Profiles

Technical specialist by day, HAM amateur radio professional by night…

As a little kid I was grabbed by the ‘radio virus’ in the early 80’s. A friend of mine had those cheap 49MHz walkie talkies. Although they did not had much reach, I was amazed by this. I use to own a little transistor radio which I took with me to bed every night. Long after my bedtime I listened to local FM-pirate stations who were talking to each other over the band (duplexing). I’ve tried to build such an FM-transmitter myself, with varying degrees of success. GE walkie talkies. My childhood room always contained some kind of radio related material like mixers, soldering iron, CB-radio’s etc. I found DXing in SSB (illegal on CB at the time in The Netherlands) particularly interesting. Talking to people on the radio on the other side of the planet, that was really the most fascinating.

Then came the girls, mopeds and other teenage distractions. Later in life radio came back and now it’s even my job..

Call-signs
My call-sign wasn’t always PA8E. I obtained my first (novice) license in 2003 as PD0JMW. In April 2008 I passed my Full-license. My call-sign changed from PD0JMW to PA1JIM. Begin 2017 I changed my call to a more convenient PA8E. Mainly because this call is easier to send in Morse code.

This blog
This blog is mainly about giving my fellow radio amateurs (or other curious visitors) an insight in the activities of PA8E on the air. I write about things I build, repairs, experiments I work on, QSO’s I’ve made and other radio-related activities.
I am a dad of two and husband besides radio amateur. My hobby is limited to my spare time which isn’t much these years. I’m unable to put as much time in the hobby as I would. My postings reflect that. When you aren’t seeing many updates for a while, it isn’t because I loose interest in the hobby but because I have other obligations. Just check back later, I’ll update another time.

Finally a little disclaimer: English is not my native language so please excuse any bad grammar or spelling. Corrections are always welcome and instructive.

73 de PA8E, Jim