History of the Dengie Hundred Amateur Radio Society (DHARS)

The Dengie Hundred Amateur Radio Society was started in the summer of 1992, after a leaflet was posted to all local amateurs listed in the RSGB call book. The leaflet invited them to a meeting, with a view of restarting a previous old club. The response was good and a temporary committee was formed. Subsequently an Inauguration Meeting was held in October 1992, when a new Committee and constitution was put into force. The Society first met at a pub in Burnham-on-Crouch, then moved to the Henry Samuel Hall in Mayland. The Henry Samuel Hall fell into disrepair, so around September 2011 the Society moved to The Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome in Stow Maries where we obtained the permanent special event callsign GB0SMA. The club remained at the airfield for approximately 3 years.

In September 2014 the club moved to a farm in Latchingdon, which was at a much higher altitude than either of its previous locations. Whilst the rent was certainly not expensive at £600/year, it was our largest financial outlay, and made the club the most expensive club in Essex with an annual subscription of £80.

The club moved from Latchingdon its present location in Althorne in May 2018, after one of the clubs members, G3ZES, offered us free accommodation at his residence. This drastically reduced our expenditure, as well as giving us much greater space for antennas.