First licensed in 1990, I operated sporadically /MM (maritime mobile) between 1990 and 1999 while I was at sea in the merchant navy. Between 2000 and 2010 I operated even more sporadically as my work continued to take me all over the World but never leaving me long enough anywhere to get on the air much, if at all.
From 2012 on, I at least had somewhere I could call a shack in Ireland. While that helped, I still didn’t get anything like enough time on air as I continued to travel extensively for work.
In 2026, with the junior ops reared and what turned into a 3 year project to upgrade the shack more or less finished (is that job ever actually done?), I’m making a significant effort to spend more time on the radio and to otherwise sort out my radio life – hence this website. I still travel quite a bit for work but it’s not quite as frequent as before.
I’m fascinated by antennas and I’m always making them. I’ve always dabbled with homebrewing equipment and more recently I’ve been attempting radio repairs and renovations. I’m entirely self-taught and no expert, but over time I’ve got better at it. Recently, I’ve some small successes with technically challenging jobs (for me) that I’m ridiculously proud of.
As I get older, my frequencies of interest are getting lower and lower. Today, I spend much of my radio time on and below 40M. I’ve also gone back to my roots and I do a lot of low frequency SWLing. My interest in radio started when I was 10 when I came across marine NDBs below LW, on an old BASF radio cassette player. That discovery started a life-long love of radio and a journey that became a 35 year career in and around the maritime world. I spend a lot of time these days MW utility DXing, particularly Navtex. Why Navtex? Well, the sea and radio connection but also, to paraphrase JFK, “…we do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard.” There’s a lot more on my Navtex DXing activities on this site.
Over 70% of my contacts in the 36 years I’ve been licensed have been on CW. These days I’m doing more SSB and digital. I don’t have a view on FT8.
I enjoy single operator, low power (often unassisted) contesting. I’m a not sufficiently committed member of the very successful contest brigade that is EI7M, the East Cork Radio Group.
Some years ago, I was inexplicably made an Honorary Member of the Ilford RSGB Group “for having shown extreme humour in the face of amateur radio“. To this day I don’t know what I did or said, but I’m genuinely pleased that whatever it was, it made someone laugh.
I’ve been known to write a bit about radio, You’ll find my efforts on this site. I plan on doing a lot more radio related writing of in the years ahead.
Oh and I refer to myself as a radio experimenter and not as an amateur (or ham) for two reasons. For much of my professional career, I’ ve been involved with radio technology in the maritime sector. Though I’m not working in that world now, I remain involved in a few projects and I otherwise maintain an interest. I also think experimenter is a more accurate description of what the hobby involves and for my own particular radio activities.