Presented here is a short overview of myself, where I live, my interests and activity in the field of Amateur Radio. The page content might be considered a little "self indulgent" for which I make no apology! The original idea was to be an exercise in putting together a few pages on Amateur Radio. In this respect I have learned a great deal. I hope you find something of interest.

LOCATION

Shown above is a picture of the river Adur and St. George's Parish Church at West Grinstead and a winter picture of Park Lane where I live.The church shown dates back before the reign of King John, around 1100AD. It cannot claim to be one of the most beautiful old buildings as it has been covered with a cement rendering in relatively recent times. It does however have a very long and interesting history. Shown above is a small tributary of the River Adur,it is one of several feeding the main flow that enters the sea at Shoreham by Sea. West Grinstead is the Parish (village) where I live and operate my Amateur Radio Station, G3WZT.

More details on the Parish of West Grinstead, it's ancient church and the surrounding area can be found on the West Grinstead Web pages.

QSL Card showing my house with VHF Antenna's "The Shack" Tower with VHF Antenna's

On the subject of QSL cards, many are now sent electronically. One system is that provided by "eQSL". Logs can be uploaded to their site in ADIF format. QSL cards are then generated automatically for each QSO in the log file. At the time of writing, no other organisations recognise this form of QSL card for awards, this includes the ARRL for DXCC. This is unlikely to ever change as there is no security. If you would like to know if any stations worked by yourself have sent you an "eQSL", just type your callsign in the box provided below to see what cards you have waiting. The other online logging/confirmation system is Logbook Of The World run by the ARRL. This system provides confirmation for QSO's but does not have any means of providing QSL cards. It is a means of DXCC entity confirmation between those that choose to upload their logs and use the facility. The down side is that it can only be used for ARRL awards, ie the DXCC century award. If you would like to find out more about the ARRL Logbook Of The World then please look HERE

I have held my Amateur Radio Licence G3WZT since November 1967 and have been active on most HF and VHF bands since that time. My favoured mode of operation is CW although I also do a fair amount of SSB working.

The main bands of interest are VHF, with a recent bias towards 2M when the current Solar cycle was at it's low point. Those days are now fortunately changing and my interest in 50MHz will increase as the Sun wakes up. I have an interest in all modes of propagation, in particular Es, Auroral, MS and EME. I am also QRV on 432MHz, but activity on this band has been neglected lately. Recently I have made equipment for the 4M (70MHz) band and am now active on this band, mainly during the summer Es season. On 4 Metres I run 160 Watts from a home made FET PA into a 5 element yagi.

I am also very active during the Winter months operating on 80M CW. The main interest here is US County chasing, but only on 80M CW! If you would like to look at my 80 Metre CW Logs for the past 4 years then click HERE to see the text file log. Entries are currently shown up to December 2011. To find your call, use the Explorer search facility, EDIT > FIND (CTRL+F). Click on the explorer "back" arrow to return to this page. Recently (Winter of 2011) I have started to operate on 160M. On this band I have errected a top loaded vertical antenna. The vertical section is 65 feet (20 Metres) with 28uH inductive loading at around 50 feet the remainder of top loading is provided by a top "T" wire around 35 feet each side. Currently I have only 6 quarter wave ground radials fitted.

My logs for the VHF bands are also avaible to see, if you would like to see whether we have worked on the VHF bands, look HERE to see my VHF Log entries for the past 5 Years. Currently, entries are shown up to October 2011. To find your call, use the Explorer search facility, EDIT > FIND (CTRL+F). Click the explorer "back" arrow to return to this page.

I am a founder member and a current member of the Horsham Amateur Radio Club.

Other activities include Radio Direction Finding, or "Fox Hunting" this is a regular activity organised by the Horsham Amateur Radio Club which I and my XYL, Jan normally take part in. These events normally take place on 144MHz FM with the hidden station (the Fox) transmitting for 2 minutes in every 10. The hidden station can be up to 15 Miles away from the start point. The event is concluded with a few beers at a pub close to the Fox's Lair. Visit the "Fox Hunting" page for some more information and a few photo's.

V/UHF ANTENNA's

The tower showing the current U/VHF antenna installation

VHF EQUIPMENT
Antenna's for V/UHF:

2 x 12 Element M squared, bayed, on 144MHz with GaAs FET masthead amplifier

23 Element Flexayagi on 432 MHz with GaAs FET masthead amplifier:

On the 50MHz band, a 7 Element Msquared.

On the 70MHz band, a 5 Element Eagle Yagi

THE 80M ANTENNA
The current Antenna system in use here on 80M is a 3 Element,in line, phased vertical array, made from wires and strung up in Oak trees and fitted with a reasonable but not extensive ground radial system. It can be switched East/West and provides excellent performance across N America and long path to the Pacific.

I can be reached via my Email address at... g3wzt(at)qsl.net

Page last updated: 21November 2012

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