HOW I STARTED IN AMATEUR RADIO

It all Started for me when I was about 9 years old, I had a old black and white TV with a built in VHF
radio, one day this old TV broke down and my friend Ivon fix it for me, he said he could tune this TV
radio to receive police radio, I said would you do that for me and he did, years passed and the old TV
was no more, and my Dad then got me a Bush radio to listen to the Police, that radio also had 2m 40m
80m 160m ham bands on it, I had never herd of ham radio and my Dad said I bet you will get radio
hams on that, what is that I asked, my Dad said they are people who talk to each other by radio, it was not long after that I found the 2m band.

The old Decca TV with radio

My Bush VTR-178 Radio

My first ham radio friend was Arther G8DGV I was a young boy of about 12
when I met Arther, I was then known as Jim SWL, I listened one day as Arther
told a radio ham how to get to his QTH, and so me and my Mum and Dad went
to try and find Arther a man I had never met, when we found him he said to my
Dad come in mister do you want a cup of tea and so the friendship started.
He turned his beam went on air with his AM Pye base TX , for RX he used a
AR88D and 2M converter, as he called CQ on 2m I was amazed, I had met my
first radio ham, I still have is AR88D to this day.
I will always remember Arther as a wonderful friend and for is long QSOs and
the miner bird Jock talking in the back ground.
Arther gave me a incite on how to use AM phone on the 2M band and how he could make things for himself.

AM Pye Base

AR88D RX

2M Converter

I had yet to find my way to the HF bands and this was to come from another friend.
I was about 13 when I met Bill G2DAR, my Dad worked with him, my Dad told Bill I listened to ham radio, Bill asked me to
go to his QTH and he made me a power supply, he then went on Top Band and I watched as he tuned up is home
made TX and called CQ Top Band AM, from then on I was interested in HF, along side of Bills home made TX was his
HRO receiver, in Bill I had another wonderful friend, He liked to use CW and talked to Nev G3JDK on the key and on AM
phone, BilI was the one to show me what HF radio was about.
I will always remember you Bill.

HRO RX

I had my first short wave receiver when I was about 13 in the form of a Codar CR-70A receiver, my Dad got it for me from a add in PW, I was at
school the day it came, and when I got home at dinner time I didn't go back that afternoon, but put up a long wire aerial and listened to my new
receiver, it was a while before I found out how to receiver SSB but I got their in the end.

Me and my Codar CR-70A RX

For me to move on in the hobby of ham radio to much greater things I would need to know someone that was always
moving on to new things, always in front, that came in the form of my life long friend Bert G4NJI.
It all started with me listening to him on the 2M band, he would be talking to G8ABZ another Bert that was well known
around Rotherham and they would both be talking around 3 AM in the morning through the GB3HH repeater in Buxton,
at that time Bert G4NJI was G8CUE, up to then he was just another radio hams voice on air, but that was all to change.
I called to a local TV repair shop AC Repairs for one or two items and who should be the owner of the shop, Bert
G8CUE.
After that I started to get to know him as a shop keeper and radio ham, but time had to move on more for me to get
to know Bert as a friend, how that came to be was by the fact that some one on air had said that he had moved to a
QTH near a local fish shop, I didn't think any more about it till one day I went to the local fish shop, and near the fish
shop was a big aerial, I got to thinking could this be Bert with what I had listened to on air, so I passed by the
local fish shop and knocked on the door of the house with the big aerial, a man came to to the door and it was Bert G8CUE.
At that time I would be around 15 years old, From that day on me and Bert became good friends, I am always made
welcome at Berts by Him and is wife Grechen who would bring me a cup of tea in the shack and I would sit and talk to
him, Bert is always trying something new, and I would say what is that it looks interesting, is that RTTY, yes Jim he
would say, can I have a go with that Bert and he would lend me the new box of tricks to try out.
Then I would go round to his QTH and he would be on with SSTV, I got a SSTV decoder from him and was receiving
his pictures.
Bert was also using fast scan pal TV on 70cms, and I got interested in that, I got a converter for ham TV so I could
watch him sending TV pictures.
He as also had a go at ham radio satellites, and he had a great aerial for that, I would listen to him on the downlink of
Oscar 7 satellite.
Bert also listened to Richard Branson in is balloon and as tuned in to astronauts in space, he would call me on the
phone to tell me to listen to the astronauts and tell me the frequency's, he as also watched weather satellites and would
tell is wife Grechen when it was going to rain, coming right up to date Bert now runs his own Echo and IRLP node in
Rotherham on 145.2875 Mhz ctcss 71.9 IRLP 5200 Echo link 135909, I am now 53 years old and a lot of years have
passed from that first day with Bert in is shack and the great thing is he is still at the front of trying new things, he is now
on with 3D TV, I wonder how long it will take him before he finds some way to transmit 3D on ham radio knowing him
not long.
It is because of Bert that I am transmitting modes I use today SSTV and using IRLP and playing around with TV and
using ham radio satellites, and with the help from him and my friend Ian G3ZHI I have also said goodbye to Jim SWL
and become M3ZHI, now one radio ham could have given me so many ideas for what I would do in the hobby, that is
why I want to know more, so I need to go back before I got to know him and for that I need the pictures sent to me by
G3ZHI from the days of the Rotherham Radio Club.

The YAESU FT-101ZD HF Transceiver

The YAESU FT-225RD 2M Transceiver

The picture on the right shows just how good Bert is at making things, look at this 2M and 160M 5W AM transmitter that Bert
made, this is that transmitter set up at the Rotherham Radio Club.

A picture of Ian G3ZHI my ham friend that convinced me to have a go at the ham test

STE ARAC 102 2M 10M RX

YAESU FRG-9600 VHF/UHF RX

Radio Shack DX-394 LW MW HF RX

Me and my first setup as M3ZHI

My setup today

My home made Morse paddle made by me and my late Dad