Who Am I

I am in my 70’s and retired. I started with radio back in school some 60 years ago with some 10 pound transmitters and recievers I bought at the Suplus store. At school I had a shack setup in the gate keeprs house with a long wire antenna. One of my techers had a Ham Radio Licence but was not active - he oversaw my use of the transmitters and I was also allowed to transmit under the Air Training Corp call sign. Many amatuers visited the shack giving me gear , callbooks and old copies of Electronic magazines. After leaving school I did not continue on with the Radio leaving all the gear in the shack for the next student who showed interest. I obtained a ship to shore marine licence with my Dad and it was used during the ocean races when we would act as emergency standby boats. I had a CB licence and used CB in the car and later in life used CB on the farm I find it so magical that I can put a metal pole up in the back yard connect to a radio and talk to some on in Siberia who also put a metal pole in his back yard and connected it to his radio - To me this is magic.

A Little About Me

I use mainly digital modes due to a condition called Essential Tremor. This can affect not only my hands but my voice making it hard for others to understand me. With Digital modes I have the Radio connected to a PC that runs a special program that limits the tremors when I use the mouse and allows me to fine tune the radio via the control program on the computer - turning fine knobs on the radio is some thing I cannot always do. If a op tells me to up 10 then using my hands it is nearly impossible.

Why do I like Digital Modes

The best thing about digital modes especially the FT and JT modes is that no matter whet the propagation conditions are I can usually still make a contact . I also like the community - every one gets along with each other

VK2MUS I Transmit from the Hill at Muswellbrook NSW Australia in the Upper Hunter Valley