I am aged 58 and live in Cockermouth, a small market town in the north-west of England, in the county of Cumbria, on the edge of the English Lake District.

I was first licensed as a radio amateur in 1974 as G8ILO, when I lived in Essex. This was a class B, 144MHz and up, license. I upgraded to class A, all bands, in 1979, when I got my current call G4ILO.

Due to neighbour problems I operate 100% Stealth. My antennas are all in the attic of our very small house. Despite this I am able to operate on all bands from 80m to 70cm. My main interest is digital modes, especially weak signal modes like WSPR and JT65A.

My main station rig is an Elecraft K3/100. I also have an Elecraft K2/10 which I use for QRP work, and an FT-817ND. For VHF/UHF I use a Kenwood TM-D710 which operates as an APRS gateway and Echolink node (#3098). I also own several hand-held radios ranging from a Baofeng UV-3R to a Kenwood TH-D72.

For more information about me, and a lot more, see my website G4ILO's Shack. You are also invited to follow my blog, called with great originality G4ILO's Blog. View my about.me page.

In June 2011 I was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour. I write about my battle with the cancer in another blog, One Foot in the Grave.