I began the journey in 1983 when I was first licenced with the UK “B” licence and quickly thought of upgrading to the UK ”A” which meant learning Morse to a 12-wpm standard to enable using the HF bands. I was a bit younger then but didn’t take long and visited the UK Coastal Station for the GPO test. That was a nervous undertaking but I did it; the station has now disappeared as not needed. CW became the only mode I worked on for many years and progressed to fluent speeds and QSOs. A measure of the UK RNARS transmissions every week, long before the internet, allowed one’s own proficiency to be tested. I organised Morse classes for our local club and managed to have a small number go on to enjoy Morse as much as I had done. I never had the pleasure of working in the forces or other merchant operation, so Morse has been a purely pleasurable past-time but absolutely the one reliant mode. VHF still remained my most used band as there were many ops active.
In early 2011 I left radio for lots of other things of work and family but started again a couple of years ago after retirement from being a Building Engineer. I had decided on the longer journey to CWops. On acceptance in June 2023, I used the MorseNinja courses to listen to Morse daily without fail [and still done since], and that brought me back up to speed and proficiency with my tutor, Mike N5KB, from September. I was very pleased to have the invitation and thank you and the other sponsors who I had the pleasure of contacting in the mayhem of CWT.
I feel very proud to have been given the opportunity of membership number 3448 to operate with many others around the world and continue to encourage other radio ops into such a great mode of working. I am now in my mid 70’s and would say that Morse is not difficult to learn, but it needs commitment and effort and obviously as age creeps on it does take that little bit longer. The rewards, however, are so much more to enjoy using brain power and physical co-ordination that must have some benefit. The recent photo is at Bletchley Park UK, home of war-time code breaking where I volunteer and show visitors what happened those years ago; it amazes many to see Morse being used and the most common question – “are there any gaps between characters?”. The station is GB3RS operated by the Radio Society of Great Britain.
Kind regards and 73 to all I have had the pleasure of having a contact and writing down your details in my logbook.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.