Amateur Radio - G4BEE 'then'
After a few years on the 144Mhz band, I decided it was time to knuckle down and
learn Morse Code so that I could get my Class A licence and be unleashed onto the
HF Bands. Ginger (G3RFN) a 'CW' only member of the Leyland Hundred kindly offered
to teach me and two others, later to become G4ANB and G4BAT, the skills required
to pass the 12 word per minute Morse Code test. His aim was to get us up to 15 words
per minute so the 12 words per minute would be easy. Every week, armed with a tape
recorder, we would visit his 'shack' and he took us through the rudiments of Morse
Code and operating CW. G4ANB was a quick learner and passed the test before myself
and G4BAT-to-be. However, in March 1972, myself and John (G4BAT-to-be) went off
to the Navy Offices in Liverpool
for the test. Greeted by an officer sporting a
great amount of scrambled egg on his arm, he 'loosened us up' and then off we went
into the test proper. I can still recall him answering the phone, writing and sending
perfect Morse Code all
at the same time! At the end of the test, we naturally wanted
to know if we had passed but protocol prevented him telling us but he did say "I
think you'll be alright". A couple of days later, the pass slip arrived; HF Bands
here we come.
I had asked the licensing authorities if I could have the callsign G4BEE rather
than one allocated in sequence so I had to wait until it 'came up' and this was
in September 1972. In the meantime, the HF gear had been obtained. A Sommerkamp
FR100B receiver and FL200 transmitter were obtained secondhand and
although normally
only covering 80M to 10M, they had been modified to cover Top Band (160M) as well.
The two units could be linked together so that they operated as a transceiver. A
few dipoles and a G5RV antenna were erected on my parent's roof and on September
12th, 1972, G4BEE hit the airwaves, with my first contact being Peter, G3ZRE. This
set up, along with my 'old' AM two meter rig served me well and I extended the 144MHz
station by adding a 1 watt 28MHz to 144MHz convertor to give me SSB capability.
I also built my first 'digital' bit of kit, an electronic Morse Key usiing a handful
of TTL logic devices.
Also, at this time, still at school, a number of chums became interested in Amateur
Radio and the school ended up with quite a number of Radio Amateurs in their ranks:
G3ZOQ, G3ZRE, G4ANB, G4BEE, G4BAT, G4BJY, G4BME, G8GQM and G8HQU. As a sort of club,
we put on exhibition radio staions for JOTA (Jamboree on the Air) and the local
Leyland Festival.
The next step was to venture into portable and mobile operation. Portable operation
used the trusty KT-320 and the bits out of a Pye Cambridge for the transmitter.
A home made three element quad performed very well when on the top of Winter Hill.
For mobile use, space was a bit limited so like many others, I bought an ex-PMR
Pye Cambridge and converted it to 144MHz use, with the 'SQUALO' mounted at the back
of my mini traveller. Again my dad helped out here by fashioning some bits of metal
work for the back of the car. You certainly got some weird looks with one of those
on your car and it certainly attracted the attention of the boys in blue!
A summer job in 1974 raised enough cash to upgrade the HF set up and the FR100B
and FL200 were traded in to buy an FT101B transceiver. I remember visiting the local
emporium in Liverpool and handing over the readies - I even got a 0.18% discount
(65p) - the trader shall remain nameless! This also let me operate mobile from the
car, remembering to keep the engine running of course, and I had a lot of fun on
the 80M band using a G-Whip which performed very well indeed. Activity continued,
with DX chasing being an interest along with operating in the major HF contests
such as WPX and ARRL.
Since becoming licensed, I had been in regular contact with Harry, G8ECV (later
G4BOB) and visited his 'shack' on regular occassions. As time progressed, I became
less interested in what was in his 'shack' and more interested in what was in his
house, watching TV, yes you guessed, his daughter! Eventually, one thing led to
another and we were married in 1980 and moved to a house where aerials were just
not possible and so G4BEE entered a period of non-activity. In 1981 I was made redundant
but was fortunate enough to get a job straight away so I blew my entire redundancy
payout (£150) on an ICOM IC-24G for mobile operation on 144MHz to replace the Pye
Cambridge which had eventually given up the ghost! A handheld Alinco DJ-180 was
also purchased for 144MHz in 1993 (ish) and that completed all radio purchases from
1981 to 2002!