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Amateur Radio

Since I was a child I have always been interested in radio. The weird exotic sounds (even though I didn't have a clue what there were), the glow from the valves (tubes for our US readers) when I peered in the back of our old steam radio. In my early teens I was satisfied with the popular music of the day, unfortunately the only audible station that played pop music back then (early sixty's, Western Ireland) was Radio Luxembourg, and then only at night. Then the pirate stations came on the scene, the most famous (and my favourite) was Radio Caroline which broadcast from a ship in the North Sea. It took a while, but finally the national stations (BBC and RTE) launched new stations which played pop music all the time.

In the late seventies the CB craze hit Ireland (albeit illegal at the time). I enjoyed a brief flirtation CB and made many contacts with the US and continental Europe. This was a lot of fun, rekindled my interest in radio..... but there had to be something better !.

About that time I had the good fortune to meet up with Brendan Rooney EI 7 CS who was kind enough to explain to me what amateur radio was all about. I then persuaded Brendan to give a radio class in the local college and we were able to generate enough interest from the CB fraternity to make up the necessary numbers. Two months later we did the RAE (the City & Guilds Radio Amateur Exam) and I think everybody in the class passed, including me. One month later I did the CW (morse code) test and much to my amazement passed that too. I was thrilled to receive my callsign three weeks later, EI 6 EE. In 1981 I applied for, and was granted a British callsign G 4 LHO, this enabled me to operate during my frequent visits to Northern Ireland and to England.

I operated on 2 meters quite a lot but my first love was, and has always been HF. I am not very active at the moment due to antenna restrictions (soon to change, I hope). So these days I satisfy my radio hobby by listening to my several scanners.

Brendan EI 7 CS and I have become very good friends, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his patience and encouragement in those early days of my radio hobby. If any readers meet up with Brendan on the air, or in person, please say hello from me.