Biography

I first got interested in Amateur Radio as a Short Wave Listener at the age of 12 with the use of an Eddystone 888A amateur bands receiver on loan from the late Arnold Perkins (G3POJ), with whom I spent many a happy hour in his shack, on a Sunday morning, while he worked the world! Having been 'bitten by the bug', the purchase of a Trio 9R-59DS communications receiver and Yaesu FR-DX400 amateur bands recceiver soon followed, with lots of wire strung up between trees in the garden! This led to an interest in construction and a number of projects including an amateur bands receiver (based on a circuit in Practical Wireless) with valuable assistance from Alan Lake (G4DVW). Many early mornings were spent, before going to school, listening to the amateur bands and logging stations heard.

After going through a phase with CB radio as a teenager, I finally got round to taking the Radio Amateur's Exam and getting a Class A licence in 1993. After several years operating mobile and from my home QTH in Nottingham I moved to my current location in the beautiful Lincolnshire countryside, approximately 162ft (49m) above sea level. It's taken a while to get the shack sorted, but I finally got some antennas up for HF and VHF/UHF and living on a farm means no unwanted interfearance from surrounding properties or complaints from neighbours!

Equipment

HF antennas:

Hustler 6BTV with radials and add ons for 12m and 17m
Sigma Eurocomm HF360 vertical with 80m and 40m plus kit and counterpoise wires (6m to 80m)
Alpha antenna J-Pole JR (6m to 80m)
Sigma Eurocom LW40 end fed 132ft random wire (6m to 160m)
MFJ-1786X magnetc loop (10m to 30m)

VHF/UHF antenna:

Diamond x-50

Main radios:

Icom IC-7610, Icom IC-756 PRO III and Kenwood TS-870 in the main shack
Kenwood TS-850, Trio/Kenwood TS-830S, Yaesu FT-890 and Yaesu FT101ZD mk3 in the workshop shack
Icom IC-7000 for mobile operation and analogue VHF/UHF in the shack
Anytone ATD878UV for digital VHF/UHF in the shack
Icom IC-705 for portable operation
Icom IC-7300 for portable operation
Elecraft KX3 for portable operation
Xiegu X6100 for portable operation
Yaesu FT-897 for portable operation
Yeasu FT-817 for portable operation

Linear amplifier:

Acom 1200S

ATUs:

LDG AT-1000ProII
LDG AT-600ProII
LDG AT-100ProII
LDG KT-100
LDG IT-100
LDG AT-897
LDG AT-817
MAT 125E
AT100 (N7DDC)
AT10 (N7DDC)
Kenwood AT-230