I was always fascinated by radio and electronics and first saw ham radio at my school radio club aged 13. Little did I know what effect that ham radio and RF would have on the rest of my life! Whilst still at school, I attended evening classes at the local technical college, I passed the UK Radio Amateurs Examination aged 14 in 1981 and was issued with the “B” class call GM6JUK in 1982. This gave me access to the VHF bands and DX became my focus. I passed the Post Office Morse test in 1984 and gained my full call GM4ZUK. Having very limited space at my parent’s home, HF activity was limited.
I joined the BBC as a Broadcast Transmitter engineer in 1988 working on everything from low power UHF TV relay stations, high power medium wave, UHF main station TV transmitters and short wave broadcast stations. Over the next twenty years I had a nomadic existence all over the UK which limited my ham radio activity. I regularly went portable for VHF contests over this time especially during a three-year spell in Jersey, Channel Islands as GJ4ZUK in the 1990’s.
I returned to my home of Aberdeen in 2005, living in the city centre – portable operation was still the main focus. Shortly after, I met Louise and we were married in 2007. In 2010 we moved to a new QTH in Peterculter, just outside of Aberdeen with a few acres of garden and surrounded by farmland. This was a real life change in many ways. Our first child, George, was born in 2011 followed by Rachel in 2014. My HF activity in both contests and DXing (particularly on CW) really took off after the move to Peterculter. I also now hold the short contest call GM4Z.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.