Biography

When I was 17 I took part in the first foundation course run at the Paisley YMCA Amateur Radio Club in January 2002. My first call was MM3CJM and along with around 30 other people, we were one of first stations in Scotland to obtain the foundation license.

I sat the second last City and Guilds Radio Amateurs Examination (RAE) at the Mid Lanark Amateur Radio Club in June 2003. I then got my current call MM1PTT, which at the time was a ‘class B’ license. The Morse requirement for a ‘class A’ license was then dropped by the Radio Agency and I was allowed to apply for a class A call in November 2003. The call sign I took was MM0IBM which allowed me full access to the HF bands.

Ofcom then finalised the licence structure in the UK so my MM0IBM and MM1PTT calls both had the same privileges. I preferred MM1PTT call so continued to use that call and let the other two lapse.

I held the call sign LX2CM, between November 2009 and December 2010
From January 2013 to June 2018 I operated as M1PTT from IO91ij

NOV Holder and SYSOP for MB7UCM APRS packet iGate.

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

FlexRadio FLEX-6300 (with internal ATU)
Icom IC-7100
Yaesu FT-817ND
Yaesu FT290 Mk1 with Mutek front end pre-amp
Kenwood TM-D710E
Kenwood TM-D700E
Kenwood TM-241A
Tait T2010 - 4 Channel FM (VHF Highband - for 2m APRS)
Key KM450 - 16 Channel FM (UHF 430-470MHz - converted for 70cms)
Key KM150 - 16 Channel FM (Highband 136-174MHz - converted for 2m)
Key KM80 - 16 Channel FM (Lowband 70-87.5MHz - converted for 4m)
AKD 4001 - 20 Channel 4m FM Transceiver
RCH 2740FM - (converted for 10m FM - 40 Channels)
Amstrad CB 901
Kenwood TH-F7E
Kenwood TH-D7E
Yaesu VX-2E
ComTalk 2 channel 2m hand held
Binatone MR300 x2 (8 channel 446 PMR)
Binatone MR100 x2(8 channel 446 PMR)

SSB Products LT-23 S (23cm/ 1296MHz transverter -2m IF)
Microwave Modules MMT144/28 (Linear Transverter 2m output - 10m IF)
Microwave Modules 144Mhz Receive Conveter

Heathkit SB-200 - HF linear Amplifier
Microwave Modules MML 144/100-S (100w 2m amplifier)
Tokyo Hy-Power HL-35v (144Mhz amplifier)
AKD PA10l/25 (25w 10m Linear amplifier)

Cross Country Wireless SDR-4+ (HF SDR Receiver)
Realistic DX-394 (B)
Realistic PRO-2025
Sony ICF-SW7600
R820Tv2 (USB SDR dongle)
Flightaware Pro Stick Plus

Signalink USB
Kantronics All Mode Plus (KAM-Plus) v8.2
Byonics TinyTrak 3 plus (TT3+) with GlobalSat BR-355 SiRF Star III GPS Receiver - RS232
Avmap Geo-Sat 5
Garmin GPS35 HVS *3
Garmin GPSII
GlobalSat BR-355 SiRF Star III GPS Receiver - RS232 *3

SGC SG-237
LDG Z-100Plus
Array Solutions Power Master II
Daiwa CN-801HP
Avair AV-601
Avair AV-600
Avair AV-20
MFJ 259B with MFJ-29C soft case
RigExpert Stick Pro
Bird Thruline Model 43 (500H, 250H and 50H inserts)
Bird Thruline Model 43 (50C, 10C, 5C, 50D, 10D and 5D inserts)
Bird Termaline Model 67 (500w dummy load and 30-500MHz wattmeter)
Hansen DL-20 (15w dummy load)
Large Dummy Load (unknown spec, N-Type socket)

Nevada PS-40M
Manson EP-925
Sharman PS-30M
Watson Power mite
Key desktop power supply and speaker x2
Sotabeams Fuser-6
MFJ-1116 power distribution

NCS Multi-Switcher - (4 way speaker/microphone switch)
Heil Proset Plus! (HC-4 and HC-5 elements)
Heil AD-1-Y (Yaesu 8-PIN - Yellow)
Heil AD-1-iM (Icom Modular - Blue)
Heil AD-1-YM (Yaesu Modular - Yellow)
FS-50A Foot switch
Kenwood SMC-34 (Speaker Microphone with Volume)
Yaesu MH-34B4B (Speaker Microphone)
PTT hand switch (Home brew from Pye Shaver Mic)

Watson W-2000 (VHF/UHF Vertical - 1/2 wave @50MHz, 2x5/8 wave @145MHz, 4x5/8 wave @440MHz)
Watson W-300 (VHF/UHF Vertical - 2x5/8 wave @145MHz, 5x5/8 wave @440MHz)
Jaybeam 5Y/2M (144MHz 5 element yagi with folded dipole driven element)
Jaybeam 7249 (70MHz 3 element yagi with folder dipole driven element)
Comet CYA-1216e (16 element @ 1.2Ghz)
Watson WVB-70 (4m 1/2 wave vertical)
Alton Antenna Arrays 642MCA (6m, 4m, 2m dipole)
TGM Communications MQ-34SR (4 band hybrid quad beam antenna - 20m, 15m, 10m, 6m)
G3TPW CobWebb
Cushcraft R7 (7 band 1/2 wave end-fed Vertical)
Moonraker EVX4000 (Trapped 1/4 wave Vertical for 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m)
M0CVO HW-20 (20m OCF dipole)
Cross Country Wireless HF Active Antenna
5/8 wave @ 1090MHz Vertical

Watson W-770HB (Dual Band mobile whip -1/2 wave @145MHz, 2x5/8 wave @440MHz)
Diamond SRH779 2m/70cm Handheld Antenna
Nagoya NA-771 2m/70cm Handheld Antenna
Comet CH-32 2m/70cm Miracle Baby Handheld Antenna
Watson WHF-80 (80m Mobile whip)
Arrow II 146/437-10WBP (Satellite Antenna)
1/4 wave 145MHz mobile whip and mag mount (Homebrew)
1/4 wave 70MHz mobile whip and mag mount (Homebrew)

133ft Inverted L (Hard drawn Copper wire element, buried multi-stranded Copper for radials)
40m 1/2 Centre fed dipole (Homebrew - shorted RG-58 elements with G-Whip dipole centre)
40m Delta loop (Homebrew - Hard drawn Copper wire with LDG 4:1 Balun)
80m/40m Trapped Dipole (Homebrew - Multi-stranded Copper wire for element and Hard drawn Copper wire for the traps)

145MHz Quadrifilar Helix (Homebrew - ISS SSTV and APRS packet downlink antenna)
137MHz Quadrifilar Helix (Homebrew weather satellite antenna)

Diamond MX-62m Duplexer
Cross Country Wireless 6m/4m Duplexer
Watson CS-600 (2-way Coax switch) x2
MFJ 1704 (4-way Coax switch)
Homebrew 2-way Coax switch
Ameritron RCS-8V (5 port remote switch)

Watson W-300 Tri Magnetic Mount
Diamond K-400 Hatch/Boot Mount with Watson W-3CK cable kit
Watson W-3HM Hatch/Boot Mount with W-3CK cable kit
Watson SP-2000 sun visor speaker
Pye Mobile Speaker *3
PMR-712 Mobile speaker

Watson Weather station (Fine Offset WH1080)
Micronta Radio Timed Clock (Oregon Scientific RM-913 copy)
Behringer CMD micro (USB DJ controller with 2 VFO for SmartSDR control)
Contour ShuttlePRO (USB controller with shuttle jog VFO)
Roland MA-15D (Edirol branded) studio monitor speakers.