Amateur Radio
When I was about 10 years old I received a Philips Electronic Engineering Kit (EE1050) for my birthday. This consisted of a wooden "chassis" perforated with holes through which spring clips were pushed according to the pattern shown on a pre-printed card corresponding to the circuit that you wanted to build. When I was given another kit in the series (EE1052) I was able to put together a radio receiver. I remember that it took weeks to get this to work and I can still remember the achievement I felt one afternoon when it suddenly burst into life and received the Aldeburgh Festival broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
I first became aware of Amateur Radio when tuning around the 80m band on an HAC One Valve Receiver in July 1974. This receiver came in kit form and was often advertised towards the back of "Short Wave Magazine". It was a very simple "super regenerative" set with one valve that needed a large Ever Ready 90 volt high tension battery. The first station I received was G4AYM in Cheltenham. In the following few years I carried on listening with the HAC and I became a member of the Radio Society of Great Britain in November 1975.
In 1976 I constructed a Heathkit SW717 general coverage receiver which had an inbuilt BFO and this made listening much easier. My favourite Amateur Band was 80 metres. At that time we lived in a house with a very large garden so it was easy to erect longwire aerials that could be tuned with Aerial Tuning Units.
When I started working it meant that I at last had some money to spend on the hobby so in 1981 I moved on to a Trio R-1000 receiver to which I later added a Microwave Modules RTTY decoder.
I passed my Radio Amateurs Examination in December 1982 after taking a correspondence course with the Rapid Results College. I sat the examination one evening at Camden Town Hall near Kings Cross in London, as this was the examination centre organised by the Radio Society of Great Britain. I received my licence in February 1983. I haven’t yet passed the Morse test to obtain a Class A licence although I did attempt it in July 1986 at the Swindon Radio Club rally. Finally passing this test remains one of my ambitions.
As I now live in a small house with an equally small garden it isn’t very practical to operate from home. I do however have my Icom ICR-70 receiver set up with a JPS ANC-4 indoor active antenna and I like to tune around the bands from time to time. I also have receiving equipment for RTTY and SSTV, which work quite well even with the indoor antenna.
I also have an Icom IC-251E and Yaesu FT290R, which I would like to be able to use from a more appropriate site.
I also enjoy broadcast band listening and am a member of the British DX Club, the International Short Wave League and the G-QRP Club.