Biography

Thanks for visiting my QRZ.CQ page :)

Where to start, well...lets start where I started, on a 27MHz Pearce Simpson Super Puma back in 1986. Ohhhh did I love radio when I was a kid. My room was filled with them. Mostly old valve radios, that I managed to get working with no electronics experience or backround whatsoever. I had a 1/2 Wave dipole made by a good friend Allen (VAC-136) and a MobileOne StationMaster. Living right on the coast in Southwestern Victoria (Port Fairy), I had little trouble reaching the US with the power limitations of the Super Puma.

I recall I had an old Oscilloscope too. Like really really old. I dont remember how I came to own it, it was a huge block of a thing about the size of a bar fridge, black case made of hammered metal and a round CRT screen, very ugly, but at night when the lights were off, it looked great displaying the amplitube of my voice as I talked on the radio. I only really ever used it as a show peice for its aesthetics, nothing more.

In February of 1988 I was called upon to enter the Royal Australian Navy (GE-41 Moran Division). By then I had a shoe box (made of timber) that was overflowing with QSL Cards. Mum thought Navy Recruiting might like to see them as a testimony to my love of radio and communications, afterall, I was joining the RAN as a Radio Operator so she sent them in. They probably did, but I never saw them again and noone knew where they went which was very saddening at the time. I was a bit devastated but I got over it with my new career and new found friends serving in the Military.

I did just over 11 years in the Navy, and loved it. Unfortunately I got injured and was no longer able to serve on Submarines doing what I loved to do! I wanted to continue serving but my back was quite a mess, surgery did not fix the problem and I was forced to discharge.

I ended up going down a whole different path...music in fact, audio engineering. I guess technical equipment of any kind sparks my senses, you see, I like complicated things....expensive things. I wish they weren't but the things I like are usually on the exe side, but that's ok, my motto could be "If you love it, you should have it!" If it makes you happy, then why go without if you can figure out a way to buy it...simple.

In September or so of 2018, I learned that an old friend of mine had gotten his Amateur Radio Licence (VK6MMB), my interest and imagination was stirred....a lot! I was not really in a position to build a shack as I lived in a inner city apartment with my wife and young daughter. I was also heavily involved in other aspects of my life which took up a lot of my time, but I guess you could say I had made the decision to do it at that moment in time, I just needed to clear a path to it. I knew we were moving soon and that the opportunity to put up an antenna was just around the corner.

I got in touch with Michael and asked if he would help me with my studies. We served together early on in our Navy careers, funny how things come around - it was more or less 20 years later. He was most happy to help me out so he and Jamie (VK2YCJ) became the driving force behind me jumping my foundation and going straight for my Standard Licence.

We moved out of our inner city apartment and I started training for my HAM Licence using the Radio and Electronic School curriculum for AOCP Standard. I set up a homebrew dipole and later bought a G5RV which I converted into a ZS6BKW to reduce its size somewhat. It was working but it was pooly located and there was little I could do to change this. My wife was over the not so big house we got in a rush and wanted something bigger so we knuckled down and bought a real family sized home. Now I had space to play radios!

I made the difficult decision to give up mixing music! I had tired of it, I have mild/moderate tinnitus and mixing just makes it worse. Sitting remains very uncomfortable for me and mixing requires you to sit endlessly and concentrate - need to be 'in the zone', you cant just get up and move about or you'd never get the mix finished which is what was happening more and more.

I studied hard and received my Amateur Standard AOCP licence on 13th December 2018 and 2 days later worked Italy on 40m on my GAP Titan, what a buzz! I will never forget that moment.

Whilst the GAP was a great startup antenna, I knew I was missing out on quite a lot having a Vertical, so I did a lot of research into what type of antenna I could put up in the limited suburban space I had.

With the assistance of my dad and my brother (who helped dig the hole), I relieved the GAP Titan DX of its duties, thanked it for its service and put up a SteppIR Urban Beam which is just a fantastic antenna highly recommended. By putting up the Urban Beam, I was also able to get my ZS6BKW up nice and high in an inverted V using the NBS Tilt-over Mast (see video above). I mostly now use the ZS6BKW for omni-directional listening and the beam to torchlight and make the QSO.

The Urban Beam eats the Titan for breakfast, but she was a great entry into Amateur Radio antenna for me.

I have already made some great friends through HAM, its a great hobby and I look forwards to the future and getting my shack up to specification with the help of many of you experienced HAMs out there.

I like working 40m and 20m, I got a small taste of 10m and really enjoyed that QSO also. I will soon be ordering QSL cards and don't mind sharing both ways.

I use LoTW and QRZ.com for logging, and very much appreciate when others reciprocate. Working the DXCC is hard enough without missing out on valuable confirmations.

Thanks for reading my novel, hope it wasnt too boring! :)

73!

Adam (VK2MIX)

Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Equipment

EQUIPMENT:

ICOM 7851 | ICOM 9100 | YAESU Vx6-R | TYT-MD390

HF RADIO AUDIO CHAIN:

Electrovoice RE-320 Mic --> AVALON 737SP Channel Strip --> DSQ2496 EQ --> DRAWMER FET 1973 MB COMPRESSOR --> LEXICON MX200 Effects Unit--> DBX266XL Compression--> ICOM 7851

MONITORING:

FOCUSRITE SCARLETT 1820i | YAMAHA HS8s

POWER:

YAESU FP-1030 Linear

ANTENNA:

HF:

SteppIR Urban Beam (40m/30m Folded Dipole) 20m thru 6m 2 Element Yagi

ZS6BKW Inverted V Dipole (for OMNI)

VHF/UHF:

Diamond X200N

TUNING:

MFJ DELUXE VERSA TUNER II

LINEAR AMPLIFIERS:

NOT PERMITTED