Amateur
Radio Bio

I guess it all started in the UK at the age of 4 years old, playing with the family Roberts portable radio and hearing European broadcasters. My interest in AM Broadcast (MW) DX continued along with an interest Short Wave listening and Electronics after our family emigrated to Australia. I became interested in Amateur Radio at the age of 12, at a Hobby Exhibition in Launceston where I met Rob VK7RH and Reg VK7KK.

I made my interest in radio my job and worked as a Technical Officer in Defence Communications and Electronics, then over into Procurement and Supplier Quality Auditing.

My interest in ham radio rekindled a few years ago and I can now be more active now that I'm retired . My interests are in working DX HF & 6M and data modes, presently experimenting with JT4 and interested in other digital modes. I am currently running an Icom IC-7300, Icom IC-7200, an Icom IC-706, a Yaesu FT-7B, a Yaesu FT-8800 and a A DMR Hotspot. Antennas are an AH-4 Antenna Coupler with a 75 foot sloping longwire and a Comet GP-15 for 6m, 2m & 70cm.

Currently I am looking at portable operations whilst travelling. There are also plans to improve the antennas for HF/VHF/UHF in the near future once other improvements are made here at the new QTH.

In the past I was a director of Amateur Radio New South Wales http://www.arnsw.org.au/ and held the role of education Officer for 6 years.

I believe that Amateur Radio needs to be reinvigorated as it deserves to be a leading 21st Century hobby. With this goal in mind, in 2019 I became a director of The Radio Amateur Society of Australia (RASA) https://vkradioamateurs.org/ .

I'm now located in Largs, a village in the Lower Hunter Valley, 134km (84 miles) north of the city of Sydney, and 30.5km (19 miles) away from Newcastle.

Some of  the radios from my past and present