Introduction
My first interests in radio began when I was a school in the late 1970s. Being a kit maker I made a small crystal radio receiver. I thumbed my way through Maplin catalogues and saw some ham radio equipment. However, as I did not have the funds or any direction on the licensing procedure so I could not pursue this direction further.
During my professional work in IT and telecommunications I have managed a radio workshop at an international airport and deployed Tetra systems at ports and airports in the Middle East and Asia. Due the sensitivity of these systems the final programming and handover was always by a government agency. So, I never had hands on experience!
Onward to 2009 I found myself in the country of Qatar where I pursued my hobby of offroad driving. This introduced me to A71BI who over coffee at his desert winter camp encouraged me to think about being licensed for a Ham radio.
Licensing
I returned to the UK in the midst of the COVID epidemic. My work now took me to Europe and long periods away from home.
With long evenings to fill I researched what I would need to do to become licensed. I joined the RSGB and purchased the study material and took one of the first online exams to become M7GRH on the 30/09/2020.
Eager to progress I took the intermediate exam on 18/10/2020 and became 2E0RNH. Work commitments delayed further progress until 07/07/2021 when I passed the full examination and gained the call sign M0RNH.
As I now spend most of the month in the Netherlands and in order to comply with my operating license I applied for a Dutch amateur license and was given the call sign PA0RNH.
Club Membership
I am currently a member of:
• RSGB
• Stockport Radio Society
• CDXC
• VERON, the Netherlands national radio association.
Operating
With a full license in both the UK and the Netherlands I operate under both call signs and keep separate logs of my OSOs. Most of my OSO are using digital modes however recently I have been operating phone using the cluster to search out for remote DX stations to increase my DX country count.
Future
I am currently studying CW however due to the Dutch licensing I am unable to operate CW in the Netherlands. So, my practice is limited to listening to CW over the air and practicing via G4FON software.
I also hope to experience some DX expeditions to South Korea and the Philippines in the near future.
My progress in ham radio has been with the assistance of my club members and the available online resources.
Therefore, in the future I hope to give back support the new members by training support and by holding a position within one of the clubs.
Ian Justice M0RNH/PA0RNH
October 2022
