Biography

G7DDN

Hi! I'm Chris G7DDN. I also hold the callsign G0MLY. My wife Lynne holds the call M6FAB.

Memberships include G-QRP Club 5113, RAOTA 2271, WAB Book 13838, FISTS 14050, SKCC 3680, NAQCC 4818 & QRP-ARCI 14425

Home Station configuration

The present setup comprises 2 main radios - an Elecraft K3 for all bands/modes 1.8MHz - 144MHz and a Kenwood TM-V71E for 144/432MHz FM. I also have 2 Weber Dual Bander QRP Kits (for 80/40 and 30/20) which I like using. HF is connected via a 4 way switch to a coax feed and a CG-3000 Automatic ATU connected to a home-made 230 foot long doublet fed at about 45 feet high at its centre.

On VHF/UHF I have a vertically-polarised Diamond X-300 colinear and a 4 element Tonna 144MHz beam (horizontally polarised) pointing in a fixed ESE direction. I occasionally operate on 4m from a converted Key PMR radio with a homebrew J-pole in the loft.

My QTH is about 479 feet ASL, my locator is IO92BJ and I have an unusual WAB square, SP17 Worcestershire (quite a rare one, I am told)

I work most bands, but will be found most often on or around 1.942 MHz. I also enjoy relaxed-mode contesting so you may work me in one of those.

Mobile Station configuration

Two radios in the car! A Kenwood TS-480SAT for HF and 6m and another Kenwood, a second TM-V71E for VHF/UHF. On HF I use a range of single band antennae. You are most likely to hear me on 2m/70cm or 1.8 MHz, although you might even catch me out bicycle mobile on 2m or 70cm if you are both local and unlucky!

Portable Station configuration

Out "in the field", I like to use either a YouKits HB-1B TFR or an Elecraft KX3. For handheld use, I take an Icom IC-T70E or sometimes a Kenwood TH-G71E. For higher power HF operations, I sometimes use the Kenwood TS-480SAT from the car - it has both 1.8 kHz and 500Hz filters so good for all modes! A variety of antennas are used - usually a dipole of some sort, though sometimes a 3 element SOTA beam for 144MHz. 2010 saw a debut in the Backpackers Contests and a successful win in the 50MHz section with my pals G3YXM and G4FPH. Not bad for a first time! Our exploits even made the front cover of RadCom in August 2011.

Garden Station configuration

When the weather is nice and I don't really want to go full-blown portable, I set up in the back garden and enjoy operating outdoors from home! Note the beer glass is empty! Great fun!

Personal stuff

Interested in radio since the early 1960s, I was fascinated with the bakelite Philips set in the corner of our living room and spent lots of time scouring the shortwave bands to find out why they were so different from Long and Medium Waves! I eventually found Swiss Radio broadcasting in English and was amazed that these signals were coming from what seemed to a 7 year old boy, a far off distant land!

At Grammar School I joined the Radio Society as an 11 year old, but sadly I was lost in amongst the 6th formers technical knowledge and had no idea about how to get my callsign in 1969!

My interest in radio never diminished though and I was an avid listener especially to SW broadcasts throughout the 1970s. As a musician, I didn't study the sciences past O level and so it wasn't until the CB boom that I began to operate for the first time.

Disillusioned with the behaviour of too many operators on 11m, I migrated to 934 MHz and had a whale of a time there. Operating practices were more akin to Amateur practices and it was not long before my appetite from more bands was whetted.

I enrolled in a course in September 1988 and took the RAE in December 1988. I passed with a Distinction & Credit and became G7DDN in February 1989. Lots of morse practice and that callsign became G0MLY in October 1989.

Since then I have tried various aspects of the hobby but find contests, QRP CW and chatting on Top Band to my liking the most. I rejuvenated G7DDN in 2007 after the licensing changed here in the UK, so I have the option to use 2 callsigns if I wish, (well, there aren't many G7s left!)

I tend these days to use the G7DDN callsign more frequently than G0MLY. It sounds much better in Morse Code!

I will post more in this section when I get more time!

Other information

I am a classically trained musician with an honours degree from Birmingham University. Most of my working career though was spent in the pop world. I have been lucky enough to tour the world with professional bands and played just about every venue in the UK worth playing. I am a professional composer too, everything from songs to TV themes!

I have also at various times during my life been a Primary School Deputy Head, a Secondary School Head of Department, a Local Radio Presenter, Producer and Journalist, and a Commercial Manager with a large UK transport company.

These days I teach piano privately from home in the same room as the shack, hence the rather rationalised and small-ish operating area :-(

Worked DXCCs: