ORKNEY 2013 - IOTA EU 009 Loc io89lb (May 25th - June 1st) MM0WYB and 2M0PSJ - QRV HF with 40m vertical and 150ft Doublet to Kenwood 590. 150ft from sea! Radio NOT primary objective for visit but will have some quality radio time (conditions permitting!) NO QSL's via bureau please - will reply only to direct mailing and eQSL.

I live near the beautiful city of Bath in the south west of the UK and am lucky to have a good radio location at over 540ft asl and a long garden (by uk cabbage patch standards!). I trained as a teacher and youth worker and managed an outdoor activity centre for a local authority for thirty years.Now retired and more of an operator than technician - a jack of all trades and definitely a master of none!

Shack Radios

Main HF rig is an IC 756 Pro 3 with a Heil BM-10 Headset with a 4m transverter from Spectrum

Philips FM 1200- 4m FM

Icom 910X - 2m & 70cm

Icom 706Mk2G,

FT8900 - relegated to shack use as useless mobile rig. Waste of money. Too complicated for mobile use imho.Far too small controls and buttons/ergonomics. Need the eyes of a hawk to see display and operate buttons/menus etc from most dashboard positions Answering a call on the wrong VFO is commonplace and inadvertantly activating the really useful Internet Connection Feature, cunningly concealed within the left VFO volume control, is a gem.One antenna input on a quad bander!

Uniden UBC800XLT Scanner

Amplifier

Acom 1011

Ameritron AL- 811

Antennas

HF - 80m,40m dipoles. G3TXQ Broadband Hexbeam, kit supplied by Ant, MW0JZE - the best narrow garden HF beam on the planet.

6m/4m Dual Band home brew yagi by G0KSC SC 6/4/9D into a Cross Country Diplexer

4m Sirio CX 4-68 vertical

2 X 2m - 9 ele DK7ZB with SSB SP200 preamp & SR200 amp

21 element 70cm Tonna

Various 2m/70cm colinears - double up for airband/marine listening etc

SW Listening

Have always been a keen SWL and scanner enthusiast and havetwo Uniden UBC800XLT as base VHF/UHF receivers plus the UBC3500XLT handie.bcTools software makes programming the Dynamic Memory systems very easy.

By the bed - above, (the 'comfort zone') I have a small sub-station comprising of :-

Kenwood TS 590S attached to 132ft end fed wire via an external SCG smart tuner plus a Wellbrook Loop - superb receiver combination

Uniden UBC800XLT to a 2m/70cm colinear

Icom 706MK2G to a 2m/70cm colinear

Member of Trowbridge & District ARC, RSGB and Bristol Contest Group. Other interests include The American Civil War, Hill Walking, Bird Watching and falling asleep in my comfortable chair in the shack.

Foundation (Novice Licence) Training

You may hear my call sign occasionally being used by students (under supervision by me) undertaking their practical training and assessments for the Bath Radio Classes run by Steve Hartley, G0FUW (see QRZ for contact details re training and examinations for Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced)

HF Mobile (static!)

FT 897 + AT 897 LDG autotuner into a range of Hustler verticals plus various loops, dipoles and verticals designed and engineered by G0AQL.

The North Somerset Coalfield

The area I live in was central to the old, historic North Somerset Coalfield. Reminders of this once thriving industry are everywhere - the last coal being brought to the surface in 1973 with the written record going back to the 13th century. It is even possible that the Romans used it in their temple to Minerva in the nearby city of Bath. My QSL card depicts local mining in the 19th century

Thanks for looking me up.