|
|
Operator John Edwards:- I was born in Glasgow 1955. My father was a a senior telephone engineer in what used to be called the GPO (General Post Office) before it was broken up into what became BT (British Telecom) and the Royal Mail. I don't think my father was an influence on my hobby (he died when I was 12) but I can remember him and his mates building one of the first television sets around our area when we lived in Glasgow. It was a dangerous affair trying to turn some of his creations on. I can remember one set where you had to stick your finger through a small hole drilled in the side of an old wooden box. The trick was to wiggle it around and find the station tuning control wheel inside the box which was attached to a chassis. I can still remember the heat inside and the odour of warm valves and insulation. These memories will stay with me forever. When I was five I began to be aware of the Beatles and all the sixties' beat groups. I remember listening to Radio Luxembourg on 208 KHz medium wave as its signal faded in and out at the whim of the night's propagation conditions. Then in the mid 60s the arrival of the Pirate Radio Stations based off shore in the North Sea and Atlantic, fired up my imagination and my desire was to become a DJ on stations like Radio Caroline, Radio Scotland and Radio England. I continued to be inspired by these stations right through to the 70s with RNI. (Radio Nordsea International). During these days I would find old bakalite valved broadcast receiver sets and attack the aerials inside the boxes with screwdrivers attempting to improve the signal reception of weak stations by adding long runs of wire. It was while delving into an old Eko set (I think) that I heard my first non 'Broadcast Station'. A fishing boat Skipper chatting on the Medium Wave Band using 'AM' off St Abbs Head north of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne North East England. I sat back and became glued to the sound of the Skippers on the fishing boats chatting over cups of tea and discussing their catches while in the background you could hear noise from seagulls and the deck machinery. Magic! That was the beginning of my love affair with trawlers and short wave radio. I bought an old Army '19' set from a dodgy CB radio bloke who ran an even more questionable taxi service, but never managed to get the old green curiosity working (I got ripped off). When I turned 17 it all fell away and in its place girls, rock music and beer competed for influence and crammed into my youth. College and work, while unwelcome, took up the rest of my time. That was pretty much that until around 1987. One day I decided to have a car alarm installed and looked up an advert in a local paper. I went to see what at first seemed like a shady man who went by the nickname "Monty" in a lock-up in Fife who did this work. While at his place I noticed on the work bench a strange looking piece of equipment. It looked like a piece of test equipment. He showed me how it worked and spoke of "Amateur Radio" "Pirates". From that second on I knew that I just had to have that radio. I kept on at him to sell it to me and eventually he did. I didn't know him from Adam and he could have ripped me off but he didn't. Iain Montgomery "Monty" to his friends, later turned out to be a great friend and it is to him that I owe much. I have had years of enjoyment from this hobby and plan to for the rest of my days. When Iain sold me that radio (I still own it and will never part with it), a Kenwood TS430S plus an AT230 for £400, that was a good deal at the time, I had no idea how to use it. Iain explained about the licence and also about Pirates. He also told me about CB which at that point in time had already been through it's 'AM' golden age. I had only heard about it via that song 'Convoy' and even then viewed it as a tacky side to life. I later involved myself in CB (Handle TV-eye) helping others to understand radio and how it all worked. But.. first... I was a SW Pirate! Call sign GAB99 / IX22 and the magic of it all inspired me to move on rapidly and sit my City and Guilds Radio Amateur Examination. I passed and took the call sign GM7NVA in 1992. Although I have been a ham since '92, in all that time, up to around 2000, I'd never actually been brave enough to call CQ DX, although I have sat on frequency with many a 'big gun' CQer at the top of 80m and picked up their hand-on DX contacts, I'd never really thought that I had "a big signal" as they say. So after a year or so of this I decided pluck up the courage and give it a go one night, around 3am after Europe had gone to bed. At the top of 80 you can rag chew with east coast USA on a 100watts with ease during the winter season. As I said, I'd been hanging around this band for many years and somehow you just get into the mode where by you think it's just you and whomever spins by the frequency. If they want to say hi, they stop by. Two years later I was, I thought, a seasoned late night DXer on 80 meters, working late into the night. Just me, the static and a few other lonely souls. Like I said, you just think it's you and whomever drops by. So there I was lulled into my regular lonely little part of the spectrum on a quite night when a voice called out of the blue, 'VU'. I'd just been talking to a Canadian and I just automatically wrote down VE and asked for the full call sign. Then it dawned upon me that this was no regular VE contact and I was really excited that a VU (India), a bit scarce on the 80m band, would actually call me, ME! and, at this unholy hour. I quickly and humbly exchanged details and was closing the contact when another lonely voice way down in the noise said "ask if he want's to work North America". So, I said yes ok go ahead. What followed sent my senses reeling. Within a split second, a band, which for years I'd always thought seemed like a graveyard after 2am, suddenly turned into a raging mass of human voices, the likes of which you'd only expect at a massive football ground on cup final day. Their hadn't even been time enough for the cluster to send out the alert! I'd heard plieups before for rare DX but you don't really expect hundreds of hams to be hanging around a quiet frequency at 3 in the morning! From that moment on I've never felt alone while calling CQDX. It dawned upon me that there were always at least a few hundred listening from one moment to the next. I was in effect hosting a chat show with an audience who sat quietly in their seats checking out the show. That nice "new one" for me carried on and worked the States for 20minutes before handing the frequency back to me saying "many thanks to John, GM7NVA, for the nice DX and the loan of the frequency. 73". I felt special that night and it changed my whole attitude to calling CQ. We are all MC's on the air and we tend to forget we have an audience. You just never know who's listening. It's a responsibility and since it would seem we are also entertainers, it's one which is best carried out with a sense of humour. These days life is still hectic. I run a music business in Edinburgh and still, occasionally, manage Heavy Rock bands. Radio still gets a lot of time but never enough to allow me to delve further into its secrets. I always wanted to get my shirt sleeves rolled up and get under the lid ... even make my own lid hi hi! But sadly that aspect of the hobby has yet to be undertaken. The same is true of my abysmal attempt at learning Morse code. I failed it twice. Now that Morse is no longer a requirement of the licence, a strange desire to pick up that key once again taps on my shoulder. Ironic! John Edwards September 2003 (Pic of old shack 2003) Foot Note :- I have recommended the Kenwood TS430S (No longer available new) to old timers and newcomers alike and all of them, without exception, who have sought one out, have told me that they will never wish to part with it. It is a simple basic rig and a perfect beginners radio with no bells and whistles. It is also a very cheap radio to buy secondhand. A real bargain and a classic. If you are looking to buy one of these make sure that it is the later version with the 'Kenwood' badge and not 'Trio' . Also look to see if it has most of the standard and better still optional filters fitted. (AM - YK88A, CW - YK88CN 270khz Passband / Atten bandwidth 1.1khz or YK88C 500khz / Atten bandwidth 1.5khz, and the SSB - YK88SN).  |