MEMBERS of a Newton Abbot based radio society were humbled by the words of Ukrainian people on their latest mercy mission.

Responding to an appeal from fellow operators from the war-torn country, two members of the Torbay Amateur Radio Society travelled to deliver radio sets and other equipment.

Linden Allen – M0TCF – vice chair of the society asked one of the main organisers of the relief effort to Ukraine what was most needed and was told: ‘To a man they all agree that the most important thing to them isn’t the weapons, the stores or equipment or other things, it is simply the knowledge that there are people, here in the UK, and around the world who are supporting them, thinking about them, assuring them that they aren’t forgotten, that they are doing the right thing.’

He was accompanied by Dave Moyse, radio name M7JDM. Based in Newton Abbot the Torbay Amateur Radio Society is one of the oldest established radio clubs in the UK.

Here Linden, who has the radio name MOTCF, tells the story of his society’s help for members of the University of Zaporzhia Radio Club as all their equipment had either been looted or destroyed during the brief period when the area fell under Russian control:

TODAY was the day and its one I will remember for a long time! For all the right reasons too.

I’ll explain.

A few months ago I was looking at the local radio club’s facebook page. A message had been passed on by a fellow club member from an amateur radio operator in Ukraine.

Unfortunately, even since the invasion, amateur operations have been, for obvious reasons shut down, however this hasn’t stopped the community over there from being active, they’ve been mobilised to assist the government agencies, emergency teams and the military with communications etc.

What we received was a specific request from the University of Zaporzhia Radio Club, all their equipment had either been looted or destroyed during the brief period when the area fell under Russian control.

Nick (our contact over there) asked if anybody had any gear that could be donated to help get the club up and running again, and to help train young people so that they could get a radio licence – as the Torbay Amateur Radio Societies training manager that’s something very close to my own heart!

At once I decided to act and very quickly the rest of the club members joined in too, very rapidly we had useful equipment coming in from all corners, including a very handy donation from the members of Riviera Amateur Radio Club (RARC).

Having gathered all this equipment, the next problem arose. How on earth were we going to get this gear over to Ukraine and into the hands of the right people?

Step forward club member Richard Staples, who pointed me in the direction of Karol at Ukraine Relief UK (URUK).

Having exchanged a couple of messages and a phone call, it became abundantly clear that this was the way we needed to go! Richard was also in direct contact with Nick in Ukraine and we were able to tie all the lose ends together in one go – result!

That was last week...

David (M7JDM) and I (Lin M0TCF) set off mid-morning on our way to Bournemouth. After an uneventful drive, following the GPS we arrived; at the wrong side of the shopping centre where URUK has its main warehouse. A swift phone call to Karol and we were back on track.

On arrival we were met, in person by Karol and one of the volunteers, who helped us unload our consignment in to a trolley for the trip upstairs to the warehouse.

‘I thought you were bringing radios not rockets,’ joked Karol as we pushed the trolley into the lift.

We followed on behind, up the stairs, having been assured that we did not want to make the trip in the lift, which has a habit of breaking down – the only engineer available to fix it locally usually takes ages to arrive!

Upstairs, we were taking into the warehouse, which turned out to be former Argos shop which the shopping centre management were allowing URUK to use – for free – indefinitely! Which is great.

We were offered coffee and something to eat and despite being a very busy guy, Karol sat down with us to answer our questions, explain a few things and asked some questions of his own.

Its turns out he’s worked every day, since the day of the invasion (16 hours a day for 274 days so far, with no intention of taking a day off).

Initially, he became involved at the behest of a friend, who was taking donations into his shop from the local Polish community. By the end of the first day the shop was full and they had to search for somewhere bigger!

And then somewhere bigger still as the donations flooded in! From that initial appeal, things have grown, and now URUK is a full fledged UK registered charity.

‘We did it backwards’ said Karol with a big grin!

So far, URUK have moved over 2,200 tons of stores and supplies to Ukraine, Karol himself has visited the country on four occasions, each time to build relationships and to create infrastructure that is both safe and secure, ensuring that all donations go directly to the people who need them.

Obviously, we’d responded to Nick’s (UR6QV) request for assistance with radio gear, but sitting there knowing there was a far greater need, we asked what else was needed at this time?

‘Generators, 3KVA+, 240 Volt, quality generators, either petrol or diesel.

‘Not cheap by any standard’ I replied, to which I was greeted with a rye smile and ‘we’ve just bought twenty five, but could do with 10 times that number...’ A Sobering thought to say the least.

‘What else’ I asked? It was then that the smile slipped from Karo’’s face and he became serious.

‘I have been to Ukraine four times now,’ he says quietly, ‘I have even visited some of the troops in the lines and I have asked them that very same question; “What is it you need?”.

He continued, ‘to a man they all agree that the most important thing to them isn’t the weapons, the stores or equipment or other things, it is simply the knowledge that there are people, here in the UK, and around the world who are supporting them, thinking about them, assuring them that they aren’t forgotten, that they are doing the right thing’ – I blinked and cleared my throat… What can you say to that?

‘You’ve shipped a lot of tonnage I say, who’s paying the fuel bill?’

‘We are’ comes the reply, over £100,000 spent so far. Both Dave and I are both astounded and disgusted at the same time!

A charity set up just nine months ago, having to spend that sort of money moving humanitarian aid! Having to raise and then spend that sort of money, which in real terms is no more than an hour’s profit for the likes of BP or Shell etc is, we all agreed, bang out of order.

How much would it cost them to issue the drivers with a fuel card – nothing in real terms, they can claim charitable donations back against tax…

Karol excused himself then, his phone was ringing again. We chatted with the volunteers a little more and then decided to make our way home. We shook hands all round and made our way out.

We both sat in the car, lost in our own thoughts, until I commented about URUK fuel situation - Dave’s response isn’t printable.... Whatever happens, we both agreed – we’d be back!

Club member Richard Staples is delivering his consignment on Thursday, and the whole lot is going to Ukraine over the coming weekend - hopefully we will have some pictures and news in a week or so from Nick.

A big thank you to Dave Moyse (M7JDM) for his help and company during the trip.