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Steve and his buddiesFirst licensed in 1970 at age 16, amateur radio entered my bloodstream. Like so many Amateurs of my generation in the UK we were drawn to 160m as the equipment was cheap and easy to build and antennas quite simple. Over a four year period I graduated to working quite a lot of CW DX on the band and was fascinated by the propagation. I moved to VHF in the 70’s and became interested in Tropo scatter and ducting on 2 and 70cms, this coincided with a spell working in an RF design and engineering role and laid the foundations for later professional work. Moves to a new job working on the design and engineering of very large UHF radio systems meant a declining interest in the hobby and I sold off almost everything in 1982. 20 years later I was pretty sure I would never come back to the hobby! By chance in 2002 my (then) 12 year old son became interested and pushed me to get G3ZPS back and use an old FT101 found in the attic. He became licensed as M3RZX later that year and we bought some old HF gear for a bit of fun. Operation has been sporadic since that time and I still don’t own an HF radio with a transistor PA!!! I am the author of a number of professional papers on communications systems for use in the UK Police Service, a Fellow of the IIE and these days specialise in the technical and commercial aspects of large IT and Communications Contracts for use by the public sector. 
At the BRATS Rainham Radio Rally 2004, L-R, Andy G4ADM, Bob G4DBW, Steve ZPS, Dave G4AKY.. missing but will be snapped later Pete G4AAW. Picture by James M3RZX.  Above - The G3ZPS shack circa 1976, KW2000A (made by KW, the Company that just couldn't keep up with the times), Yaesu FRDX400 (not as good as I thought it would be), IC21 for 2 metres, Slow Scan TV monitor with real CRT (check the links page for the fantastic MMSSTV for the PC) 
Above - The ham radio part of my study, as it appears in April 2004. Drake 4B line, Drake TR-4 (Restored),TR-4CW, RV-4C, FT902DM line Old Rally Pictures Longleat 71?- G3LYW (centre), compare it with this pic taken by Bob G4AEL on his web site here. It looks like his picture was taken within minutes of mine!!
Below are a couple of pics of Steve's workshop, its completely separate from the shack and we have only just started adding test equipment; Telequipment scope, HP Frequency Counter, AVO RF signal Generator, HP561B Test Oscillator, the old AR88D, Yaesu FT101Z, MFJ tuner, HV and LV Power Supplies, dummy loads and other spare parts. 
 LLatest test gear addition in June 2004; a super clean Tektronix 2213 60MHZ scope - a classic, light weight and includes a delay timebase  Below is part of the music studio also in the shack, I have played the guitar in many bands over the last 30 years and like to keep a small recording studio for home use. My music website is linked here, see my guitar collection!!  L |
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