​Welcome to the QRZ.com listing for Tony/G4LFU                                                                      

QTH Loc IO84oq - - WAB NY43 Book #19326

GQRP #13432 - - Radio Officers' Association #645 - - FOC #2091

The picture above is of myself operating GB2SAS as part of a Special Event Station for Eden Valley Radio Society in 2011.

Licensed in 1981, my interests in the hobby include cw/ssb operating, homebrew, DXing and QRPing.

If your visit to this page results from a QSO on air, then the chances are that I have been using some of my home made equipment in the contact.

The two pictures below show my home-built Picastar HF transceivers. The credit for the circuit design/software for this rig goes to Peter/G3XJP, but these versions also include PCB's and subsystems designed by other Hams (too many to mention!). Since this design is not available as a Kit, every builder sources all of the parts, and every Picastar looks different. These pictures show how my builds turned out!

The picture above shows the rig that you are most likely to hear me on, either on CW or SSB. The amp is a homebrew 4 x VRF2933 MOSFET amp capable of 1kW but limited in my station by UK licence limits (400W) and by the 50V PSU which limits at 20A (about 700W most bands). (Thanks to Dick/K4XU for help on the amp project, and to the guys at R3KBO for circuits and PCBs). 

I generally use the Picastar synchronised with a Flexradio 1500 so that I can 'view' the part of the band that I'm interested in, and I have the two rigs connected via CAT through Ham Radio Deluxe. That set-up is shown in the picture below. It's also great for working Split-DX because I can 'see where the pack is running'!

My shack also includes a Yaesu FTdx5000MP, a Kenwood TS2000E and an Elecraft K3. The K3 usually comes with me when I am out in my campervan as G4LFU/P.

More Homebrew - I have a couple of home-built 'Softrock' TX/RX software defined radios which give an output of 1 Watt, with which I have had no end of fun QRPing, and when conditions dictate, I have two homemade PA's to boost my output a bit, one at 45W and the other at 140W.

I have also built a homebrew N2PK Vector Network Analyzer. (Thanks to Paul/N2PK for this design, and to Dave/G8KBB for the myVNA software).

My aerial systems are relatively simple and home made - and usually subject to some ongoing development or experimentation.

I have several homemade wire aerials - a 160m horizontal loop, an off-centre fed dipole cut for 80m, and a single band 20m dipole. I have had good DX QSO's using all of these aerials. The 160m loop exhibits low noise and performs amazingly well, all things considered, on all bands from 160m to 10m. I also have a 40m quarter wave vertical, and a Beverage RX antenna 90m long with a homebrew W7IUV low band pre-amp.

My main HF antenna is a home brew G3TXQ broadband Hexbeam with a homemade 50ohm 'air coax' centre post. (Thanks to Steve/G3TXQ for the information on his website). The hexbeam is mounted on an ex-army 12m pneumatic mast with a Yaesu rotator and a homebrew K3NG PC interface.

My QTH (pictured below) is in Cumbria in the North of England. This house is another one of my self-build projects!

My wire aerials are at the back of the house - nature provided me with some mature trees to hang them on!

73 de Tony G4LFU