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home QRZCQ - The database for radio hams 
 
2024-03-19 06:29:43 UTC
 

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G4XLO

Active QRZCQ.com user

activity index: 0 of 5

Kev Tatlow

Torbay
England

EU
england

Call data

Last update:2019-06-14 13:43:04
Continent:EU
Views:609
Main prefix:G
Latitude:50.4145481
Longitude:-3.5878917
Locator:IO80FL
IOTA:EU-005
DXCC Zone:223
ITU Zone:27
CQ Zone:14

Most used bands

40m
(46%)
20m
(31%)
2m
(9%)
80m
(5%)
17m
(4%)

Most used modes

FT8
(73%)
DV
(8%)
PSK
(6%)
JT65
(5%)
SSB
(5%)

QSL data

Last update:2019-06-14 08:07:45
eQSL QSL:YES
Bureau QSL:no
Direct QSL:no
LoTW QSL:YES

Biography

Hello and thanks for stopping by my little space on QRZCQ!

I have been interesting in radio since 1977 when I was 10, Mom and Dad bought me a transistor radio that had the airband on it and I was well away monitoring the local airport (Elmdon – now Birminham International), I would spend ages of a weekend in the visitors gallery listening in to the tower and the aircraft taking off / coming into land.

My then neighbour Bruce G8KKS asked me to have a look at his Ham Radio stuff one night, I remember all he had was a Trio 2200G radio into a Slim Jim in the loft – he told me the basics and how to get a licence i sort of got hooked form there. At that time I was only 10 though and had to be 16 to get a licence and take the RAE – Dad and I spent the next few years as SWL’s listening to 2m local traffic on Daiwa SRp receiver with a Dipole in the loft and for HF we used an Eddystone EC10 receiver with a wire dangling out of the bedroom window, we were listening to the States booming in as it was the top of the sunspot cycle! We also joined Bromsgrove & District Amateur Radio Club eventually going onto the committee, organising special event stations, taking part in club contests and listening to some great talks – one that sticks out is the late Rev George Dobbs giving a talk on QRP stuff.

Dad got his licence before me, we took the exam together, he passed I failed, he was licenced as G6NGF (Never Gets Far) in 1982, I passed a year later and got the call G6ZKP (Zoo Keepers Pet) – 6 months later I took the CW thanks to Roy G4IUX and swapped the G6 for my call now – G4XLO (Xtra Long Overs), I’ll always remember my first rig – a Trio 9000 multimode and a collinear on the roof!

Work got in the way, I stayed in radio – this time commercially, I was working as a Traffic and Travel announcer on the Midlands Radio stations for AA Roadwatch – as well as that I started presenting on Hospital Radio and later on freelancing on all the Community Stations / RSL stations in Birmingham and the surrounding areas, also some ILR / BBC ones too doing everything from Brekkie Shows to Lovezones as well as on stage stuff with roadshows. Also at this time I was running Pub Quiz nights and hosting Discos & Karaokes up and down the Midlands

Fast forward a few years, I got divorced, changed jobs and needed my radio back. Swapped my old Trio TS130S for a spanking new Yaesu FT450D and noticed how my hobby had changed – I needed to learn new stuff to keep up – I joined the Wythall Radio Club in 2014 and I am still a member now despite living in Devon! I now live in a seaside location, 9 beaches around me within a 10 minute drive and now my station is all set up for Digital modes where I spend most of my free time – as the HF conditions are so bad right now plus I have high QRM being in a town I’m on digital modes most of the time – you can find me on FT8 normally operating 80m, 40m, 20m, 17m as well as 10m & 6m in Sporaidic E season. I also love DMR, operating on the “Brandmeister” network I usually monitor Reflector 4400 also I’m on Hubnet which is on Echolink and also accessed through DMR / Fusion on Reflector 4426 – always a great QSO to be had on there – see https://www.hubnetwork.uk/ for further details on accessing the hub, thanks to Steve M0HOY for a great system.

Clubs – I am a member of Bravo Charlie Radio which is the brainchild of James (MW6JWY) - its a great little website full of Space News, Radio Chatter, Equipment reviews and a whole load more - you can access this via the website (https://bcrlivestream.com) or follow them on Twitter @bcrlivestream I am active member of the Wythall Radio Club (my club from back home in the Midlands. Thanks to John (M6KET) I re-learned CW and felt confident enough to get back on air with it – link here - http://www.wythallradioclub.co.uk/

Awards - I got into award chasing in 2017 thanks to my mate George G7NOT, so far I have a good collection of the digital ones from the FT8 DMC but Im looking at scoring some from SSB contacts in the next 12 months. I am a member of most of the digital clubs via the EPC, current count on the awards is 57 – Ive also recently got the Spanish 70th Anniversary silver award

Digital Modes club link - (https://epc-mc.eu/index.php?lang=en)

A great site for looking at what awards are available are thanks to the work by K1BV and his awards directory (https://www.dxawards.com/)

Equipment / Antennas – For HF & 6m I use a Yaesu FT450D and a 53ft long wire, 2m and 70cms (car and home) it’s a Baofeng UV5RTP (8w output) and for DMR I use the Retevis RT3 (TYT MD380 clone) as well as a DV4mini into the shack PC.

DMR – Since June 2018 I have been into DMR radio as the band condx are so flat and have been experimenting with Brandmeister, I have a simple setup using the Retevis RT3 and a DV4Mini which is working really well. I normally have it on extended routing so I can hop between Talkgroups easily. Heres a handy list of common UK Talkgroups

UK Wide (Talkgroup : 2350) : This lets you listen to UK Wide, it is a form of Calling Channel. However, Short/Medium QSO's are permited.
UK Chat #1 (Talkgroup : 2351) : This lets you listen to UK Chat 1.
UK Chat #2 (Talkgroup : 2352) : This lets you listen to UK Chat 2.
UK Chat #3 (Talkgroup : 2353) : This lets you listen to UK Chat 3.
HubNet (Talkgroup : 23526) : This lets you listen to HubNet, a collection of Analogue FM, Allstar & Echolink Nodes, DMR, Fusion and Dstar Bridges.
Salop Cluster (Talkgroup : 23575) : This lets you listen to the Salop Cluster of Repeaters.
C4FM Bridge (Talkgroup : 23522 Wires-X : 27753) : This lets you listen to Fusion & DMR Traffic
PI-Star Chat (Talkgroup : 31672) : This is for information on PI-Star.

QSL Policy - I EQSL every qso via automatic log upload from my logging system Log4OM - I dont collect paper QSL cards and unfortunately don’t send them out anymore with the cost of postage being so high.

General Links - When I’m in the shack I like to see what the general condx are like and where the signals are being received so I use a couple of reporting sites, PSK Reporter (https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html) is a great one as you can filter by Band, Mode and time interval, another one I use which is great for FT8 is Hamspots (https://hamspots.net/)

Logging - All QSO's are logged by Log4OM and uploaded to Clublog straight after every QSO. I also use the cluster option on Log4om to see what’s about DX wise.

Please feel free to follow me on Twitter - @kevtatlow and send me a DM to say that you follow me!

You can also listen to my weekly radio show on Atlantic RNI (Part of Radio North Sea International) via the Tune In App or by visiting the website, https://www.radio-northsea.de/ I'll be spinning the tunes every Friday between 6pm and 8pm UK time - request a song and I'll give you a mention on the air! Simples!!

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

HF - Yeasu FT450D

2m / 70cm - Baofeng UV5R

DMR - Retevis RT3 with a DV4 Mini

Antennas - For HF I use a Multi Band Long Wire which is 53 feet long, this goes around my flat roof - the neighbours think its a Seagull trip wire, that s covert for you!

I also have a Diamond Colinear for 2m and 70cms

  

Rev. 76d955ecd7