Welcome to the GM4ZFZ/P website! This primarily a record of mountain-top amateur radio operations in the Scottish Highlands for the Summits on the Air programme. I hope you find something of interest.
I have been a keen climber for 20 years or so and while training for my Summer & Winter Mountain Leadership Awards got the solo hill walking bug again. After passing the qualifications I thought the Summits On The Air (SOTA) programme would be a good motivator to get me out. And that has certainly happened!
Licenced as a Radio Amateur back in my teens, my interest dropped away while studying elctronics at University (mainly due to getting into climbing, but also because quite frankly I got seriously bored with anything that had anything to do with electronics and computers!).
After graduating, I worked at Eddystone Radio for a few years (before it got totally swallowed up into Marconi) working on high performance communications receivers and broadcast transmitters but after a while decided to go into business rather than pursue an engineering career.
So, I've quite enjoyed messing about with radios and and bits of wire after all these years. I still remember the wonder I felt as a teenager looking up at a piece of wire strung out down the garden whilst talking to another amateur in New Zealand. I've got the degree, I understand the theory - however, my mind still boggles when I can unravel some wire on a mountain top and just by jiggling a few electrons around can chat to people world-wide.
My favourite mode of operation is CW (morse code). It took me a while to regain the skill after many years absense but it has been worth it. I prefer it to voice modes on the hills, especially on the HF bands. And strangely, it doesn't seem less personal - often quite the opposite although I can't explain this.
Experimenting with antennas has been an interesting experience and I've found that my walking poles provide more than adequate ground clearance for both HF and VHF use. I variedly use a dipole or long wire, and have recently been experimenting with using a slinky for a vertical helical radiator.
Hopefully, the accounts of these activations will be of interest to those who have worked me and also to those who are interested in tackling the hills themselves.
73, Jon
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Jon, GM4ZFZ/P <jon@gm4zfz.com>
