My interestand passion in radio communication began at theage of 12 when I built and listened to a number of basic crystal set receivers. The antennas for these were variousand included the metal frame and springs of my bed, a wire antenna attached to the eaves of the house and a long wire to a pole erected in the garden of my parents' house.

I progressed to obtaining a R107 receiver and, eventually,a National HRO with a full set of plug in coils andprogressed to using a RCA AR88LFreceiver, whichwhetmy enthusiasm.Many happy years were spent as a SWL on the shortwave BC bands. These gave me the ability to listen, listen and listen again when working a DX station.

After passing thewritten and morse examinations, I obtained mylicence in 1964 and received the call sign G3OLU. My equipment then consisted of a homebrew Tx built round an 807 tube. Licensing conditions of the day required operators to transmiton Top Band with a limit of 10 watts. ( I am plesed to still hear some of the calls familiar to me from those days on top band)

At firstI used only CW usinga Heathkit DX-40U transmitter with separate VFO the VF-1U. One of my first DX contacts with this 40 watt setup was whenI put out a CQ call on 20meters on CW andI was called by a station in FT5X Kerguelen Island !

At that momentDX-ing becamemy maininterest !

I have met some really great people through my hobby of amateur radio. These include HI5JH and SV5OX who both allowed me thepriviledge of operatingfrom their home stations.

After retiring,I moved to Spain and obtained my EA5 call in February 2005. With the encouragement of local amateurs like Hal EA5GNI and Eugene EA5HPX I now have a station that holds my interest in HF Dx, which is now stronger than everl.

I deplore DQRM (Deliberate QRM ) which is now heard daily on the HF amateur bands.

I strongly support the DX Code of ethics (http://dx-code.org) ( see comments on websites of HF DXers like ZS8M ( see www.IZ8EPY.it/ZS8M_october_news.pdf) and also ST2AR ( enter his call in QRZ.COM)

• The following is from VK0TH
• ''Pileup Frustrations - Please Read** - The last week or 2 pileups have been a real problem JA and EU mostly. Rude operators calling over the top of other operators, high powered stations that I can hear but can't hear me, jamming, QSO's etc. I won't presume to give you hints on how you should operate if you don't know by now then chances are good you never will. What I will do is make some observations.

I can work pileups quickly, moving from station to station over a number of hours and accrue several hundred contacts. I can only do this if signals are intelligible, I can hear you and you can hear me. When it's a dogpile and everyones screaming for my attention by calling over the top of each other I just sit there wasting time trying to discern callsigns over the hundreds that are calling. It simply doesn't work. I've tried the numbers games, working by region, working expanded splits none of these solve the real problems. I just end up getting frustrated and walk away.

My suggestions - Listen more, be polite let stations finish their turn before calling, make sure you can hear. If you do these then theres a good chance I will hear your call and respond. I can guarantee you if your a station being rude and calling over the top of other stations continuously without regard for others I will simply shut down and go QRT. Radio just isn't fun in those conditions.'' VK0TH 12/01/12

SWAZILAND DXPEDITION.

TOGETHER WITH PHIL G3SWH I WAS QRV FROM 21-29 FEBRUARY 2012 FROM SWAZILAND. THE CALL USED WAS 3DA0PW. FULL DETAILS INCLUDING QSL INFORMATION AT WWW.G3SWH.ORG.UK.

HASTA MAS PRONTO ! 

73 JOHN

(Member of Chiltern DX Club.www.cdxc.org.uk))