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Call Sign : 26-CT-4583 Posts : 7 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2022-07-17 QTH or Location : Looe, Cornwall. Equipment Used : President McKinley, Zetagi TM999, Sirio Hi Power 4000 PL Age : 77
Hi, My name is ALAN and my nickname, username, and handle is ALGY. I was borne on the 9th of October 1945 in West London where I was brought up. I first became interested in radio when I was given a crystal set for my eighth birthday; it had a real cat’s whisker and galena crystal. For the first year or two, I experimented with aerials and earths during which time, I learned a lot. However, I eventually could not resist taking the back off the set to see what was inside. To my surprise, all it contained was the cat’s whisker and crystal, a coil and a variable capacitor (we called capacitors, condensers in those days). About this time, germanium diodes were becoming cheaply available so I decided to make a better crystal set. I used the variable capacitor from the original radio, bought a germanium diode and wound a coil using enameled copper wire onto the cardboard core of a toilet roll. I also made some tapings on the coil as I had learned that it was possible to tune into bands other than medium wave this way. Fortunately, my parent’s house was in a very good reception area so I was soon picking up, what I now assume, was the amateur Top Band (160 m). The main things I heard were changing audio tones on a single radio frequency, which I now assume was Radio Teletype (RTTY), and men talking incomprehensible jargon mixed with letter codes (Q codes etc.) and sending the same alpha numeric codes to each other. I soon learned that they were licensed radio amateurs (HAMs). In those days, AM mode was the norm and sideband was only just beginning to be used. I wanted to know more so I soon built a real short wave radio using two 954 acorn valves. I do not remember what frequencies it covered but I do remember that it was regenerative (with a reaction control) and super sensitive. My interest in amateur radio was now well and truly wetted so It was not too long before I built, from a kit, a Codar CR45 receiver. This was again, regenerative and covered the Long, Medium and Short wave bands up to 10 m (30 MHz). I think I was about 14 years old at the time. I was now determined to become a radio amateur and started to learn Morse Code and radio theory. However, to cut a long story short, school work, girls, further education, career, marriage, children and moving to Looe in Cornwall in 1977 curtailed my amateur radio ambitions until 1981 when I bought a legal CB set. This, I must admit, was not very successful due to the terrain and the then, restrictions on antenna size. Moving forward again to retirement, I joined the RSGB and, after several months of trying to decide what to do, I purchased an SDRPlay, RSP1A sdr radio to listen to what was going on. My present house is in a very narrow, very steep sided valley with good reception only for a few degrees either side of due East, but even worse, is the incredibly high noise level which drowns out all but the strongest stations. I Then visited the Marconi center at Mullion which is run by the Poldhu Radio Amateur Club and had a long conversation with Cliff who suggested I try a loop antenna. Not wishing to spend too much money on a project which may not work, I cobbled together, a wire loop about 1m in diameter, connected it to a small wideband balun transformer, then to a wideband preamplifier from our Chinese friends, connected that to my RSP!A over a 10m length of RG58 and switched on. At first, I thought it wasn’t working, there was no sound, but tuning across the bands, it most certainly was working, but the noise had disappeared ! Several versions of the loop later, I was able to hear what was happening on the amateur and CB bands locally. Much to my disappointment, there was very little happening on the amateur bands on phone except for competitions, but the CB bands were quite lively. My mind was made up, CB it is, but due to my lousy location, I decided that I would have to operate from my car. I researched several spots which should give good reception. One spot which is less than 10 minutes drive away, 498 ft. above sea level, at least a mile from any buildings and with no overhead wires in sight seemed ideal. I Bought a President McKinley radio, a Zetagi TM999 antenna tuner, a Sirio Hi-Power 4000 PL antenna and matching mag mount. During my first outing with the new kit, I discovered a local-ish net and introduced myself and found that I was getting good DX from all over. The Most distant being Sao Paulo, Brazil. At this stage I was just listening to the DX because all the operators were using call signs. Which I do not have. Hence my reason for applying for a Charlie Tango call sign. If you require more information, please contact me.
John123, Razz229, Victor and Alan Pilot like this post
That's quite the introduction and I almost felt that Eamonn Andrews had stepped into the room with that big red book! (For those of us old enough to remember 'This is your Life'.)
Joking aside, it was really great to hear about your lifelong radio interests and I enjoyed reading your posting.
Your profile is complete ready for call sign allocation so it's just a matter of keeping a look out on this posting for when our admin Gary comes along to issue you. (At the moment he is experiencing some internet access problems with obvious delays but hang in there as he will get around to it all as soon as he is able.)
Again, great intro and I wish you well with your radio adventures.
Call Sign : 26CT763 Posts : 3191 Times Thanked : 117 Join date : 2019-06-27 QTH or Location : Manchester Equipment Used : Optima, Superstar 360fm, Stalker 9fdx, President Jack Age : 49
Call Sign : 26-CT-4583 Posts : 7 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2022-07-17 QTH or Location : Looe, Cornwall. Equipment Used : President McKinley, Zetagi TM999, Sirio Hi Power 4000 PL Age : 77
Subject: Reply to StevieG Tue Jul 19, 2022 5:36 pm
StevieG wrote:
Hi Alan, welcome to the CTDX group 73s Steve.
Thank you Steve, I look forward to an interesting time on the CTDX group. Perhaps we may be able to chat on-air in the future. 73s. Alan
Thats a hell of an introduction and I notice from your post "wound a coil using enameled copper wire onto the cardboard core of a toilet roll." And conclude you must be from an affluent family since most nailed newspaper to the back of the Netty door back then lol
I certainly remember as a kid in the seventies scrunching and rolling newspaper to make it softer during the 3 day week
Call Sign : 26-CT-4583 Posts : 7 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2022-07-17 QTH or Location : Looe, Cornwall. Equipment Used : President McKinley, Zetagi TM999, Sirio Hi Power 4000 PL Age : 77
Subject: Reply to Victor Wed Jul 20, 2022 5:32 pm
Victor wrote:
Hi Alan,
Welcome to Charlie Tango.
That's quite the introduction and I almost felt that Eamonn Andrews had stepped into the room with that big red book! (For those of us old enough to remember 'This is your Life'.)
Joking aside, it was really great to hear about your lifelong radio interests and I enjoyed reading your posting.
Your profile is complete ready for call sign allocation so it's just a matter of keeping a look out on this posting for when our admin Gary comes along to issue you. (At the moment he is experiencing some internet access problems with obvious delays but hang in there as he will get around to it all as soon as he is able.)
Again, great intro and I wish you well with your radio adventures.
All the best, Victor
Victor, Thank you for your welcome. I look forward to receiving my call sign as and when. I did wonder, after writing my intro, if it was too much. Regards, Alan
Call Sign : 26-CT-4583 Posts : 7 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2022-07-17 QTH or Location : Looe, Cornwall. Equipment Used : President McKinley, Zetagi TM999, Sirio Hi Power 4000 PL Age : 77
Call Sign : 26-CT-4583 Posts : 7 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2022-07-17 QTH or Location : Looe, Cornwall. Equipment Used : President McKinley, Zetagi TM999, Sirio Hi Power 4000 PL Age : 77
Thats a hell of an introduction and I notice from your post "wound a coil using enameled copper wire onto the cardboard core of a toilet roll." And conclude you must be from an affluent family since most nailed newspaper to the back of the Netty door back then lol
I certainly remember as a kid in the seventies scrunching and rolling newspaper to make it softer during the 3 day week
Hi Sharpshooter.
Definitely not a wealthy family, but not short of the necessities except for decent food; it was still rationed when I was little. I remember the three day week all too well. My Daughter was born just days before it started and trying to keep her warm was not easy.
Call Sign : 163-CT-220...MW7TTA Posts : 2047 Times Thanked : 49 Join date : 2019-11-19 QTH or Location : Anglesey North Wales Equipment Used : Yaesu FT-991A,,Yaesu FTDX-10,,Icom ic-7300,,Anytone AT-D878UV PLUS",,LINCOLN II+. Age : 149
Call Sign : 26-CT-4583 Posts : 7 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2022-07-17 QTH or Location : Looe, Cornwall. Equipment Used : President McKinley, Zetagi TM999, Sirio Hi Power 4000 PL Age : 77
Thats a hell of an introduction and I notice from your post "wound a coil using enameled copper wire onto the cardboard core of a toilet roll." And conclude you must be from an affluent family since most nailed newspaper to the back of the Netty door back then lol
I certainly remember as a kid in the seventies scrunching and rolling newspaper to make it softer during the 3 day week
Hi Sharpshooter.
Definitely not a wealthy family, but not short of the necessities except for decent food; it was still rationed when I was little. I remember the three day week all too well. My Daughter was born just days before it started and trying to keep her warm was not easy.
73s, Alan
Only joking Alan. Mind some people take things for granted these days.
Good luck with your return to radio. I've only been back on air a few weeks after 40 years and already had quite a few good contacts and also met a very nice helpful older chap who sorted an antenna for me.
Call Sign : 26-CT-4583 Posts : 7 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2022-07-17 QTH or Location : Looe, Cornwall. Equipment Used : President McKinley, Zetagi TM999, Sirio Hi Power 4000 PL Age : 77
I am delighted to allocate you 26-CT-4583 may you have good luck with it.
73's Gary.
C.T. Admin.
Good afternoon Gary,
Thank you for allocating my callsign, and for your welcome to the forum.
I look forward to many happy times in the future.
I would add that I am still thinking of taking the Foundation and Intermediate armature exams but, because of my poor location, I am very unsure how useful that might be.
Yesterday at 10:46 pm by 
Subject: Call sign application (Issued) 
