Biography

First licensed in December 2019 as a Foundation, and upgraded to Standard in 2021.

For the benifit of Over-Seas Operators, the Australian Standard License offers the following privillages

- 100w max power limit (less on some Bands/Modes)
Bands Permitted 80m , 40m , 20m , 15m , 10m , 6m , 2m , 70cm , 23cm , 13cm & 6cm
As well as all Digital modes via hotspots & nodes etc and through repeaters.

I have just completed two years on the Leadership Committee of the Bayside District Amateur Radio Society (BDARS) as VP (1 yr) and President (1 yr) , so now have a bit more time to continue to progress my self study and perhaps try and gain my Advanced License in the near future.

I'm active from my home station/shack which is located on the Gold Coast at my hill top QTH that is 138 mtrs (452 ft) above sea level and only 9km from the Coast Line (Pacific Ocean). This gives me an excellent take-off opportunity on the HF Bands via my ZS6BKW Dipole antenna (located 14m or 45 ft. above the ground). My Grid Square reference is QG61px95

Having been raised in Victoria (Morwell, in the Latrobe Valley) , I spent my first 17 years there, then relocated 45 km down the road to the City of Sale and carried out my apprenticeship in Electrical Mechanics having gained my Electrical "A" Grade license at the ESSO/BHP Longford Gas and Crude Plant.

On completion of my apprenticeship, I had a brief stay back in the Latrobe Valley, at the Maryvale Pulp and Paper Mill - APM (1yr) before heading overseas and then basically spent the next 30 yrs working overseas with a gap working back in Australia at the Ballera gas field (1 yr) and 4 yrs in the North West Shelf (Cyclone Alley).

Whilst overseas, I spent most of my time working in Malaysia, Thailand (13 yrs), Philippines, Indonesia,EastTimor, The UAE, Russia and Iraq, before returning to Australia upon my retirement and finally settling on the Gold Coast. Apart from the Countries that I have worked in, I have also visited Brunei, Germany, Holland, Jordan, Egypt, Grease, Canada & America. However, Out of all my travels around the World, and yes there are some beautiful locations out there, the Gold Coast area and surrounding Hinterlands are hard to beat. It has a Goldilocks climate (not too hot, not too cold) and a holiday atmosphere with a large percentage of retirees and immigrants, mainly from South East Asia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands.

Upon retirement, I gained my Amateur Radio License, and I'm so glad I did. I was in need of an activity that would keep me engaged and active. My past hobbies of Flying and Canoeing were no longer a feasible option for me, and Amateur Radio fitted the requirement perfectly.

It was trully a God-Send during the Covid-19 lock downs and a great opportunity to meet like-minded people which helped me settle into basically and new area and life-style after retirement.

My main interest in the Hobby, HF SSB DXing on 10m, 20m, 40m, 80m followed by Contesting.
I also enjoy working on the 2m SSB portion of the band.

After HF, and when there is a lack of propagation, I move onto DMR and AllStar via my HotSpots and Nodes (Thanks to Glenn VK4NGA, who set me up in that department) which enables me to continue communicating around the world no matter what. Learning all about the digital modes now, will help me in the future when I eventually down-size my living arrangements and can no longer put up those wonderfull HF antennas that the neighbours love so much.

So for the time being, I hope to catch you on the HF Bands one of these days. If I do, I will most definitely confirm our contact on my log to help you (and me) with those QRZ awards,

Equipment

My Current Main Antennas:

- 80m to 10m ZS6BKW wire dipole multiband.
- 40m, 20m, 15m & 10m Elevated (12 meters above ground) Trapped Vertical with Radials.
- 5e8e Dual Horizontal Yagi for 2m & 70cm. SSB
- Diamond X300 Dual Band Verticals for 2m FM use (2 ea.)


Main Radios:

- Kenwood TS-120V & TS-120S , 80m-10m , HF
- Yaesu FT-897D , 160m - 70cm Shack-In-Box
- Kenwood TS-480HX - 160m - 6m , HF
- Icom IC-7300 , 160m - 6m , HF
- Icom IC-718 , 160m - 10m , HF

- TYT - MD9600 (3ea.) 2m & 70cm FM & DMR
- (HT) Icom IC-T90A (2ea.) 2m , 70cm & 6m FM Tri-Band
- (HT) Retavis RT-3S 2m & 70cm FM & DMR Dual Band
- (HT) Retavis RT-23 2m & 70cm FM Dual Band
- (HT) FDC 2m FM


Tuners:

- MFJ-939 Auto Tuner (2ea.)
- MFJ-949E Manual Tuner (2ea.)