Early Licenced Years (1981-1986)

I'd got myClass B license! A Class A licence needed a morse code test pass for access to the HF bands and my morse wasn't up to spec then (and it still isn't). Class B allowed me to transmit on the amateur bands above 30MHz.

I bought a Yaesu FT290R (https://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/ft290r.htm) for 2m (144-146MHz) FM and SSB. It had a built in whip antenna which I used for most of my early contacts.

The first day that I was both licenced and had my FT290R, I walked to the top of Knowle Hill in Blackpool (not a big hill but the highest place in town apart from the Tower) to see who I could talk to. I'll try to find my old log book to get the details, but I remember my first contact was with a trucker driving up the M6. Unfortunately I don't recall his callsign. After breaking my duck, I went on to make many more contacts on 2m, often whilst walking on the beach at Norbreck near Blackpool.

I also became friends with John, G4ANJ, at this time. John was an amazing person. He was blind but didn't let that get in his way. Apart from being a ham, he also worked as a computer programmer and even designed, built (using wire-wrap) and programmed his own talking computers. John passed away far too young and I miss my evenings spent with him learning about computer hardware!

Soon after my first contact I returned to university, in Newcastle upon Tyne, for my final year. I still found time for some radio though. I regularly chatted with a great group from the area. Unfortunately I only recall one callsign from the group - G8PWX (Pip Willy X-ray as he called himself) - Alec who later became G4PEC.

I made a Slim Jim antenna for 2m and tied it to the balcony of my student apartment which allowed me to reach further than just the built-in whip antenna. It also allowed me to listen in when Alec did some meteor scatter tests with a Swedish station and even with a simple antenna I was able to hear some brief intelligible pings. I could also go mobile with my Slim Jim and once I took it on the Metro to get to the Town Moor in the snow. There was a lift on and I worked Sweden on just 2.5w which I was amazed by at the time!