Biography

Born in late 60s, SWL since age 9 or 10. First Licensed in 1982 at age 14 (as G6IUT), then progressed to full licence, by passing the 12wpm Morse code test at age 15 (with the callsign G4UCJ, which would remain my main call from 1983 to November 2025. From November '25 I changed to a 'vanity' callsign: G3ESE, a seemingly non-issued callsign, from 1948).
CW became my favourite mode, and led to teaching Morse to several pupils at the Bletchley Park Morse Centre from the mid 90s through to 2001. I was appointed an RSGB County Morse examiner in the late 1990s, recognising my dedication to helping others in following what has become a passion for me.

Here are some stats from my SWL activities:
Logged over 400,000 QSOs, in 340 DXCC (337 Current DXCC).

SWL Totals on 6m: 175 DXCC and 1038 Grid Squares. ODX on 6m is VK9LA @ 17194km (Lord Howe Island); Others of Note on 6m: VK4MA @ 16304km; VK4CH @ 16296km; VK6BSA @ 14533km;  VK6JJJ @ 14505km; VK6OX @ 14503km; VK8AW @ 13803km, KH0/KC0W @ 11871km; AH0BT @ 11871km; JS6CDB @ 9964km (Okinawa Island) plus other VK, JA, YB, DU, BY, etc.

SWL Totals on 4m: 57 DXCC and 291 squares. ODX is A92HK @ 5126km.
SWL Totals on 2m: 58 DXCC and 371 squares.  ODX is  EA8TX @ 2934km

I log whatever I hear, but try to only log a station once per band and per mode, per year. This fails when I import contest logs where I have worked the same stations numerous times during the year! Each year I try to collect as many DXCC, Grid squares, prefixes and US States as possible. I have kept detailed records of these going back to 1996 (I do not have any logs prior to 2006 as they had been destroyed by a 3rd party without my knowledge so never got the chance to enter them into the electronic log).

My main areas of interest are DXing; CW; data modes (mainly RTTY/FT8/FT4/MSK144); antennas; NDB & other beacons; and VHF DX. I also enjoy broadcast band (MW) and Shortwave broadcast DXing.

SOLAR PANELS and INVERTERS - Beware!

The government in England have given most, if not all, local authorities (usually county councils, which allocate budgets, etc. for their area od control) a grant for installing solar power systems in their social housing stock, where applicable. Although I live in a village of just under 600 people, there are some social houses in the immediate area. My own house, my neighbours either side and a few in the close behind us have had solar panels and inverters installed.

THIS HAS BEEN PROBLEMATIC TO SAY THE LEAST.

The inverters and associated bits and pieces are VERY RF noisy. The interference is wideband, from below 1MHz upto 145MHz, and beyond. There are various types of interference, dependent on time of day and band in use. I monitor 6m every day for openings on 50.313. The inverters put out multiple wide carriers on 6m, every 10kHz up and down the band, with one that is resident on 50.313 and 50.323. Those are the two busiest frequencies on 6m. FT8 is pretty good at working around carriers, etc. What it can't do is get through the increase in background mush. around 18 months ago, the 6m band was so quiet that I was thinking of adding my 6m preamp to the setup as the meter on the IC-756pro2 was fixed on zero, even with both internal preamps running. I had used the preamp at my previous location and it made a useful difference. Fast forward to today, and now when I switch the radio on the background noise level is anywhere between s4 (a very good day) and s9+10dB. I'm still monitoring 6m but wondering how much I am now missing due to the increased noise.

I've done pretty much all I can to reduce the impact, including contacting OFCOM, who came out and did some testing around the locality, as well as in my shack.

They concluded that the vast majority of the noise was coming from the solar installs, which are radiating noise into the mains supply. My mains supply has multi stage filtration, but of course, no-one elses does.

The other problem is that our electricity supply to our homes are via overhead cables fed from a pole at the top of the road. The OFCOM engineer was able to confirm that the solar installations could be easily heard when he stood next to the electricity pole.

This is going to be a country wide problem for us as more and more have PVA systems installed.

Despite having investigated and confirmed the issue, OFCOM are unable to do anything to resolve it. They asked me to contact the installers and the local authority to confirm if the inverters, etc. are in specification - they will not know, or care, one way or the other. If you plan on having solar panels installed, make sure you find out if the inverters will be RF noisy and if they are, change them for ones that are known to be quieter.

I cannot provide any makes that are known to be quiet as we didn't get a choice with the install, the ones installed by the LA will be the cheapest ones that do the job. Cheapest usually means lower specification components, less EMI shielding, etc. It could amount to just a few pennies worth of components that  make the difference between noise and no/little noise.

Well, that is it, for now. 73 and thanks for taking the time to wade through my ramblings. I hope to work as many of you as possible, and I never refuse a QSO. If you have called me and haven't heard a reply, it may be that I haven't heard/seen you or I have heard/seen you but I was already calling/trying to work someone. Hang around because I will call you as soon as I am free to do so.

Please be courteous to others, even if they are using a mode you do not wish to use, or do not like for whatever reason - there is no need to be nasty to them, they are enjoying their hobby the way they want to.

There is far too much of this going on throughout the various social media platforms: FT-haters; Those who are phobic/nasty/deriding towards new licence holders;
Those who bemoan the cheap twin band V/UHF handhelds available from a handful of FE manufacturers, usually without even trying one. The list goes on and on).

Best wishes to all, good DX!

Personal Stuff:
* Married (my XYL also holds a full amateur licence, although she is not active at the moment). We have 3 daughters, plus cats (currently 4), rabbits (currently 4) and an unexpected small dog (came with eldest daughter when she moved back home!).

* International Editor for WRTH (World Radio TV Handbook), from 2001 until the company ceased in 2022.

* Freelance Technical Writer/Author and a co-author of the RSGB book 'Computers in Amateur Radio', writing both the introduction and the chapter concerning data-mode software.

* Have also produced logos and advertising materials for several clients.

Please visit my radio website: http://www.hfradio.org.uk (may not be available, due to issues with webhost); www.qrz.com/db/G3ESE

Enjoy this wonderful hobby, and let others do the same!

Other hobbies include:
* Photography (macro and weather are my favourite subjects); Aircraft (military mainly); Angling (I have not been able to do any for many years); World Geography; Computing and building/upgrading PCs.

73, and hope to hear or work you on the bands.

Sean - G3ESE, making QRM since 1982 (as G6IUT; G4UCJ; GO4UCJ; GQ4UCJ; GE4UCJ & now G3ESE/GE3ESE)

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Main HF Transceiver: Yaesu FTdx10 Hybrid-SDR covering HF, 6m and 4m.

6m/2m & Backup HF: Icom IC-756proII (on permanent loan from G4IRQ, as my own IC-756pro has died and the required parts are made from unobtainium!) with 2m TXCO controlled transverter + 90w (run at max 50W) linear amplifier.

HF & VHF Receivers: Racal RA1792; RFspace SDR-IQ SDR; Airspy HF+ Dual Port SDR; Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR; Airspy R2 SDR; Funcube Dongle Pro Plus (FCDpro+) SDR; Yupiteru MVT7100; Baofeng GT3TP MKIII, 8W dual band handheld TRX; BF888+ 70cm handheld TRX, x2; Quansheng UV5K (8) handie; CommRadio CR1; Sangean ATS-909 (Roberts R861); Roberts R5504 x 2; Degen DE1103; XHData D808.

ADSB Rx: Prostick+ RTL-R820T2 based dongle with ADSB Filter and 2 element colinear (in the attic), into RPi feeding 360 Radar; ADS-B Exchange & FlightAware.

Antennas: The current antennas in use are, for HF, EFHW for 40-10m with 49:1 un-un, installed as an Inverted 'L'; Other antennas up at the moment are: 6m half wave dipole at about 7m; 25-1300MHz discone (fed with low loss 75R coax) @ 7.5m mounted on a fibreglass telescopic mast (extendable to 15m). In the garden is a 1m diameter aluminium loop fed with a Cross Country Wireless (CCW) loop amplifier, which makes for a very low noise antenna with extremely sharp nulls and is mounted at 0.5m above ground. A CCW active receive-only dipole. The elements are around 1.5m each at 3m above ground and mounted vertically. This dipole used as a phasing antenna together with the other active loop, via a modified MFJ 1026 phaser. There are other antennas (4m/2m/70cms of various types) that will be installed in 2026.

To help combat some of the man-made interference, I use an MFJ 1026, which has been a real lifesaver on many occasions! Providing you can supply a good noise signal on one antenna and a stronger signal than noise on the other antenna, you stand a fair chance of improving the overall clarity of the wanted signal. Doesn't work 100% every time, but it works to some degree on most problems.
A second MFJ1026, modified for 160 and MW DX, is in the shack. Also available is a kit-built 'X-phaser' (from 'Raduso', in Poland - which is of a different design to the usual, eBay available, x-phase units from the Far East).

For calibration purposes, I have a GPS/satellite locked frequency standard (Trimble Thunderbolt) that is accurate to around 2ppb, or better.