Background and
Introduction :
Hi - and welcome to this simple webpage from the shack of
Andy, GØJLX, more colloquially known as the 'Jolly Large X-Ray',
operational on HF, 6m*, 4m, 2m and 70cm, hi hi. (* I've got a problem with 6m
at present).
Not perhaps your archetypical Amateur Radio enthusiast,
as I am a also a professionally qualified, Chartered
Engineer. I specialise in Radio Communications, Radar and Navigational Aids
in Air, Land or Sea environments. I've been licenced since 1988 and to be
honest, I am still learning all sorts of things about this wonderful hobby of
ours and I just love playing about with radios and aerials (or antennas if you
prefer) on an experimental basis.
I am an active member of
RAYNET, the Radio
Amateur Emergency Network, and currently belong to both the
HF group, the
National Group and the
NW Hampshire local network. The Land
Rover plays an important part in providing us with a full off-road facility if
we ever need it, and can be quickly rigged with HF, VHF and UHF to act as a
mobile relay if required.
On a historical note, I started off with a borrowed Yaesu FT-101 HF
rig from the Southampton Amateur Radio Club and made a very simple home-brew
multi-band trap dipole which, when strung down our 120 foot long garden of the
time, worked fairly well on three of my favorite bands, 15m, 20m and 40m. I also
slung up a quarter-wave zepp between a couple of trees with a half-decent
counterpoise for 80m and top band that worked quite well on 80m, but not so well
on 160m.
My main mode and interest when first licenced was CW and I was lucky
enough to have been bought a really good pump-action straight brass key by my
Dad (who was apparently a class one military telegraphist in the 1939-45 war)
from the Kent stable. I still have that key and it is still my pride and joy to
show it off as "the station key". Needless to say I had great fun
making the key up from the kit too ! Unfortunately, 25 words a minute in
professional commercial maritime CW training caused the dreaded 'glass wrist'
problems and I decided that if I was to continue with CW, I should seriously
look at something other than just straight keys. And I suppose that was the
start of my very modest
collection - which is still growing - albeit somewhat slowly........ I
also have a delightful high speed paddle key which is a joy to use, (see some of
the pictures below).
I am a long-standing member of the FISTS CW
club (member #358) and I am a member of RAFARS, the Royal Air Force Amateur
Radio Society (member #2701).
These days, the FT-101 is long gone back
to its owners, and I run an FT-897 for the most part (more of that below) and an
older FT-102 which is also a lovely rig for backup HF use. I also have a
Philips 4m FM rig which I dust off occasionally and activate, a Motorola CM360
for 4m use, an FT-857 for portable and mobile use, a couple of dual band Icom
IC-2725e for 2m and 70cm FM mobile use and a couple of handhelds for 2m and 70cm
FM as well.
Current Interests
and Modes of Operation :
My main interest these days is HF CW and SSB,
although I do still thoroughly enjoy operating on the 4m, 2m and 70cm bands,
hence the other rigs which I have enjoyed for many a year. If you catch me
about mobile, I will most likely be operating the ICOM 2725e as this is a nice
little dual bander that works well in the car or the Landy, or possibly on the
FT-857.
I also own an FT-897 (see pictures), which is a fantastic portable
rig, that has been halfway around the globe with me on several expeditions under
different callsigns. I now use it mostly when I go /portable to hilltops and the
like and operate either from the car or the Landy or even under canvass with the
generator ! I've put the batteries in it and have run with the 20W RF output
they convince the rig to produce to some interesting effect with the doublet,
such as when on hilltops without any other power. Maybe I should invest in a
couple of solar cells ? I've experimented with all sorts of different aerials
and still like to use the good old doublet at 30-odd feet in an inverted vee
configuration with a length of 450-ohm balanced feeder off an ATU, or perhaps an
82'-long "Bandspringer" sloper antenna with another 82 feet of copper
run out at ground level as a counterpoise. The top end of the Bandspringer
antenna is at about 18 feet if I've taken the portable mast out with me.
Either configuration can be used out of the Landy, or from a backpack.
I've
got all sorts of aerials (antennas) at home, mostly home brew wire or purchased
alloy multiband verticals that I've experimented with from time to time over the
years. I must say, the old favorites like the G5RV and the doublet do seem to
work exceptionally well under most conditions and in a huge multiplicity of
configurations. I've also played about with a wire 80m monoband dipole at a
couple of
JOTA's in the past and have plans
for a "ship-like" T against ground. Home these days is up a 400' hill
just north of Winchester, and I am still trying to get everything sorted out
after so many years of it all being in boxes.
If you are interested in seeing a few of the shack construction
pictures, follow this
link to my 'construction' page !
If local operating conditions
permit, I run a VL-1000 linear that allows me to run legal limit on HF, but it
is rarely bought into action - except perhaps for
JOTA or when I want to really be
heard on the bands !
I also teach amateur radio at all 3
UK levels - Foundation, Intermediate and Full and have full access to a
registered UK exam centre, for all three licence levels. Click here for details
!!
Please contact me by email if you want more information on Amateur
Radio in general, or want to book a place on a course (which are generally held
on Saturday afternoons). There's plenty of free car parking at the venue and no
age limits ! All are welcomed. I am fairly readily contactable by email -
GØJLX at mail dot com will generally
find me, providing the server is up and running properly. Might take a day or
three for me to respond, but you will eventually get a reply ! Just in case
that server fails, you can always try
andy_digby at hotmail dot com
direct.
Hilltop /Portable or
/Mobile Operations :
HF: Here's a picture or two of the HF station as
set up at a typical /m location !
An FT 897 running about 100 watts on
a good day, either SSB or CW via an MFJ-971 Portable Antenna Tuning Unit (ATU).
Other mobile options include the wonderful "Buddipole"
portable antenna that I took down to the Falklands with me (click here to see my VP8DJO website),
which enabled me to work back to the UK from a hilltop location operating /m.
The Buddipole has also been out to Ascension Island with me when I was operating
from there. (click here to visit my
ZD8AD website).
Other mobile operations these days include the landrover
and a 'Taheel' tunable mobile antenna that responds particularly well to four
35' long ground radials run out - as you can see from the next series of
pictures taken earlier in 2009.
Just for fun, I have now included a webcam page which is
intended to carry live webcam piccies of the station I am operating when I am
out in the field somewhere, typically operating out of the back of a landrover
and / or on a hilltop somewhere !! (click here to visit my webcam
page).
Other Interesting
Links :
You might like to visit my
JOTA and JOTI websites
and have a look at the station with its antennas rigged as at last October (and
work, weather & health permitting, again this October).
GBØBWS is the
normal special events call for the Bishop's Waltham Scout Station. As always we
are planning to be active throughout the third FULL weekend in October with this
special events callsign.
You might also like to visit my
Twyford Waterworks Trust
website and have a look at the station we rigged in August.
GBØTWT is the
special events call for the Twyford WaterWorks Trust Station. We are usually
only active with this callsign once or twice a year (for the Open Day and for
International Pumping Stations On The Air day for example). The pumping station
is located in such a position as to preclude all but HF ops for the most part,
although we do offer a 2m talk-in monitoring facility for visitors.
The
place to find amateurs :
QRZ dot com
My "Items For Sale" Site :
GØJLX dot co dot uk
The
UK FISTS CW
club is the place for lovers of Morse Code if you are within the EU !! There is
also a USA chapter of FISTS if you are
visiting my site from the USA.
>
Click to join hampshire_hilltoppers
Page last updated on 16th August 2010