G6CSY
G6CSY
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My interest in Amateur Radio first started when I was at school. After building a low power two-valve medium-wave A.M. transmitter, I started to listen to the Short Wave bands at home. At first I only heard the very high power stations that came mainly from the Communist countries. Especially loud were Radio Moscow, Radio Havana and Radio Prague. Even though they were very strong, the "woodpecker" , a Russian over-the-horizon radar system, always powered its way over the top of everything, shifting in frequency as atmospheric conditions varied. As the propagation conditions changed, so the woodpecker walked it way up and down the shortwave bands.
Check out the weather! Any chance of working DX on HF now?
With help from reference books in the local library I improved the aerial system I had by using a longer wire and then taking the time to match it to the receiver being used at the time. I now started to hear Amateur Radio stations as well. The strongest signals heard were from the G3VLX station in Petts Wood, operated by Deryck Buckley [sadly deceased April 2007]. I turned up on his doorstep on Saturday morning and was warmly welcomed in to his shack. It was through his enthusiasm that I ended up becoming a member of the Cray Valley Radio Society [CVRS] through the 1970's and 80's.
It was a CVRS club member who improved my station by donating a BC-348 receiver [a W.W. II radio from a B-17 bomber] as well as a homebrew power supply.
Through this my interest grew and I ended up joining the national society, the Radio Society of Great Britain [RSGB], where I got my short wave listening [SWL] 'callsign' of RS44984. I then got my Class B Amateur Radio license in 1981 after passing my City & Guild examinations. I quickly got on the air on VHF and UHF. Although only on the V.H.F. bands with my Class B license at the time, (I had not done the morse test and so was prohibited from operating on the short wave bands), I actively listened on the H.F. bands. I could have taken a 5 w.p.m. morse test and changed to an M0 callsign (a Class 'A/B' license), but I never seemed to have the time. Everything changed in the middle of 2003 though, when the Radio Authority announced that the morse code requirement for operating on H.F. was no longer required. So, as from September 2003, I started to be active on the H.F. bands. Over the following months, I expanded my stations abilities by upgrading my H.F. transceiver, and by replacing the much corroded vertical antenna used for H.F. listening, with something more suitable for transmitting.
During 1988 I was lucky enough to move into a new house, where I was able to obtain planning permission for a tilt-over tower and aerials. The tower is by Allweld Engineering, and consists of three 20-foot triangular lattice sections, with a 4 foot high rotator cage at the top, containing a Yaesu rotator, and currently a short fibreglass stub mast.
Currently the stub mast hosts an 9-ele Tonna for 144MHz, and a 5-ele Tonna for 50MHz, both for the main station. There is also a 144MHz Halo antenna connected to a mobile FM transceiver, as well as two pulley systems, used for raising up trap dipoles, inverted L's and long wire antennas when needed.
The mast can even be seen from space!
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station as of August 2008
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A major part of the station is the software used:
I am now QRV most weekends on the H.F. Bands, and on the 6m/2m bands if there is a contest taking place. During the week, and especially during the summer, I spend my time on the 6m band, looking for Sporadic-E contacts. I also try to visit the Cray Valley RS contest sites, if they are going portable for a contest.
My station activity, by band, since first licensed. 20m and 40m provide for the bulk of my activity.
My station activity, by mode, since first licensed. SSB and RTTY are currently the most used modes, however I have recently started using CW in contests. I am also doing more PSK mode now.
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