Best of Oryol: Small Circuits, Strong Signals

On paper, the Oryol Regional Branch of the Union of Radio Amateurs of Russia looks modest: a compact council, no fixed “round table” schedule, and activities coordinated largely by prior arrangement. In practice, it is a tightly connected network where personal contact and trust count as much as antennas and power output.

Leadership in a Compact Frame

The branch is chaired by Boris Ivanovich Lyakhov (R3EE), whose tenure embodies the region’s preference for steady stewardship over showmanship. His deputy, Nikolai Nikolaevich Gridnev (R3ER), balances operational duties with the personal diplomacy needed in a region where most members know each other by first name.

The council’s roster reads like a local band plan: treasurer Sergey Mikhailovich Grigoriev (R3EO), secretary Aleksei Yurievich Zenin (R2ED), and QSL bureau head Evgeny Nikolaevich Shchelkanovtsev (RZ3EC) — each call sign a familiar presence in local logs.

Face-to-Face by Arrangement

Unlike metropolitan branches with fixed public hours, Oryol’s QSL bureau, qualification commission, and club meetings operate “by prior agreement.” The physical hub is the DOSAAF premises on Vesyolaya Street, room RK3EWA, a space that can serve as exam hall, QSL sorting room, or impromptu lecture theatre depending on the day.

Tradition Over Infrastructure

There are no published repeater listings, no elaborate event calendars. Yet the branch maintains its relevance through human-scale engagement — a model that in larger regions might be dismissed as quaint, but in Oryol keeps the signal-to-noise ratio remarkably high.

For visitors tuning in, the takeaway is simple: here, radio is not just about propagation conditions, but about the human willingness to make time for a contact — both on air and in person.