by Jolene Hill

jolene.hill@essnmedia.co.uk

We might be living in a hi-tech age where you can communicate with people anywhere at the touch of a mouse button.

But for the Coulsdon CATS (Coulsdon Amateur Transmitting Society) you can't beat a somewhat more old fashioned technology.

Shortwave radio is its 40 members' huge passion and they are still sharing it with people across the world.

Committee member Steve Beal said: "You never know who you are going to speak to. On Sunday, I heard from somebody in Sri Lanka which I have never done before."

Mr Beal has made contact with people in every European country, plus North Africa, Japan, Ukraine and Brazil since he got his transmitting licence, age 17 in the 1960s.

He added: "It's a hobby you can do from your own home but it's still sociable. It's good for people who are elderly or bedridden.

"It's exciting especially if it's a country you've never contacted. I've never made contact with New Zealand or Australia yet."

One of the highlights in the retired engineer's amateur radio career was getting in touch with a man in California who had been stationed in Surrey during the Second World War.

The American soldier lived in Caterham Valley and recalled hearing a drill sergeant bellowing out orders at the barracks – nearly four miles away from his home.

While many enthusiasts now buy a transmitting kit, many CATS members still make their own radios.

Mr Beal, 58, from Warlingham, has been building his since he was a teenager and some of them still work now.

"Anyone can send an e-mail or a letter but if you make the radio yourself there's the challenge of getting it to work.

"When it bursts into life, it's like having a baby – it's as if it's almost alive," he said.

The strength of the signal, and therefore the likelihood of contacting people, depends on the strength of the sun.

The sun's radiation acts like a giant mirror reflecting the radiowaves back down to earth instead of escaping into the atmosphere.

The CATS members range from teenagers to people in their eighties.

People wanting more information can go along to the society's 31st annual Radio and Electronics Bazaar on Sunday, 16th November.

This will take place in the Scout Hall, Lion Green Road, Coulsdon, from 10am to 1pm.

You can e-mail CATS on cats@qsl.net or tune into their radio broadcast on 145.2875 MHz.

Click on play below to view a video of Mr Beal at his radio