Biography

Since my childhood I am fascinated by wireless communication. Some peers of mine had handheld radios for the Citizens' Band but somehow my interest decreased. Later Hans KM4BZ rewoke my interest again; Hans' mother was the neighbour of my parents.

I got my first licence in 1982 for 2 mtrs and higher (call sign at that time DD9PJ). In 1986 I got my short wave licence with my current German call sign DF8WI.

Since August 2011 I live in Switzerland. Since November 2012 I additionally have the Swiss callsign HB9FGU.

In March 2017 I bought a new transceiver: ICOM IC 7300 - I like this radio very much! In July 2017 I was QRV as DF8WI from Germany (near Mainz and on the island of Sylt).

In Grenchen where I live I use an end fed wire antenna with the length of 12.5 m adapted by my tuner CG-3000 with that I can operate on all bands from 80 to 10 m. My favorite modes on shortwave are CW and FT8; in FT8 I had my first QSO on 30.08.2018.

From time to time I take my IC 7300 to Allschwil close to Basel where I can use the antennas of my friend Charly HB9ECS. When I am there you can find me on shortwave in CW and SSB on all bands. I have a lot of fun there!

On 2 m and 70 cm you can find me in D-Star, C4FM, and DMR (mostly using my new openSPOT3 hotspot or my Raspberry Pi with Pi-Star and MMDVM) as well as on the local repeaters in FM.

Since July 2021 I have an own Wires-X hotspot, my node numbers are 77546 (for HB9FGU) and 77601 (for DF8WI).

I am board member of USKA Sektion Solothurn where I am the president and maintain the webpage https://hb9so.ch.

Since May 2022 I am member of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST) and have the call sign HS0ZPI.

73 de Michael, HB9FGU / DF8WI / HS0ZPI