Biography

In 1956 whilst a member of 1105 Squadron ATC Winchester, I acquired and modified an 1155R Lancaster bomber radio for Home use, Ie. Mains Power supply and 6V6 Audio output valve. Having had much fun with this my interest in radio was formed.
Using several Practical wireless circuits I built a 6 valve superhet General coverage radio 30 mhz to 200 khz, which I still enjoy using today.
In 1984 my job as a motorcycle and car advanced driving instructor came to an end when Maggie took on the miners and the Driving school closed to finance Riot buses. I was then able to pursue my other hobby, Radio, and was posted to The Police Communication Dept at Winchester. I could not believe how antiquated the Police Radio System was, the VHF frequencies were constantly shut down by 3rd harmonic interfeence from the new CB frequencies, when 'Burners' were used, so my job was to talk to the offending CBers and pursuade to use another channel or use less power.
Generally this worked, persistant and rude CBer's I had to trace in my 4x4 Transit County using home made DF equipment. Having been called out at 2am in the morning, sometimes I was not in the best of moods, but working with the Radio Interference Guys, we normally put a stop to the problem.
The Home Office UHF system was poor by modern standards Pye PF1's in a few areas and VHF to UHF repeaters while mobile.
The UHF channels were also monitored by criminals with the new scanners to evade and keeps tabs on the Police activities, the VHF channels were always available on domestic radio sets.
My job was also to find, confiscate by disclaimer,and prosecute those using scanners to commit crime. With my trusty Janspeed tuned 4x4 County Transit
I was able to tow a Clarke 100ft pump up mast, providing UHF wide area coverage for special events- Southampton and Portsmouth Football matches, Farnborough Air Shows, IoW Scooter rallies and Pop concerts etc. Using Brading Down, and another Storno Repeater man-pak in a pannier on the pill box overlooking Newport and another hung from the mast on the GOvt Rd, I virtually covered the whole of the Island linked into Newport Control to handheld PR (With the later Philips PFX's)
My favourite job was to escort the Cruise Missile Convoys going on exercises at night, pushing blocking vehicles off the road and providing a mobil comms control vehicle for escorting vehicles and SB monitoring the Demonstrators CB Channels.It was a running fight sometimes with blazing cotton reel straw bales rolled at us. My van had 6 roof mounted aerials and a double reinforced front bumper.
I also worked closely with the ill fated Edgely Optica, Making and fitting the Radio Interface Unit box for a Pye 5001 VHF set, Philips PFX UHF radio and Icom Cid VHF Surveillance set. Having done a successful in flight test it was destroyed in the crash that killed two of my colleagues the next day, so I built another one.
A copy Box was produced by Sonic Communication and sold world wide by them, 'no you don't need to patent it dave' But they did supply me with an Icom R7000,which is still very useful.
In spite of the Home Office saying UHF coverage of Hampshire was impossible,My colleague Chris Richards and I put up Storno manpack test stations at all the best sites, and using a much modified AOR scanner drove every road in Hampshire and produced a detailed coverage map. (Now done by computer) Philips said they could Quasi-Synch the control lines to eliminate time difference, our calculations were checked by a firm of consultants and Philips won the contract to install the new system.
It was a great success, the PFX worked well providing batteries were managed properly. On many visits I found empty chargers and batteries hidden away.This was a constant problem.
The new system meant I was no longer required for emergency comms , this was built into the new system, the driving school reopened around 1988, they were short of qualified instructors so I was back to my other hobby again.
Unfortuately, Political Correctness, Health and Safety and Diversity had crept in with cuts in training time, I was no longer able to maintain the standards I though were necessary. The stress of trying to still do the job got to me and I had 3 heart attacks. A medidical discharge followed in 1991 but I had done 30 years. After a long recovery to fitness,I became self employed doing a mobile Disco and electronic repairs, sub contracting with Philips, doing their Police Mic Repairs and Channel Tunnel Train Comms Kit. I am still here apart from a stroke last year while playing cricket. All OK Now and looking forward to the new Season.
I took my Foundation Licence in April 2013.

Equipment

In my Shack/Workshop - Home built VHF converter, plugs into Home built 6 valve Gen coverage receiver (Coloured dial in photo) and tuned to 30 mc/s works as IF receives FM,AM and SSB. Below it is a Yaesu 747 Gen Coverage Base Unit into a 10 metre vertical Pole. An Icom IC 2 metre Icom VHF Mobile into an Icom .AH7000 Dis-cone antennae.A home made 150 watt Power meter is also visible. A fully equipped workshop with 10 Meg Scope and Rf Sig Gen - see pic.


In my DIY Roof Conversion I have an Icom R7000 receiver 25mcs to 2 gig. Yaesu FRG7700 Gen Coverage receiver with ATU. and a Beofeng W-5R VHF/UHF Transceiver into a homemade bazooka coax derived tuned dipole that works very well. I also have an AOR 1500 wide band scanner. PC, Laptop, with Music Mixing and digital processing facilities. Yamaha
Keyboard, Uke/Banjo, 3 Spanish and one strat type electric guitar with amps etc.