Hi just a few words about me and what I like within the hobby. I am Married to Anita (21 years this year 2014) who unfortunately will not take any interest in radio even though we met through CB lol. I have had an active interest in radio since 1977 when i used to use my friends cb radio and later got my own. I have 2 great kids Liam my eldest who has a license he is now 2E0MXV but does not have much time for radio at the moment, my daughter well she is just 8 and still into all the things little girls are into so not going to push her lol. I am a signaller for Network Rail and have been so for 23years this year (2014). I work at Milford Signalbox nr Sherburn in Elmet which is a major junction in the area with all kinds of freight and passenger traffic but mainly the coal train traffic (mgr,s),for Eggborough, Ferrybridge and Drax power stations.

I have have not had as much time to play radio this last few years its been very sporadic but now i am getting back into it with having a little more time on my hands. There have been some big changes in the shack i have downsized a little i no longer have a few of the radios i had. I still have the ft1000mp ac the ft736r and the icom 706mk2g, i also have an icom ic2725 and an ic e90 hand held as well as my old trusty ict81e and a pmr for 4mtrs. I really enjoy 2m ssb and love top band its worth the effort of making an aerial for top band fit into a small garden like my own but I opted for a commercial vertical the Butternut hf2v after many successful attempts with different variations of homebrew antenna but they looked untidy hence the hf2v. 3rd october 2016 Update to Antenna:- I no longer use the Butternut HF2V I now use the SGC 230 smart tuner at the feedpoint of an inverted L 40ft vertical 45ft horizontal.

I have not worked any real dx on Top Band yet but you never know im keeping my fingers crossed, furthest so far is moscow but that was a very poor contact with 3 & 3 report for me. I also enjoy 80m but the vertical i have picks up loads of noise on all bands from the power station 600yds from my front door as does any other antenna i use for that band, but i do get the odd bit of dx. I am qrv on all bands to 23cm. Top band 80m 10m and 2m ssb are the favorites at the moment but do use them all and i have the antenna farm to prove it lol. I AM NOW ALSO ACTIVE ON D-STAR with the IC7100 (22/4/15)

Just a little bit of info about the unbearable noise i have on all bands especially 80m which was one of the reasons for the recent absence from radio I decided I had to make a choice, let 1000,s of £s worth of gear just sit idle, move house, sell up or attempt to cure it before taking any drastic action. I opted for the latter and invested about £500 on 3 little bits of gear An MFJ 1026 signal enhancer and noise reducer a Sigma Eurocom se360 vertical antenna and an MFJ artificial earth. Firstly the 1026 well thats self explanatory, the antenna well i tried different long wire and a pre amplified rx antenna scanstick type thing and although they did work i had mixed results on different bands so i opted for the sigma as it was cheap and it recieves comparably to my other antennas on all the bands which is what you want for the 1025 to work at its best and lastly the MFJ artificial earth, I bought that not because i have any major earthing problems or counterpoise issues but because of a youtube video where a Russian station shows a massive noise reduction on receive when he switches it in. So with a twiddle here and a tune there and a quick press of a button HEY PRESTO I can get rid of nearly all the noise on all of the bands with no great loss of wanted signals, it really has made a massive difference the combination of all three products has made radio at home enjoyable again in fact on 40m this morning 8/May/14 i was listening to a DF0 holding a dx net and a ZL station called in he worked him and passed him through to the uk stations on the frequency and NONE of the 4 uk stations could hear the ZL But I could hear him 4 and 4 with qsb with the equipment tuned up when i turned the 1025 off i could only just hear the DF0 station above my s9++ noise level so in all a great big success and recommend the 1025 to anyone who has noise problems it even nulled out a +60db psu noise on 1.9mhz to an s2 and my nb1 on ft1000 took the rest away leaving a perfectly readable GM station at a 5 and 3 previously unheard due to the noise level. Here is a quick video i created to show you how good this item is and what a difference it makes for me. Please excuse the narration I am not as comfortable doing videos as i am behind the radio,s mic.

So if you hear me give me a call i will now be able to hear you, and i would apreciate it, Bye for now and good dx de Greg G0VXM