Thank you to my nominator and club supporters. Like many, my interest in CW started when I was at high school. An early interest in electronics and radio turned into a wonderful 47 year career in telecommunications and mainframe computers.
My current radio interests are chasing CW DX, participating in CW contests, making DX QSOs available for those that need VK2, and improving the antenna systems on our 5 acre rural property. I like the unpredictable challenge of low band QSOs. Recently I applied for the ARRL DXCC on the 9 HF bands after filling the missing 160m and 12m slots.
My wife Josette and I share many common interests, bush walking and camping in remote wilderness areas. Our 20 year plus service with Scouts Australia and St John Ambulance lead to greater opportunities with Adventist Pacific Aid and Australian Doctors International. After building and managing a field hospital for the 2001 Asia Pacific Jamboree, requests came for medical support in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
In 2009 and 2011 Josette and I went to Papua New Guinea for long periods as volunteers to run a village to village GP medical service from a banana boats up and down the Fly River in the remote Western Province of PNG; I operated as P29CW when back in our support town of Kiunga. After returning to Sydney in late 2011, we were both dissatisfied with city life when compared to simple life in the remote PNG jungle. Josette moved down to work at a rural hospital in Milton, some 250 km south of Sydney.
We found a suitable rural radio friendly property by coincidence, as it was not listed for sale with the local agents. The property is on the crest of a small hill, 85m above sea level and 6 km from the Tasman Sea (Pacific Ocean). The property is in Little Forest a little north of Milton and the fairy tale continues; the HF radio noise is S0 to S1 most of the time.
Two towers support mono-band beams for 20 m, 15 m, 10 m and a rotary WARC band dipole. Wire antennas are used for 80 m and 160 m with a 4-square array for the 40 m band. For low band reception, three Beverage antennas are available for EU, AS and NA. Almost daily, I can be found on 80 m, 40 m, 30 m and 20 m and I am looking forward to improved propagation on the high HF bands.
My previous call signs have been H44MA, ZK1GGR and P29CW.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.