Biography

Born end of 1963 as a member of the frisian tribe (dont call me a German, I'm a Frisian!), I became a HAM in 1978 (ex DG4BE, till 1994, when I took my 12 wpm CW exam). My Elmer was John Martin Fournier, G8LRH. It has brought him from London in the 1960s to my home town Aurich to marry his girlfriend Luise and from there he was now QRV with the german callsign DC0HW, mostly on the UHF and SHF bands. In the 1980s, we have a variety of projects planned and realized. John was, in all personal and technical aspects, an outstanding radio amateur and for me as a young HAM a source of endless inspiration. Unfortunately he died in 1991 at the age of 51 years from a serious illness much too young. My ancestors were merchants, innkeepers, carpenters, healers, undertakers, politicians and mechanics - sometimes all in one. One of my great uncles was a machinist and radio man on Airship L20 (LZ59), the raider of Loughborough. I myself am only a civil service employee and cost the German taxpayer money.

I'm QRV from 160 meters to 70 centimeters. My main interests in amateur radio are CW on shortwave (no electronic keyers here, only BUGs and straight keys), weak signal operating on VHF/UHF, meteor scatter (only in SSB), aurora etc. Also real satellite QSOs via the classic birds (e.g. OSCAR 7).

I'm not interested in working with digital or computer-based operating modes. FT8 and similar modes of operation in my opinion are no real amateur radio from person to person. WSJT modes etc. are intended for sophisticated operations. In ordinary, everyday communication they are the death of HAM radio!

For serious VHF/UHF work, I prefer the old, five digits european QTH locator, developed by DL3NQ (sk) in the 1950s. So, I live in DN square (DN = JO33).

I'm a regular listener to long-, medium- and shortwave, mostly outside the HAM bands. I like to use Web-SDRs with my PC at home or my notebook on travel.

Further interests: Tube type equipment, "boat anchors", professional shortwave- and communication receivers, vintage amateur radio sets, radiotechnical literature, history of wireless communications, (radio-) astronomy, geophysical HF phenomenaes (sferics, whistler), military communications equipment, fast cars, large caliber firearms target shooting, shellac records, classical music, modern arts, RC model airplanes and my Märklin H0 model railway. Recently also the occasional hunt for downed weather sondes.

I'm a vegetarian since my childhood - it is barbaric to kill and eat our fellow creatures. So, I am also a strong opponent of livestock farming, hunting and fishing. Furthermore meat consumption has been proven to shorten our lifetime seriously! I enjoy single malt whiskys - especially from Islay and Skye, craft beer and classic wines. But also the spirits from my East Frisian homeland.

ARRL member since 1995; DXCC since 2000. OTC, WAC, DLD and UKW-EU-D Trophy Nr. 106.

Subscriber to the Electric Radio Magazine (ermag.com) and the Funk-Telegramm (funk-telegramm.de).

VFDB e.V. member, local branch Norddeich Radio Club Z65.

Member of the german society for radio history GFGF e.V.

I'm QRV from two locations: Aurich, the capital of the principality of East Frisia (DN48a - JO33RL) and the tiny village Vreschen-Bokel (DN69b - JO33VF). Vreschen-Bokel is located in the Ammerland in the west of the grand duchy of Oldenburg, only one kilometer from the east frisian border. Its in the middle between the east frisian city Leer and the city Oldenburg.

I love genuine paper QSL cards. I don't like electronic QSLing and I don't support it. Hence I don't use online logs either. If you would like to receive a real QSL card, please make a request via email ("message" function above - login required - or via my callsign at arrl.net). I still have all the logbooks from the beginning. If you need a card for a contact long time ago, feel free to ask for it.

Basically, I prefer to exchange QSL cards via bureau. I have no sympathy for the fact that more and more radio amateurs are leaving this way, especially since most of them spend a lot of money on their equipment, but are too stingy to support their national QSL office or association. In the long run, these people will ruin HAM radio as a whole with their selfishness, because at some point there will no longer be any national amateur radio associations to fight for our rights in politics and the general public!

SWL reports always welcome! I dont "sell" QSL cards, so SASE's or "green stamps" are not required.

Equipment

Wire antennas (1st & 2nd QTH):

HF (80 & 40 meters) -> Longwire and Dipole (W3DZZ)
HF all -> Longwire and OCFD

Antennas on Versatower BP40 (1st QTH):

HF (20-15-10 meters) -> 3 elements triband Beam FB33, made by Kurt Fritzel, DJ2XH (sk), in 1974
144 MHz -> 17 elements Yagi-Uda made by Marc Tonna, F9FT (sk)
432 MHz -> 21 elements Yagi-Uda made by Marc Tonna, F9FT (sk)

Antennas on Versatower BP30 (2nd QTH):

HF (20-15-10 meters) -> 2 elements triband Beam FB23, by Kurt Fritzel, DJ2XH (sk). Heading 320 deg. fix
45 MHz to 500 MHz -> LPDA ANJo LP045500S, made by DL4KH
144 MHz -> 8 elements Yagi-Uda ANJo YA014408, made by DL4KH

Antennas on Roof (2nd QTH):

HF (20-15-10 meters) -> Trap Groundplane, homemade from scrapped Fritzel antenna parts
VHF-UHF -> Discone Sirio SD1300 (mainly for satellite work)

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One last thing:

My postal address is not listed here. At my request, it will not be published in the database of the German telecommunications authority too. If you want to contact me, please send me an email first.

If you find my personal data on any HAM portals other than this one and eham.net, it is a matter of unauthorized disclosure and, in fact, data theft. If necessary, I will take legal action against it. I refer to the European General Data Protection Regulation in this regard.