So, here I find myself as a member of CWops, which has been a great journey on which I will keep going to improve my CW skills. I would like to thank the advisors and co-advisors from CW Academy for the time and effort to teaching me CW. To Buzz (AC6AC) for being supportive and informative in teaching the skills to become a confident ‘ragchew’ operator (still learning) and all co-advisors during the intermediate and advanced course – Shirley, Andy, Marv, Jeff and Craig.
I also would like to thank Buzz (AC6AC) for putting me forward to become a member and to my sponsors Shirley (M0WXG), Peter (PA3DBS), Jonathan (G4IVV) and John (P4PFZ). Very much appreciated and some of you I managed to contact already on CWT with my shiny new membership number.
My journey into ham radio has only begun in 2021 when my good friend Gavin (G5HOW) showed me his radio and planted a seed to get myself licensed. I quickly moved from my foundation licence to my full license in 2022. At this point the journey into CW started and I am very much enjoying that mode of communication the most now.
It is funny as when I still lived in the Netherlands (I am Dutch) I had to do National Service, and I ended up in the Signals in the army. I wish I would have been able to bring one of those portable masts home!! So, it has all come full circle with me enjoying radio once more.
Some more background on myself: I live with my wife and two daughters in a small village to the East of Oxford in the UK. I live in an old pub built in the 17th century and my shack is basic as I am restricted in the garden with overhead powerlines feeding the local houses. Another big hobby of mine is cycling and I try to get out most weeks.
I managed to put up a EFHW and a fan-dipole to give me access to most bands. I don’t use an amplifier and run a maximum of 100 watts from a Yaesu FTDX10, but I usually run 20 W on CW. My key is a Kent Engineering paddle but I might treat myself to a Begali now I am more accomplished at CW. For mobile operations I use a Xiegu X6100 with a BaMaKey TP-III.
Looking forward to making more friends in CWops and staying in touch with my course buddies from the advance course.
This biography is what appeared in Solid Copy when the member joined CWops.