Wireless Worlds: Live Amateur Radio Station Event

GB5SWW will be on-the-air from the Wireless Worlds exhibition at Sheffield Institute of Arts on April 12-13

As part of the Wireless Worlds exhibition at Sheffield Institute of Arts, Esther Johnson will host a special live amateur radio station manned by Sheffield Amateur Radio Club on April 12-13, 2013. The special radio callsign for this event is: GB5SWW (which stands for Sheffield Wireless Worlds). Visiting amateur radio operators are invited to bring their own QSL card for display in the gallery.

In addition, there will be screenings at 12pm, 2pm and 4pm on both days of Tune In, Johnson’s 16mm film portrait of the fascinating world of amateur radio operators, better known as Hams. Dealing with the politics of space and social communication, Tune In blends documentary and abstract audio to reflect on the use of DIY radio equipment in an ever-changing modern world, in the centenary year of the Radio Society of Great Britain.

The Mezzanine gallery hosts photography taken during the production of Tune In, and a selection of vintage amateur radio QSL cards – uniquely designed cards that are exchanged as a result of two-way radio-communication between two amateur radio stations/operators.

The main gallery features Analogue Kingdom , a poetic moving-image portrait of Gerald Wells, founder and curator of the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum . Wells’ stole his first radio, a Belmont , in 1943 at the age of thirteen. He was immediately sent to an ‘approved’ school, whose psychiatrist diagnosed ‘an obsession’ with wireless and electricity – an obsession that continues today.

The house Wells was born in and still inhabits is now home to over 1,500 wireless objects and 45,000 valves - the UK ’s largest such collection. Analogue Kingdom reveals the charm of Wells’ world, where radio relics and their attendant stories fill every nook and cranny. With the digital switchover, Wells’ analogue collection is a reminder of the magic that may be lost. In addition to Analogue Kingdom , there is a selection of photography taken by Johnson at the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum and a cabinet of items of analogue wireless technology.

Further information at
http://www.shu.ac.uk/sia/gallery/eve