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GW0NGA - my introduction to amateur radio


Radio is one of the great loves of my life - both community radio and amateur radio. These pages are about my amateur radio exploits.

I spent my teenage years as a shortwave listener, tuning in to English language services all over the world. My radio was able to pick up local radio amateurs talking on AM on 160m ("top band") and this opened up another new world for me.

I obtained my class B on 23 February 1989 when aged 20, and my class A on Good Friday in 1990. Other interests took over and after filling up a mere 47 pages of my (recently discovered) logbook, I disappeared from the airwaves on 6 September 1992.

I didn't leave radio completely; in 1995 I worked on a community radio station in Billericay, Mayflower FM, and in 1996 I formed a new group, Phoenix FM, with the aim of getting a full time community radio station on the FM band for Brentwood and Billericay in Essex. We finally got a full-time FM licence in 2007 and the station is still going strong.

I dipped my toe back in the amateur radio waters in 2006, using a Icom IC-7000 and a Diamond CP-6. Sadly my vertical antenna interfered with a persistent neighbour, and despite me trying to help him, he found a new hobby - complaining about me 24 hours a day! So after a couple of months, everything went back in the box.

I had been thinking about restarting the hobby for some time after this, and on 14 January 2023 I plugged in a new Icom IC-7300 and slung a EFHW down my garden. A few days later, I set up FT-8 on a laptop, and much to my suprise I suddenly found myself making a crazy number of contacts on this too. That laptop has been on day and night ever since.

In January 2024 I left Essex behind and moved to beautiful rural Mongtomeryshire in Wales. I'm now using the callsign GW0NGA instead of G0NGA. My garden doesn't have enough room for the EFHW, so with the help of Nigel MW0OMZ we built a doublet and I'm back on air (and when I say "we", I mean 95% Nigel. I think I held the ladder).

The doublet is working okay on 20/15/12 but it's been very good on 17m and I've had countless contacts into JA, VK and ZL on it.

Date Time Band Call Mode Sent Rcvd Name State Country Miles
16 Jul 2025071230OH4KRNFT8-04-08Veikko Jappinen Finland1,296
16 Jul 2025070330F5AYZFT8-09-11Claude Cottat France704
16 Jul 2025062730EA2NRFT8+12+04Kepa Moreno Laiz Spain685
16 Jul 2025062230IZ0VRDFT8-15-25Alessandro ColantoniRM Italy1,037
16 Jul 2025061530DL1KSWFT8+00-10WALTER SCHMISCHKE Germany420
16 Jul 2025060330LB6FGFT8+01-15KURT HANSEN Norway757
16 Jul 2025055730SH7LHFT8+19-04Joakim (Jocke) Nilsson Sweden727
16 Jul 2025045030PB2AFT8+02-24Johan Claereboets Netherlands348
16 Jul 2025032730WA8TJCFT8-10-23Charles P Cooke, JrOH United States3,628
16 Jul 2025030530OZ2AEAFT8-05-16
16 Jul 2025020530KO4AYEFT8-02-18RONALD BOGGIO, IIVA United States3,559
16 Jul 2025020030ON4MAPFT8-10-05Marc Parade4 Belgium379
16 Jul 2025015230KC4EZNFT8-03-21HARRY C FRICKNC United States3,897
16 Jul 2025011330R3XGFT8-03-14Aleksandr Khrylev Russia1,610
16 Jul 2025004617W5CIFT8-14-07DANNY H BRYANTAR United States4,289
16 Jul 2025002917K1ZTEFT8-14-09RUSSELL J DOMARECKCT United States3,243
16 Jul 2025001817AJ4MWFT8-07-03Rumen P RaevFL United States4,177
16 Jul 2025000917VE2BOLFT8-16-10Marc BouchardQC Canada2,953
15 Jul 2025235117KB1EFS/2FT8-09-14Steven J HenchyNY United States3,249
15 Jul 2025234217SM6MUYFT8+01-01Bengt A Madeberg Sweden690
15 Jul 2025222717LA6VQFT8-10-05Frode IGLAND Norway705
15 Jul 2025220717OZ1IKFFT8-09+00Ole Dan Nielsen Denmark637
15 Jul 2025215017DF3JOFT8-06-05Dr. Thomas Stinder Germany452
15 Jul 2025213817PA/UT3UQJFT8-18+02
15 Jul 2025212917JF1KMCFT8-02-15Taka Kaitsuka Japan5,920
15 Jul 2025212617JA1SJVFT8-04-14SOLO H. IKEGAMI Japan5,943
15 Jul 2025212317JA9CWJFT8-10-19YOSHIHARU "Yoshi" KATADA Japan5,820
15 Jul 2025211717JS1JTXFT8-16-18KEN IKEBEKN Japan5,947
15 Jul 2025211517DF8LKFT8+09-01FALK BROENING Germany555
15 Jul 2025211317JE7JDLFT8-07-06TADAHIRO KAMADA Japan5,678
15 Jul 2025211117JA2ORWFT8-05-10SHIRO JIN_NO Japan5,918
15 Jul 202520456DK6WHFT8-09+00Wilhelm Fischer Germany623
15 Jul 202520366OZ4ACKFT8+02-23Mogens Andersen Denmark672
15 Jul 2025184317DL4CHFT8-04-09Christian Wieland Germany554
15 Jul 2025161017PC9KFT8+15+03Koos de HaanZH Netherlands320
15 Jul 2025155517DK4DOFT8-07-14Dirk Koenig Germany465
15 Jul 2025155317DL1UDOFT8+05-11UDO MUELLER Germany448
15 Jul 2025124317DH8WRFT8-07-02Andreas Wolf Germany639
15 Jul 2025081530DF9JLFT8+02-21Ulrich (Ulli ) Drews Germany428
15 Jul 2025081330F4LQMFT8+05+00Pascal JACQUES France410
15 Jul 2025073230OZ1BSMFT8-09-14Michael Wassermann Denmark632
15 Jul 20250625309A2RIFT8-14-19Tullio RupilHR Croatia920
15 Jul 2025061430SM3JBOFT8-14-05Bo Ohlson Sweden1,083
15 Jul 2025042530KO4XJFT8-13-22JOHN D HUDSONKY United States4,058
15 Jul 2025020430W9DRBFT8-18-24PETER C CRASHERIN United States3,954
15 Jul 2025020030KC1TXEFT8-13-13Marat FayzullinMA United States3,119
15 Jul 2025012730WZ2TFT8+00-14RICHARD C SHERMANNY United States3,151
15 Jul 2025003330VO1CHFT8+03-15Chris VernonNL Canada2,168
15 Jul 2025001830W2WCMFT8-06-18WILLIAM C MIMSVA United States3,521
15 Jul 2025001230W8DXDFT8-14-16DAVID D NICHOLSONWV United States3,628
14 Jul 2025234530KI4DCBFT8-04-24BRAD M WILLIAMSFL United States4,151
14 Jul 2025230830N4MUHFT8-08-19Michael W ZulliFL United States4,121
14 Jul 2025225930DG6NIFT8-05-15Stefan SchaalTH Germany633
14 Jul 2025221730DL4XUFT8-08-16Uwe Moeller Germany557
14 Jul 2025215130HB9EXEFT8+05-10Marcel Tuccimei Switzerland633
14 Jul 2025214830SM7NYIFT8-11-06Christer Nilsson Sweden687
14 Jul 2025214630OE3CMWFT8+07-16Michael Wurzinger Austria904
14 Jul 2025214030EA5KTFT8-04-13Manuel Montes Mula Spain920
14 Jul 2025213230IZ1DXUFT8+01-04Marco GivonettiIT Italy710
14 Jul 2025204217US5ZBRFT8-24-20
14 Jul 2025203717EA7APIFT8-19-10
14 Jul 2025164517JA7AUMFT8-05-11Masaharu (ishi) Ishidoya Japan5,639
14 Jul 2025163117SM3LIVFT8-05-08Liv Ulla (YL) Norrmén Sweden1,009
14 Jul 2025162817OM0RXFT8-21-11Oliver Bross Slovak Republic955
14 Jul 2025150617TY5ADFT8-16-12RUDXT HF radio station Benin3,116
14 Jul 2025102517CR5QFT8-02-2543ª CONCENTRAÇÃO INTERNATIONAL DE MOTOS DE FARO Portugal930
14 Jul 2025095817EA1AUMFT8-19-12JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ GARCIA Spain639
14 Jul 2025091717CN2XTFT8+10-04Mohammed alkhayarin Morocco1,347
14 Jul 2025091117F4IBJFT8+10-04Yann Moreau France439
14 Jul 2025090417JR6IKDFT8-06-12Kunihiro Nakashima (NAKA) Japan5,920
14 Jul 2025085717JN6IIIFT8-10-13Tadayoshi Tanaka Japan5,875
14 Jul 2025081920IS0KNGFT8+06-11RAFFAELE CUGIAIT Italy1,092
14 Jul 2025081620I0/VA3ITAFT8-12-12Edmondo ConettaFR Italy1,092
14 Jul 2025080820EA5WFT8+06-19Paco Sanchez Spain1,019
14 Jul 2025080520OZ2BACFT8-02-13ALLAN Christensen Denmark649
14 Jul 2025080120DK4RHFT8-11-15Roland Hartmann Germany456
14 Jul 2025075120PD2DKFT8+08-09Drewes Kruizenga Netherlands421
14 Jul 2025074920DJ3HWFT8+00-10Joerg Jaehrig Germany517
14 Jul 2025074620F1PPHFT8-15-17Didier TRUDELLEFR France363
14 Jul 2025074120PD0PNQFT8-12-10Gerard Venhorst Netherlands338
14 Jul 2025072820F5HNQFT8+06-12LIONEL PERAGOUX France328
14 Jul 2025072620JJ2QWNFT8+02-19KIYOSHI"Aki" AZUMA Japan5,904
14 Jul 2025072220F5LMJFT8-18-20Alain TUDURIF France421
14 Jul 2025071020DL2MHMFT8-10-18Manfred Henrich Germany512
14 Jul 2025070120OV5SPFT8-20-01
14 Jul 2025065820ON2OVWFT8+01-13Oscar Van Walleghem Belgium305
14 Jul 2025065120F6FHZFT8-17-15Didier SelaquetFR France365
14 Jul 2025063620ON2OVWFT8-05-06Oscar Van Walleghem Belgium305
14 Jul 2025062120PA4AAFT8-09-11F.J. Scholten Netherlands334
14 Jul 2025061920SM4AZQFT8-08-10LENNART WALLIN Sweden800
14 Jul 2025060820W6IWWFT8-06-24MARC COOPERWA United States4,754
14 Jul 2025054120DL3HBFFT8+07-23Walter Franz Germany571
14 Jul 2025053720DJ7WGFT8+00-05H. Gunter Rau Germany616
14 Jul 2025051020DG3BZFT8-12-09Bernhard ZimmermannDE Germany449
14 Jul 2025050720DL1UDOFT8+05-12UDO MUELLER Germany448
14 Jul 2025050020OZ3AEVFT8+01-24Jesper Pedersen Denmark631
14 Jul 2025045520JJ2HCMFT8-21-18Mitsugi Nakagawa Japan5,909
14 Jul 2025043220OE3DXAFT8-07-06Werner PraxBL Austria933
14 Jul 2025040920IW0RLCFT8-02-14DARIO PASTACCIpg Italy978
14 Jul 2025035120RW4HBGFT8+07-14Valery V. EremushkinRF Russia2,174
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