Licenced in 1982, with a B Class licence G6PAM, I totally hated that callsign, and that motivated me to get the Morse. Morse for me isn't "Natural" and I struggled but finally passed morse test in 1984 and obtained the call G4WXN.

1988 Due to financial and family pressures stopped operating and allowed licence to lapse.
It was never my intention to let the licence lapse, or to give up Amateur Radio totally, but time Marches on and before I knew it 21years had passed.

2009 Back on the air after 21yr break between overs.

The world of Amateur Radio has changed an immense amount in 21 years.

Although I have dabbled in HF, even worked into Australia working mobile back in the day. My main interest has always been on VHF/UHF.

More recently I have been active on the supposed scourge of Amateur Radio, DStar.

On D-Star via MB6BD and sometimes via DVAP. Usually listening on DCS005M, however I do tend to flit about the reflectors, so either use call routing, or CCS7

CCS7 direct call code is DTMF 235 2421

DVAP

If you are wondering what a DVAP is, it's Digital Voice Access Point. If you are not familiar with this little widget, it's kind of dongle with a 2m transceiver built in. It only operates at 10mw, and is designed to give an operator access to the D-Star network when out of range of repeaters. The DVAP can be connected to reflectors, or repeaters directly. Perhaps it's biggest drawback was the lack of call routing, however some very clever folk have developed the CCS system. Don't know what CCS stands for, but I know it works. I was very reluctant to purchase a DVAP, as they are quite expensive, however it has been a revelation, giving me access to the World of amateur radio, anywhere there is an internet connection.

I have used the DVAP with a vertical colinear, which gave me a very good signal up to around a mile from my house, needless to say the signal drops off very quickly once you move out of range, but it fully fulfills it's role as far as I am concerned.

I now also own and operate MB6BD which is a DStar simplex gateway on 144.8375. It has a range of about 5 miles with a handheld and further with a mobile setup.

If you wish to use MB6BD these are the settings for your transceiver:

RPT1: MB6BD C

RPT2: MB6BD G

Repeater shift needs to be enabled + or - doesn't matter

Shift needs to be set to 0.00mhz. Yes I know that sounds ridiculous, however otherwise the transceiver will not transmit RPT1 and RPT2 so it then won't work.

For those new to DStar take a look at dstar101.com

Bury St Edmunds Amateur Radio Society website.

email: G4WXNatdigitography.co.uk