My first steps in radio were with the F5OJ radio club starting from 1969. I had to wait before being old enough to be allowed to be presented to the exam. I got my radio "full" license in 1971, and became F6BHK.

Being a member of a radio club, the participation to contests was a "natural" involvement. The F0ZZ Gang (G3TXF, F2QQ, F5HN, F5QQ, F6AZP) took in charge my education on that matter... Being able to use the F0ZZ 20m 4 element wide space beam up at 20m (there were not many that big antenna back in 70's and 80's) gave me a great thrill and is still present in my mind: low power but +30db with VK9LV. My HW101 was kind of on steroids....

My mentor was Dick, F2QQ. He had his share of radio glory in 1971 when he went to Jabal at Tair with Aldo ET3ZU/A and Ron F5QQ.  I must say that I owe him a lot about radio, and more, for he showed patience and dedication. Last time I met him was in a plane from Paris to Hong Kong. Could not believe it!

Working as an IT engineer for a big international Telco software house, I have spent most of my life outside of France. In all Europe to begin with, then in the USA, in Asia and in Australia. I still maintain close ties with the US today, because I own, with my wife, a US registered company.

In the late 70's, I used G5BHT while studying and working in England. At the beginning of the 90's I was granted HW0A and HW7U to use them in contests.

I relocated to Martinique Island in 1991 and used  FM/F6BHK followed by FM5GC in 1992 and FM0A in contest.

During a short visit to Moorea and Raiatea I used FO/F6BHK in 1994. In 1995 I travelled to Guadeloupe Island and used FG/F6BHK.

In 1997 I moved for a "long" stay in Hong Kong where I was authorized to use VR2/F6BHK  then I was given VR2LL by the OFTA, the Hong Kong Telecom Authority. I settled down for a while as a HK resident.

In 2001 I had to move to Singapore but could not get an antenna on my condo's roof. At that time I was commuting between Spore, Seoul and Melbourne/Sydney on a weekly basis. That did not let me much time for radio.

On the way back to Europe in 2004, I stopped by Newcastle in the north of England for a year, and decided it was time to change of life.

I now live in the south east part of France in a beautiful part of the Drome Provençale, locator: JN24LP. My previous QTH in Drome was JN25KE throught out to June 2017.

My radio equipment is a Flex-5000A with ATU and RX2 and a "big" PC that runs PowerSDR, N1MM logger and WSJT-X. An iMac hosts my own logging program that gets the best out of WSJT-X through a UDP server. I also have a Drake line: T4XB, R4C that smells real good.... but does need some hard work to be functional again. The CW paddle is a Hi-Mound model I bought in Akihabara years ago and connected to the fantastic AEA's MorseMachine.

I have kept my old and rusty (salty environment has left some marks here and there) TS140s that I have used in all the places from which I operated. Since its VFO button hardly spin now, probably due to an unfortunate mechanical issue inside the VFO itself, I got an interface from Piexx and started developping a program in Tcl/Tk (an old acquaintance of mine dating from when I was student), a software developing environment coming from UC Berkeley.

Inherited from the "on the road again" type of living, my antena system is based on vertical antennas: 18AVQ, R5 and R7. 160m is not yet a possibility, but I have the project to erect a vertical for 160m one day.

Today, I only am a member of the French Radio society: the REF. Therefore, the QSL bureau is the best route for your QSL card. You want to get the confirmation faster? No worries, LotW is probably your best choice, for I update the log once a week on the ARRL site.

Update on my LotW usage: LotW accepts now FT8 QSOs. My logs are up-to-date now.

See ya on the air... in CW, my preferred mode, or in data modes.

Cheers!

Serge, F6BHK