G4HUN
AWARDS BACKPACKERS MOBILE LOCATION SOTA VIRTUALMUSEUM SOLAR ACTIVITY
Hi, I'm Neil Whiteside - thank you for visiting my website. I started out as a Short Wave Listener in 1974, and was first licenced in February 1977 as G8MXF. I got my class A call - G4HUN - on January 5th 1979. In the early days I was mainly active on 2m - in the days when other people were active too (!). I then went off air from 1984 to 2002, when my interest was rekindled. Although I'm often listening on HF and VHF from home, a lot of my activity is on VHF and UHF from the car, as the day job involves a lot of travelling. I run an Icom IC2725 with a Maldol colinear on 2m and 70cm FM. To see the mobile setup click here.
The home QTH is in Highfields Caldecote, a small village in Cambridgeshire. Click here for a map showing where we are. I use a Kenwood TS690s - about 100w into either a Hustler 6BTV vertical or an 88ft longwire. I also run a Yaesu FT897D, mainly for local 6m/2m/70cm work, although I do have a 7ele ZL Special in the loft beaming SE for 2m SSB work.
I really enjoy taking part in the 2m Backpackers contests. 2003 was the first season for me, and I took part in three of the five sessions. Best result was 2nd place in the third session (The certificate now hangs on the shack wall), and 7th overall in the championship. 2004 yielded first place in the third and fifth session (More certificates!!); and 7th place again in the championship. I've tried a few combinations of rig and antenna - I've settled on the FT897D with a 9 element F9FT (Tonna). Click here for some Backpacking pix, and click here for some stats.
In 2003 I also finally got round to claiming my RSGB 144MHz Squares Award, No. 375, for 40 squares and 10 countries. This award was for contacts that took place in the late seventies and early eighties.
In September 2005 I got my Worked All Continents Award (WAC), and in October I got my DXCC application approved. Certificate #40,472 is hanging on the shack wall!
I'm afraid I was a bit late in discovering 6m, but I love it when the band is open. It's like 2m used to be long ago. In 2006 I claimed my entry-level RSGB 50MHz Countries Award.
Another area of the hobby that I enjoy is Summits On The Air (SOTA). Living in Cambridgeshire makes this particularly challenging! So whenever possible I like to go on SOTA trips to the hillier parts of the UK. So far I have activated summits in the Yorkshire Dales and the South Pennines. For some pictures of a SOTA trip to the Dales in 2004 click here.
2007 was the first time I visited Ham Radio Friedrichshafen. A group of six from the Camb-Hams took a four day trip to southern Germany. We took our handhelds and operated as DL/ and HB9/. For a full set of pictures visit the Camb-Hams Photo Gallery using this link:
http://www.camb-hams.com/wordpress/wp-gallery2.php?g2_itemId=450
Later on in the year I went to France and Monaco where I operated as F/G4HUN/P and 3A/G4HUN/P.
2008 saw the Camb-Hams DXpedition to Mull (IOTA: EU-008). This was huge fun, which you can read all about at: http://www.camb-hams.com/camb-hams-mull-dx-pedition. This has whetted the appetite to go farther afield!