Hi there, and thanks for looking me up!

** IMPORTANT ** QSL for OV5T direct or via M0TRN - I am NOT a member of the Danish bureau

*** QSL for MQ0TRN ok via the bureau! ***

My name's Thomas and my home QTH is Girton, about 3 miles north-west of the city centre of Cambridge, England. I'm originally from Denmark, but I have lived in Cambridge for the past 10 years. I'm 38 years old (as of 2012).

Previous news

07 Jul-16 Jul 2011: I was QRV from Espergærde, Denmark as OV5T with my QRP station

02 Jan-09 Jan 2012: QRV as OV5T from Copenhagen, Denmark on 2nd-9th January 2012, using FT-817ND with a long wire from Frederiksberg (part of Copenhagen city), grid square: JO65gq.

Biography

I was first licenced on 8 December 2010 as M6TTH. On 1 March 2011 I passed the Intermediate exam and on 7 March I was licenced as 2E0ETT. I took the Advanced exam on 6 April and obtained my Full Licence and current callsign on April 28. Ireceived my Danish callsignOV5Ton 4 July 2011.

I have two antennas at my home QTH:

• 40m/30m/20m inverted V fan-dipole, secured about 15m up my eucalyptus tree!
• A G7FEK antenna, which is my primary 80m antenna, and also used as a diversity rx antenna for the bands covered by the inv V's

Here's my main inverted V antenna:

My first ever QSO after being licenced was with Paul M0PNN on 11 December 2010. I wanted my first QSO to be on CW, and it worked out!I had been practicing CW for a couple of months. Learning the code is a very rewarding experience, when suddenly it starts coming together in your head at speeds in excess of 10 WPM, considering I didn't know much more Morse code than SOS just a couple of months earlier!

As of January 2012, I am now up to copying and sending up to 25-30WPM. My main straight key is a G0NVT PS213 key. For portable work I use aCzech army key, which I've found to be an extremely nice key to use. I also use Begali Sculpture paddles for higher speeds.

I've been using the excellent open source Linux program Morse Classic to learn with (and also updated the program a fair bit in the process, resulting in the latest release). I learned by having the program transmit random letters at 25 WPM but with extra spacing inserted to bring the overall speed down to 7-10 words (and improving). That way you learn the sound of the letters at a higher speed, and it is easier to increase your copy speed. At least that's the theory, but listening on the bands is a lot harder than copying text on the PC. There is all kinds of QRM, every operator sends slightly different code, and nobody sends quite slowly enough for me to copy everything even when QRS'ing. But that's the challenge, and I'm getting better every day :) [ Written in early 2011, I've come a long way since then! ]

Other ham-related interests are SDR, digital modes and SWL. I have a (relatively neglected) blog here.

My portable QRP station, based on an FT-817ND:

My QSL card:

Member of:

• FISTS: 14893
• SKCC: 7344
• Radio Society of Great Britain
• American Radio Relay League
• Cambridge and District Amateur Radio Club
• Cambridge Repeater Group

QSL INFO: If you send me a QSL card direct, I will send one back to you direct. No need for IRC's or green stamps. You paid for the postage to send yours, so I don't see why you should pay for the return postage as well! However, it might take a while for me to get round to processing these, so if you need it urgently please let me know or email me! Cards received via the bureau will be returned via the bureau as well.

I upload my log to Logbook Of The World (LOTW) on a regular basis, and once in a while I will upload to e-QSL as well, although I'm not a huge fan of that site.