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GM0AXY Brag-file (here)
Scottish Islands:
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Lamb
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Lothians RAYNET
- Introduction
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- Introduction
- Glenkiln
- Three days in May 2004
- Strathyre (being created)
Freedom to Roam
Some Links
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I am now retired, and apart from taking on the
occasional consultancy and technical translation
tasks, I spend most of my time on things like
house, garden, grandchildren etc. as
well as amateur radio, of course.How did it all start?
Well, I became interested in
radio while I was still at primary school back in
Norway at the end of WWII. It came about when I
discovered a book in the school library. The book
was full of strange drawings which intrigued me;
I later learned they were circuit diagrams of
simple receivers, transmitters and amplifiers.
But I had one more hurdle to conquer; the book
which had been left behind by the German
occupation forces ("Wehrmacht" was
stamped on just about every second page), was
written in ESPERANTO! The title of the book was:
"And now I understand Radio". With the
help of a dictionary and some rudimentary
guidance and encouragement from an enlightened
teacher Mr Trygve Føllesdal, I set about
learning about valves, coils and condensers and
many other things electronic. That must have been
in about 1949 or 1950. I have never stopped
learning about electronics (and computing) since!
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As soon as
I was old enough, in mid 50's, I managed
to get my first radio amateur licence as LA6EF.
Various WWII surplus gear was used to get
on the air; Hallicrafters, HRO's, AR88's,
1155's etc. etc. all went through my
hands at one stage or another, as I
strived to get the best results in what
became my main interest; namely long
distance HF DX'ing.
The picture shows my station ca. 1960.
The main receiver here was an HRO with a
KW-Geloso frontend converter covering 80-40-20-15-10
metrer bands.
The transmitter was a Geloso VFO unit
driving a Heathkit SB10 single sideband
phasing adapter which in turn drove a
homebrew linear using a couple of 807's
followed by an 813. |
After a number of years with the Royal Norwegian
Air Force including a some of spells overseas, I
came to Edinburgh, Scotland to study electronics
at Heriot Watt College, now a university. While
at Heriot Watt I developed my first computer
program: Calculating the radiation
pattern from a microwave horn aerial.
I used Autocode on a Ferranti Sirius computer. It
had, if I remember right, about 30,000 valves, 4
Kbyte of magnetic core store memory (it could
have been a delay version to start with) and
input/output was through the use of 5-channel
papertape on teleprinters.
I graduated with a First Class Honours degree and
then joined a local Edinburgh company (Ferranti
Ltd.) as an engineer. I later undertook various
sales and marketing roles with Ferranti and later
with GEC Marconi, working both in the UK and
overseas, in applications such as Computer Aided
Design, Automated Mapping Systems, Phototooling,
PGM's and Training Simulators.
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The
interest in DX'ing survived a period of
waiting for reciprocal licencing to come
into being between Norway and the U.K.
where I eventually received the callsign GM5AXY
and then subsequently GM0AXY.
The picture shows the station ca. 1975
with a Yaesu FT101 as the main rig and a
few 'bit-and-bobs' such as a KW Z-match
ATU, a homemade audio filter etc.. |
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In 2003 I
achieved any DX'ers ultimate aim of
working all current DXCC entities, and I
received from the ARRL the confirmation
of my No 1 Honour Roll position. |
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with my XYL, Christine, who is GM4YMM
and also on the DXCC Honor Roll, I run a
Kenwood TS950 with a TL922 linear
amplifier feeding a 3 element SteppIR
YAGI, which is a full sized beam for each
of the bands from 20 to 6 metres, 80/40/30
metres dipoles and a "look-alike"
Butternut HF-9V vertical (homemade by GM4UTP)
in a small suburban garden here in
Edinburgh. I have operated mainly SSB and
CW until recently when I started to use
soundcard based systems for digital modes
like RTTY, PSK31 and MFSK. Christine
works mainly SSB with the occasional
venture on CW or RTTY when there is a new
'country' in the offering. |
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Both Christine and I have operated from a number
Scottish islands; activating these for the
Islands of Scotland Award (IOSA). Have a look at
our expedition in November 2001 to Inchmickery in
the Firth of Forth : Inchmickery
and The Lamb. We
have also taken up the challenge of Summits on
the Air - SOTA as you can see from other pages on
this website.
We have a small motorcaravan which, apart from
providing us with most creature comforts while we
are out and about throughout the UK and Europe,
is capable of putting out radio signals on all
bands from 80 metres to 70 cms.
P.S. If you really wish to see what I look like,
go this link to GM0AXY Photo
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Updated 28-September-2004
© GM0AXY
Contact Webmaster gm0axy@ic24.net
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