Many visitors to this page will recall that SOAR first hit the internet around 3 years ago, with the soul aim of getting the laws surrounding the use of Amateur Radio equipment payloads in high altitude meteorological balloons. Everything appeared to begin well, but we ran out of steam around the same time when the UK license changes were being implemented, then of course life took over.

 With the consultations offered up by the MOD and the planned release and changes to their operating frequencies, we think that the time is now right to once again pick up the gauntlet. We are aware that there is currently some work going on behind the scenes by a local Amateur who also carries a private pilot’s license, he is approaching it from a different direction, but we will be keeping an eye on the outcome for obvious reasons.

Ok, so where did the project end…..

 Basically, much information was gathered to support the application to OFCOM, however it would seem that they were rather busy trying to get the new UK licensing changes completed. They did however, in principal not see a big issue, neither for that matter did the CAA, the MOD was the largest stepping stone for the project. In principal, OFCOM were happy to look at individual applications under an NOV for experiments, but groups would not be entertained. While it’s nice to see that an individual could potentially get the thumbs up, that was not the aim of SOAR, we basically want this antiquated post war legislation changed to allow us to pursue this angle of the hobby.

Come back to keep an eye on the website, we will be changing from this holding page in the near future when we re-build the group. We are hopeful that work will re-commence in January 2009.

If you think you have something to offer the group, please contact us, we are especially interested in gaining technical support for the group especially during the preparation of our arguments pertaining to current laws.

Email us at: info@soar.org.uk