My accommodation, one of a number of specially converted ISO containers doubled up as my shack. Luckily, I had a room to myself, and there was ample desk space to set up the Rig and allow sufficient space for writing. I decided to start with what I new best. I did some quick calculations and raided the stores. I quickly found some 2-3 mm copper wire, some coax, some insulators, a chocolate box and some para-cord and lashed up a droopy 1/2 wave dipole between the corner of my container and an anchor point on a nearby rocky outcrop. Being so close to so much metal was not an ideal site by any stroke of imagination. There was also very little I could do about the orientation of the antenna and it was only about 8 ft above the ground at the centre.
Back in the shack, I had great expectations but no real idea what to expect. However, within a day of so I stumbled on a Radio Telephone patch through service being offered by Radio Amateurs for personnel at the US Base in Antarctica and got my first contact.
Monday, 26 February 1996
Saturday, 24 February 1996
Nov 95-Mar 96 - Operating on HF from the Falkland Islands
November 1996 saw me travelling down to the Falkland Islands for a 4 month 'detachment' with the Royal Air Force. For that period of time I was based on West Falkland at 751 Signals Unit otherwise known as Mount Alice.
While passing through RAF Mount Pleasant I enquired at the Post Office about getting an Amateur Radio Licence and in exchange for £10 I was issued a callsign VP8CSR - valid for life. My plan had been to beg borrow or acquire some kit once I had settled in but the postmaster, by the name of Les VP8CSA? immediately offered to sort me out some kit. I flew out to Mt Alice later the same day and began the process of taking over various duties from the outgoing incumbant.
The mountain sites as they were known were well served by a sometimes twice-daily helicopter service which was normally a Bristows. Their arrival and departure was a welcome reminder that one day it would be our turn to be going home to our families. Their arrival also brought the mail. Within a day of arival I received my first parcel, and probably one of the bigger parcels ever sent by Bristows. It was from Les. A suitcase containing an ICOM HF Tranceiver with 100W Linear Amp. What a star, and best of all, I was familiar with how it worked because it was exactly the same equipment that another unit I had worked with a few years previously had been equipped with.
So began my four month expedition as a Radio Amateur in the South Atlantic.
While passing through RAF Mount Pleasant I enquired at the Post Office about getting an Amateur Radio Licence and in exchange for £10 I was issued a callsign VP8CSR - valid for life. My plan had been to beg borrow or acquire some kit once I had settled in but the postmaster, by the name of Les VP8CSA? immediately offered to sort me out some kit. I flew out to Mt Alice later the same day and began the process of taking over various duties from the outgoing incumbant.
The mountain sites as they were known were well served by a sometimes twice-daily helicopter service which was normally a Bristows. Their arrival and departure was a welcome reminder that one day it would be our turn to be going home to our families. Their arrival also brought the mail. Within a day of arival I received my first parcel, and probably one of the bigger parcels ever sent by Bristows. It was from Les. A suitcase containing an ICOM HF Tranceiver with 100W Linear Amp. What a star, and best of all, I was familiar with how it worked because it was exactly the same equipment that another unit I had worked with a few years previously had been equipped with.
So began my four month expedition as a Radio Amateur in the South Atlantic.
Friday, 20 February 1981
Background
As a child I was facinated by motors, magnets and electricity. As a teenager my interest in electronics grew and I worked my way through every practical book and magazine that I could find on the subject. Along the way I was lucky enough to be introduced to the world of military radio though the school's Combined Cadet Force(CCF) and the CCF National Radio Net. This activity probably seemed rather geeky to my friends at the time but provided a focus for advancing my electronics skills maintaining the vintage military radio, building home-brew transmitters and opportunities to socialise over the air with other like-minded people. It also introduced me to morse(CW), gave me a valuable insight into the characteristics and challenges of radio communication that stood me in good stead later in my career. At around the same time personal computers such as the Commodore PET apeared on the scene and I quickly expanded my set of interests to include programming the 6502 microprocessor. I recall that one of the last things I did before leaving school was to write a morse code tutor using a combination of PET Basic and 6502 machine code and an audio amplifier attached to the Cassette Port.
In my gap year between school and university I resolved to take my hobby further and become a Radio Amateur. I took the Radio Amateur Exam in 1981 and received my callsign G6KME - at that time was a Class 'B' licence. Shortly thereafter I embarked on a Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree at what was then Portsmouth Polytechnic and whilst Amateur Radio always remained a latent interest, I was not really interested in VHF, I didn't have the time to study for the morse test and I quickly found other time-consuming student interests such as sub-aqua, waterskiiing and learning about computer programming.
In my gap year between school and university I resolved to take my hobby further and become a Radio Amateur. I took the Radio Amateur Exam in 1981 and received my callsign G6KME - at that time was a Class 'B' licence. Shortly thereafter I embarked on a Electrical and Electronic Engineering Degree at what was then Portsmouth Polytechnic and whilst Amateur Radio always remained a latent interest, I was not really interested in VHF, I didn't have the time to study for the morse test and I quickly found other time-consuming student interests such as sub-aqua, waterskiiing and learning about computer programming.
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