© Copyright 2026 Vintage and Military Amateur Radio Society

The VMARS display stand at the National Hamfest

History, Aims & Activities
The Vintage & Military Amateur Radio Society is based in the UK, but with an international reach. It was set up at an inaugral meeting held at Bletchley Park in 1999 with the aims to:-

Encourage the conservation, restoration and use of ‘classic’ electronic equipment, with a principal focus on wireless techniques, whether applied to communications, RADAR or other pulsed signalling systems—but not neglecting line communication, audio recording, mine detecting and so on.

Encourage recording of electronics related history.

Preserve the knowledge and skills needed for the use of traditional modes of communications, such as analogue AM, analogue FM, and Morse Code by radio amateurs.

The use of traditional types of component, such as valves, vibrators, leaded components.

The maintenance and restoration of earlier styles of construction.and to – Provide assistance to museums and similar bodies wherever possible.

Educate and inform the general public about our wireless history.

Encourage projects involving the design and construction of equipment for use in these early transmission modes, usually employing valves but frequently using more modern techniques.

Promote the interchange of radio equipment between members.

Society Ethos
The Society has an impressive list of services for Members, and actively encourages all Members to engage in its activities. The Society remains strictly non-profit making. This does not bar those who aim to profit from trading in vintage radio items from Membership, but it does require that all Society policies and activities are run in such a way that individuals cannot readily exploit them to further their own business interests. ‘Traders’ are thus barred from standing for the Committee, for instance.

VMARS Members at an Annual General Meeting

Members attending a VMARS auction

Member Benefits
VMARS has a community of over 600 members from the UK and around the world, offering unique opportunities for shared learning and collaboration. VMARS members have a strong following of early amateur, marine and commercial transmitters and receivers, and of military communications sets, many using amplitude modulation, making the promotion and continued use of AM, as well as other early modes such as CW. Key benefits includeknowledge sharing and community support, access to exclusive member resources, publications and technical journals, participation in auctions, events, and activities. These benefits make membership not just a subscription, but an active and supportive learning network for anyone passionate about vintage and military wireless radio.

Activities

Society Document Archive
VMARS has an ever growing archive of manuals, circuit diagrams, magazines and other historic literature, currently in the order of 10,000 items that are physically stored in our archive held at the Thorpe Camp Museum in Lincolnshire, once home to the legendary 617 squadron Dam Busters at RAF Woodhall Spa. An ongoing programme of document cleaning, scanning and digitising is undertaken by Society volunteers who then catalogue and index the documents before placing them onto the VMARS Archive website for free open access to anyone who wants to use them.

Sales of Equipment and Spares
A regular feature of the VMARS calendar year are the Society auction sales of vintage and military equipment, which provide a very good opportunity for members to purchase items for their collections at very reasonable cost. These are generally held at various Midlands locations in order to enable access for the maximum number of members to attend. Sales are usually catalogued with illustrations and the details circulated with the monthly News Sheet prior to auction day. In some instances where very large quantities of equipment are being sold, items are sold un-catalogued and as seen on auction day. For members who are restoring or repairing equipment, the Society holds a substantial quantity of valves which can be purchased at reasonable prices.

Quarterly flagship technical journal of VMARS
VMARS publishes a first class quarterly A4, 40 page technical journal called SIGNAL which is full of interesting articles. To see extracts from these publications, click here. The first issue of Signal was in November 2006. Click here to view the Signal Index.

VMARS News Sheet
The News Sheet consists of Members’ contributions (items of news, forthcoming events, reports on events held, help-lines, letters to the Editor), Committee business (formal notices, minutes of meetings), Special Nets, and Members’ advertisements. Click here to see more information and extracts of the VMARS News sheet.

VMARS events
VMARS events are a highlight for many members. As well as undertaking our Annual General Meeting, which is held during the summer months at an interesting location, the Society attends various radio related events and rallies around the country, where members have the opportunity to meet each other, view and operate vintage and military equipment  and enjoy the facilities of our chosen location.

VMARS Members forums
VMARS operate two Group forums which are for members only and are for technical and VMARS related discussions and for trading items of equipment and spares between Society members. A wide range of equipment and spares can be bought and sold on here.

VMARS Nets
All licenced radio amateurs are most welcome to join our regular Saturday amplitude modulation nets on 3615 KHz beginning at 08:30hrs local time. This is a controlled net which sometimes has up to 20 plus vintage and military equipment stations taking part in order to exchange reports and equipment details. A list of nets and frequencies regularly used by VMARS members in the UK can be found in this page.