Australian Amateur Radio Station 
Australian Amateur Radio Station
VK5PO
About me:
I was born in Adelaide South Australia in 1962 and spent all of my childhood in the Flinders Ranges District.
I first realised an interest in /radio when one of my cousins brought a "Short Wave" receiver to our Sheep Farming Property "Mount Elm" which is 20 Miles West of Hawker.
I was about 9 years old at the time, I made my first "Crystal Set" not long after that, (it did not work too well).
As I got older I began to collect and tinker with "Junk", round about 75 I managed to score a couple of single channel "walkie-talkies", which of course were on 27Mhz, (Highly Illegal at the time).
Not satisfied with just talking across twon, I had a real keen interest to get a CB, inevitably a "Roberts RCB15" arrived via a friend of the family from the USA.
I was on the "Air" properly at last!
My Father got real annoyed on many occasions when he would get in the car and it would not start - I Used to "borrow" the battery!
Fellow pirate operators became good radio friends, of which a lot of them are now also "Hams".
I progressed to SSB technology early in 1977, when CB was still illegal in VK, Thanks to the efforts of Dick Smith, CB was legalised on the 1st June 1977.
I have made lots of friends, some of which still remain today, I continued with CB until the late 80's, but the interest in Ham radio really began to grow, mainly due to that "Strange Code" that I was hearing, this I discovered was Morse Code.
In 1986 my Wife and I made the move to Nuriootpa, towards the end of 1986 I applied to sit for the Novice ticket, 2 weeks later a Big Fat Letter arrived, telling me I was now eligible for a Novice Certificate of Proficiency.
WOW, a real Radio Station at last.
Next step was the unrestricted ticket, which was secured November 1988.
Present QTH is Kapunda, 80Km North of Adelaide.
My Wife Deborah, Son Peter and Daughter Nadine, are used to all the radio stuff at this QTH.
Occupation - Winery Cellar Supervisor, having worked for Orlando wines for the past 10 years. Orlando is the producer of the World Famous "Jacobs Creek" label.
