☐☐☐
Scotland	MM#☐☐☐	2M#☐☐☐	GM#☐☐☐ MM#☐☐☐	GS#☐☐☐ MS#☐☐☐
Wales	MW#☐☐☐	2W#☐☐☐	GW#☐☐☐ MW#☐☐☐	GC#☐☐☐ MC#☐☐☐

We have long harboured the ambition to work all RSL’s on a single Special Event or contest but have yet to manage this (although we have come close on a few occasions). We didn’t manage it again this time either, but we live in hope!

		2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
A o t A	England								☑	☑	☑
	Guernsey								☐	☐	☐
	Isle of Man								☐	☑	☐
	Jersey								☐	☐	☐
	Northern Ireland								☑	☑	☐
	Scotland								☑	☑	☑
	Wales								☑	☑	☑
M o t A	England	☑	☑	☑	☑			☑	☑	☑
	Guernsey	☐	☐	☐	☐			☑	☐	☐
	Isle of Man	☐	☐	☐	☐			☑	☐	☐
	Jersey	☑	☐	☑	☐			☐	☐	☐
	Northern Ireland	☑	☐	☐	☐			☑	☑	☐
	Scotland	☑	☑	☑	☐			☑	☐	☐
	Wales	☑	☑	☑	☑			☑	☑	☐
V H F   F D	England	☑	☑	☑	☑		☑		☑	☑
	Guernsey	☑	☐	☑	☑		☐		☑	☑
	Isle of Man	☐	☐	☑	☐		☐		☑	☑
	Jersey	☐	☐	☐	☐		☑		☐	☐
	Northern Ireland	☐	☐	☑	☐		☐		☐	☑
	Scotland	☑	☐	☑	☑		☑		☑	☑
	Wales	☑	☑	☑	☑		☑		☑	☑
I L L W	England	☑	☑	☑	☑		☑	☑	☑
	Guernsey	☐	☐	☐	☐		☐	☑	☐
	Isle of Man	☑	☐	☐	☐		☑	☑	☑
	Jersey	☐	☐	☐	☐		☐	☐	☐
	Northern Ireland	☑	☑	☑	☑		☑	☑	☑
	Scotland	☑	☑	☑	☑		☑	☑	☑
	Wales	☑	☑	☑	☑		☑	☑	☑
R o t A	England	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑
	Guernsey	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐
	Isle of Man	☐	☐	☐	☑	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐
	Jersey	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐	☐
	Northern Ireland	☑	☐	☐	☐	☐	☑	☑	☑	☑
	Scotland	☑	☐	☑	☑	☐	☑	☑	☑	☑
	Wales	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑
I n   Y e a r	England	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑
	Guernsey	☑	☐	☑	☑	☐	☐	☑	☑	☑	☐
	Isle of Man	☑	☐	☑	☑	☐	☑	☑	☑	☑	☐
	Jersey	☑	☐	☑	☐	☐	☑	☐	☐	☐	☐
	Northern Ireland	☑	☑	☑	☑	☐	☑	☑	☑	☑	☐
	Scotland	☑	☑	☑	☑	☐	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑
	Wales	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑	☑