In Richard’s own words……

Hi, my name is Richard, Callsign 2W0UXW and I live in Rhuddlan in N Wales. It was the early 80’s when I first discovered I had an interest in radio, CB radio at the time. I lived in Rhos On Sea back then and enjoyed several years with my new found hobby until work issues forced me to relocate. Unfortunately radio went on the back burner.

Last October aged 69 years young, I found myself with time on my hands having retired a few years earlier. I decided to resurrect my interest in radio. I attempted to locate my old friend Bob Puxey GW4PUX using the internet. Bob was a keen ham and had a CB shop in Abbey St in Rhyl, some of you may remember ‘Base 20’ back in the early 80’s. I emailed NWRS and quickly received a reply from Mark MW0RKB, sadly Mark informed me that Bob had been silent key for a few years.

Mark suggested that if I wanted to get involved in radio once more, I should come along to the club and meet the members where I would be most welcome. Boy am I glad I did! My interest was as strong as ever and after completing the course and revising the book, I sat the foundation exam in December which I duly passed.

I was now well and truly bitten by the radio bug and enrolled on the next available Intermediate course. I was delighted when I passed the exam in the February of 2011. I decided to leave the Advanced for now and enjoy the extra benefits afforded by my new licence. The hunt for equipment was beginning…!

My first purchase was a Yaesu FT2900, I was back on the air after nearly 30 years! I decided on an FT450 as my first HF rig. I was very impressed with this set, but after a fault appeared early on, I decided to upgrade to something a little more substantial! My new FT950 arrived a few days later! A ‘proper’ radio, big and imposing, I completed my station with an SP8 speaker and an MD100 desk mic.

I really wanted a base set for V/UHF, I searched hard for a mint FT736, but they seem to be fetching telephone numbers at the moment, I was about to leave it for a while when I came across a Trio TS 780 advertised on the internet. I was ecstatic when it arrived a few days later, I opened the box and found it to be in wonderful condition, I connected it up, turned it on and it burst into life. I love this old rig, I was keen for a second opinion so I called up one of the club members who popped round to check out my purchase. I was delighted when his face lit up too!

I needed help in order to improve my HF aerial (random wire). I took a trip to see Simon at the Snowdonia Radio Company. Simon provided me with one of his SRC HF 360 vertical multiband antennas and a length of RG213 coax to connect everything up. When the aerial was up, I had some difficulty tuning it up on all bands, I called Simon to tell him of my trouble, can you believe, he knocked on my door the very next day, tools in hand! Everything was spot on in no time at all, you can’t get better service than that! All at a very reasonable price too.

I would just like to say a big thanks to all the members of the North Wales Radio society, especially Gordon MW0GBR who has been more than generous with his time. You have all been a huge help and have made this journey possible, I am on the air and I’m having a ball. Thank you all.

73 Richard

2W0UXW