Biography

My name is Fionnbarra and I live with my wonderful XYL/YL Ceallach KG7GPG and 4 cats and 2 dogs. Just like this page, our station is in the process of being built.

I am occasionally to be heard on 2 Metres and 70 cm mostly through the local voice repeater EI7MLR, with the odd outing on Echolink hardly real radio! But fret ye not! There are plans afoot that will change this! I am hoping to have a few antennae erected shortly. Once I have them in place I hope to operate QRP on SSB and various digital modes. We are planning on antennae for HF and probably something for 10/12 Metres, 6 Metres and naturally 2 Metres and 70cms.
Ceallach is revising in order to sit the exam for her Irish licence. It is wonderful to have someone who shares my interests. She already has a US Technician licence, which she used in Oregon. Her father Frank C Williams was a radio experimenter and might have had an amateur callsign. We are currently searching for it so that Ceallach can possibly obtain it as a vanity callsign. She has had a lifelong desire to learn Morse code and once she has passed the exam for her Irish licence, both her and I will tackle it together.

Worked All Ireland Square S75W

Equipment

At present our HF radio lineup includes a Kenwood TS-130SE, an Icom IC-735 and a Ranger RCI-2950 For VHF/UHF we have 2 Yaesu FT-726R Triband 50 MHz/ 144 MHz/ /430 MHZ. One was purchased at the Bangor And District ARS in Donaghadee County Down, while the other was give to me by my good friend Andy Early EI4ERB. Both of them are under repair and in the capable hands of my friend Ray Byrne and we hope to have them ready for the summer Sporadic-E opening. We also have a couple of FDK mobile 2 Metre rigs, the FDK Multi-700EX an FM only rig which I got from Jim Bob Traynor MI0JBT and the FDK Multi-750XX which has AM/FM/SSB. This I got from my good friend Eddie. One of our prized possessions is a Kenwood Trio TR-2300 which I got from Micheal EI2GKB. The latest acquisitions are an Icom IC-215 FM, Icom IC-251e 2 Metre Multimode, a Mizuho SB-2M and a Yaesu FT-227RB. For Handhelds we have a Yaesu FT-411, which I made my first QSOs when I got my license, an Icom IC-Z1E, a couple of Baofeng UV-5R and a Baofeng BF-888S. We also have a Yaesu FRG-7700 which we use for general listening including broadcast band, utilities and Numbers Stations.