Biography

How it all began ...

As a 13-year-old boy, I started to take an interest in electrical engineering and to do my first experiments, e.g. I built a Wagner hammer.
I was extremely interested in the broadcasts of the BBC's "German Language Service". The evening programme began with the words "Big Ben hat soeben sieben Uhr geschlagen. Hier ist der Londoner Rundfunk mit seiner Sendung in deutscher Sprache". There was an "East Zone Programme" and a "Programme for East Germany". There, after the news, came the programmes "Der verwunderte Zeitungsleser" or "Tom Berry gibt nun den Situationsbericht". Tom Berry's sonorous voice with a light English accent encouraged me to imitate him. At school, the Francisceum in Zerbst, I told my classmates what I had heard the night before. Soon I got the nickname "Tom Berry", which my former classmates still use to address me at class reunions.
In order to be independent of the family radio receiver, I built a 1-V-1 equipped with three RV12P2000 tubes. However, I did not end up in the shortwave broadcast band, but in the neighbouring 40 m amateur radio band. So I often followed the QSOs in AM and later also in CW on this band as SWL. My interest in amateur radio was aroused.

The desire quickly arose to be allowed to transmit as well. To do so, one needed an amateur radio licence and had to prove Morse code speed of 60 characters per minute in listening and transmitting. In addition, membership of the GST (Society for Sport and Technology) was required in East Germany.

The GST also offered Morse courses, which I attended from September 1957. It was not easy for me to reach the Morse code speed required for the Deutsche Post examination with a certain reserve. In 1959 I passed the exam and received the callsign DM3YSG in 1960. I kept this callsign during my studies and my subsequent scheduled scientific "Aspirantur" at Dresden University of Technology. There I worked under double callsign at the club station DM3ML.
My last callsign in the GDR was Y27AL. After the GDR joined the Federal Republic of Germany, I received the callsign DL1DXA, which I still have today.