Biography

Thanks for stopping by!

My name is Gert, born in 1964. Since April 2019 I’ve been enjoying my Full (CEPT) License under the callsign PA1BC. About a year earlier, I earned my Novice License and was on the air as PD2ALL.

My QTH is about 5 km west of the small town of Epe, right in the heart of the Netherlands, in the middle of the beautiful national park known as the Veluwe. By international standards it may be small, but for a country like the Netherlands it is an enormous nature reserve. I’m lucky to be surrounded by stunning landscapes and wildlife. Red deer wander by almost daily, and besides deer there are foxes, wild boars, countless birds, and even wolves. So yes - the Netherlands is much more than cows, cheese, windmills, and tulips!

My shack is equipped with Icom gear including the IC-7610 and IC-7851, both hooked up to a mini PC running Ham Radio Deluxe and digital mode software. The signal is boosted by an Icom IC-PW2 linear amplifier, feeding an OptiBeam OB11-5 antenna on a telescopic tower (20 meters when fully extended, usually retracted to 8). For 40m and below I use an end-fed antenna, while VHF/UHF operations run on an IC-9700 with a Log antenna and two X-Quads on a rotator for satellite work.

For mobile operations in my campervan, I use the IC-705 with an RM MLA100 amplifier for HF and an RM LQ144 amplifier for VHF. On HF, a rugged military-grade antenna gives me excellent DX results. Driving with it isn’t exactly practical (too tall, as you can see in the photo), but once parked, I can have everything up and running in about 15 minutes.

If we’ve already had a QSO together - thank you! It’s always a real pleasure meeting friendly operators on the air.

All the best, and 73!

PS

For anyone occasionally misusing my callsign on Dutch repeaters:
Please note that I am only active on the PI3NOV repeater. Most of the operators I talk to there know me personally, so it’s easy to recognize when someone else is using my call.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Icom IC-7610
Icom IC-7851
Icom IC-705
Icom IC-PW2
Yaesu FT-991A
Yaesu FT-818
OptiBeam OB11-5 antenna
Hyendfed multiband end fed antenna
Mazzoni Stealth Loop antenna
Military-grade HT-antenna