Did you know that over half the population of the UK live within five miles of a canal or river and every year more then ten million people visit Britain’s inland waterways to fish, walk the towpath, observe wildlife or go boating and enjoy the sheer splendour of our canals and navigable rivers. It may seem hard to believe that just a few years ago these exceptional places of peace and relaxation were nearly lost for ever.  But that’s how it was.

In the 1940s, Britain's canals were perceived as derelict, dirty ditches.  An ever-decreasing number of working boats struggled in dreadful conditions to maintain the carrying trade - and anyone who navigated canals for pleasure was considered quite eccentric. Today, British Inland Waterways are seen as a valuable part of Britain's landscape.  They are appreciated for their industrial heritage, for their contribution to urban landscapes and for their atmosphere of peace in a busy world.  Their leisure value is accepted and there is increasing interest in the potential of some Inland Waterways for the development of water borne freight carrying.

So what has this got to do with Amateur Radio? A number of us actually operate from aboard craft on the British Inland Waterways where the water gives us a good ground plane and S0 noise levels allows contacts not possible from our permanent QTH’s.

We are interested in organizing British Inland Waterways on the Air in a similar manner to Railways on the Air, initially as an opportunity to rag chew with fellow amateurs operating on or close to Inland Waterways. The suggestion is to hold it on the weekend of the Inland Waterways Festival and to try to illuminate as many of the inland Waterways as possible.

In 2011 the festival is on Friday 29th- Sunday 31st July 2011 at Shobnall Fields, Burton-upon-Trent. It is likely some narrowboat hams will be attending and they could form the focus for any publicity that the RSGB might want to stage.

This is the IOTA contest weekend on HF so it is suggested that BIWOTA starts before and/or ends after IOTA (noon Saturday for 24 hours) to get some access for local contacts on the HF bands. Operators can take advantage of the low noise levels to attempt IOTA contacts from their canal/river locations which will give plenty of signals for demonstration to interested gongoozlers (a person who enjoys watching activity on the canals in the United Kingdom). Operating locations could include onboard boats, narrowboats, cruisers, yachts, rowboats, canoes etc, Mobile on the towpath, pedestrian, bicycle, or picnic table / field station mobile.

In the longer term, depending on level of interest, enthusiasts could attempt as many British Inland Waterways contacts as possible and categories could include Worked All Canals and/or Rivers (WACAR), Worked all Lock Pounds, worked all Canal and River pubs. In addition WAB have been approached to see if they are interested in an award for WACAR squares similar to the tidal and coastal waters award that runs throughout 2010. An alternative is a website based system for activators and chasers as used by Wainwrights On The Air (WOTA).

Regular Nets to link as many canals and river as possible, could be established on summer Sundays. What we do next depends on the support we get from others.

The support so far has been excellent with nearly 40 people expressing interest. If you are interested please contact John Rogers M0JAV on 07836 731544 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We are setting up a website http://www.biwota.org/ Further information about the Inland Waterways can be found at http://www.waterscape.com/