Biography

I am aged 63yrs old. I joined the British Army aged 15 in 1978. I finished my time and moved to
Canada in 1993 and joined the Canadian Army in 1994. I was retired in 2017 with physical and other injuries due to long service and deployments to over 25 countries.

I took up radio ham in Canada and was licensed in 2015. I have a vast technical background with Radio Communications. After my time in a rifle company i left and joined the Signals Platoon at the Infantry level. I became a fully qualified signaler and i became detachment commander of the long distance station providing long distance communications for the Battalion. I also went to school to become fully qualified in HF Communications and I also became a Morse Code Instructor as it was a requirement back in the 1990's for every British Infantry Battalion to have a morse code capability and that still remains today especially as our satellites become a target in the next unfortunate world war. Morse Code will always get through better than satellites and most of all better than voice.

I have operated HF In all disciplines, from the Southern Hemisphere of the Falkland Islands to Jungle Warfare in the Jungle of Belize in South America and the Brunei Jungle of Asia. Remember Operating HF with a dipole in the southern Hemisphere, the dipole but be broadside on to the receiving station. Operating HF in the desert is very challenging due to the sand not able to act as a ground source as I quickly found out.

I refuse to use any power amplifiers as I just am not a believer in them while operating HF. I have contacted 7 continents of the world using 100watts or less. What is the achievement when one is trying to make a contact using 1500watts. It's in my opinion, inappropriate because you are not also causing local interference no matter how much you try to suppress RFI, you will never be 100% successful. And worst of all, It's immensely inconsiderate to your fellow radio hams world wide. There's just no need for it. Well, that's my personal own opinion on power amps.

Now I am retired, I have been a radio ham since 2015, and I enjoy HF. It's the most challenging aspect of all forms of communications in my opinion and requires the most skill-sets than Satellite Comms, VHF/UHF.

I wish all fellow radio hams good dx'ing and have a thorough enjoyment of this great hobby

I will QSL 100% on Eqsl.cc, Direct Mail and LOTW. I am a firm believer when sending out QSL Cards, why should I enclose cash for stamps while we are both sending out cards. I will send my contacts a Card and if you do not wish to return the favor simply because i did not enclose some USA Dollars, then guess I won't receive one back. But that's okay, because i still will try and keep this part of the ham radio way of life alive.

73's

Dave VE3SXY(Very Sexy)

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Radios

ICOM 7610
ICOM 718
Yeasu FTM 400DX with WiresX Capability

Microphone: ICOM SM-50
Morse Key: Bencher Paddle

Monitors: X4

MFJ Wire Antenna Tuner

Antennas:

1. Multi-Band 1/2wave Rotatable Antenna from 80meters to 70cm Range erected on top of a 45ft TV Tower

2. Multi-Band 1/2wave Wire Dipole with Trap to accommodate 160meters. Dipole range from 160meter to 10meters

3. Multi-Band 3/4wave End-Fed Sloping Wire 135ft long with trap. 80meters to 10meters

4. Homemade VHF/UHF Jpole Antennas 30ft high on a Mast.

Software:

Windows, HRD, JTDX, WSJT-X, JTALERT, GRIDTRACKER,