Andrew Atkinson

www.g4cwx.com
Email: andrew_atkinson @ hotmail.com

When I first entered amateur radio, nearly 40 years ago, my licence restricted activity to the VHF bands. A near neighbour, the late Dan Tilcock, and I were both members of the Surrey Radio Contact Club, based in South Croydon. It was Dan who helped me in those formative years to get on the air. We started by adapting some old PMR ex-police equipment and lashed it up to a home made eight element Yagi.

In those days we were transmitting AM signals and blasting our neighbours televisions and hi-fi equipment, which ultimately led to a number of complaints and a lot of workarounds to satisfy the demands of the local inhabitants. Within a year I had managed to move on to FM. Then came my first really tall pole with rotator and the DX started to pour in. It was also at about this time that I got interested in Auroral Backscatter Propagation. I found this really fascinating and began conducting experiments with a small number of other amateurs around Europe. In the space of about two years we achieved some terrific results, many of which were recorded in notable journals of the time.

Then came the morse test and my full licence. I cannot say that I have turned my back on VHF operations, but since then I have been unfortunate enough to live in locations which were less than favourable. Nowhere is this shown more clearly than my present QTH which is located in a hole surrounded by the Mendip Hills. DX for me now is any contact with another station situated outside of my village.

Despite having mounted a high gain antenna at 60 feet AGL, I can only just hear the two local repeater stations. If anyone reading this has a brilliant idea which would enable me to operate further afield, I would love to hear from you !!!