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WELCOME TO THE
WEB PAGE OF AMATEUR RADIO STATION |
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OPERATED BY JOHN BUTCHER IN THORPE TILNEY, LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND |
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IOTA: Great Britain, EU-005
Thorpe Tilney is a small hamlet of about 20 homes, 10km south of the city of Lincoln. The elevation is only 15m above sea level but the land around is very flat and the horizon is several miles away in all directions. The lat/long is 53deg 6min North, 0deg 20min West and the Maidenhead grid square is IO93uc. The WAB square is TF15. Rachael and I moved here in September 2013 after many years near Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire.
Born in 1936 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, my interest in amateur radio was kindled by some iconic mentors such as Gerry, G2XV, and Sant, G2PU. My local "mate" in Ely was David, later G3NHB, who lived, conveniently, just across the road from my future fiancee and wife. I was first licensed in 1956 while on National Service in the Royal Air Force. For most of my two-year stint I was teaching recruits about long range radio systems while stationed at RAF Locking in Somerset, at that time the home of the RAF Amateur Radio Society, G8FC. The gear was all home- built and it was nice to have separate 813 PA's for each band, three rhombics and a 3-ele beam on an adjacent tower. It was a very long time before I experienced anything like that kind of luxury again.
After "demob" from the RAF in September 1957, I spent three years at Cambridge University, operating G6UW and occasionally studying Physics and Electronic Engineering, before having to leave in 1960 to try to make an honest living. The G6UW shack was in a basement of the Physics Department's Cavendish Laboratory and while we were on-air, we became used to visits from irate research staff who did not appreciate 150W of RF in close proximity to their instruments which were struggling to get 0.1 degC closer to absolute zero. The fact that our beam (sadly, it was only a 3-ele for 10m) was actually lying on the flat roof of the laboratory in an attempt to be inconspicuous probably didn't help. It didn't help the signal either!
I did manage to pick up a decent degree from Cambridge and later completed a PhD at London University with a study of the electrical, optical and thermal properties of thin films of arsenic sulphide, one of the first photoconductive materials to be investigated.
I worked first on magnetic thin film storage devices at the British Tabulating Machine Company ( later called ICT and then ICL) Research Laboratories in Stevenage. However, most of my career from 1962 was spent in University teaching and research, specialising in semiconductor physics and silicon technology as Head of the University's Microelectronics Research Centre. My main research interests were in silicon-oxide interfaces and silicon-on-insulator technology. For 10 years I was also a consultant to the GEC Hirst Research Centre in Wembley. During this time I was very active on the VHF and UHF bands before "dropping out" from radio for about 15 years. I returned to the hobby and DX-ing in 1995 and have been very active on the HF bands since retiring in 1997 from my position as Pro-Vice Chancellor at Middlesex University, London.
My main interests at present are chasing DXCC (339 current entities worked, missing Desecheo), IOTA (961) and US Counties (2878), operating SSB, CW and data modes on all bands from 160 to 2 metres (except 4 and 5 metres). I can't get too excited about band slots, but my DXCC Challenge total is 2740. All-time DXCC total is 350. I have tried the new FT8 mode but it doesn't attract me at all. It's not the kind of amateur radio that I know and love.
My DXCC scores (current) at the moment are:
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Band |
All |
1.8 |
3.5 |
7.0 |
10.0 |
14.0 |
18.0 |
21.0 |
24.0 |
28.0 |
50.0 |
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Mixed |
339 |
128 |
224 |
300 |
318 |
333 |
326 |
327 |
312 |
310 |
163 |
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CW |
331 |
127 |
172 |
278 |
317 |
316 |
315 |
308 |
286 |
279 |
105 |
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SSB |
339 |
35 |
170 |
211 |
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325 |
312 |
310 |
282 |
301 |
135 |
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RTTY |
288 |
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I have been a member of the RSGB for over 60 years and, in the past, Chairman of the Management Committee and a member of the Spectrum Forum and the HF Convention Organising Committees. I have also been Chairman of the Chiltern DX Club, Chairman of the RSGB IOTA Committee and a Checkpoint for the IOTA award programme.
In addition to amateur radio, my hobbies are choral singing, stamp collecting (British Commonwealth 1840-1953) and a little gardening (under close supervision from XYL Rachael !)
(Page last updated: 30 October 2018)