Changes

When I was first involved with amateur radio it was 1962. 

My first venture into radio was when my dad bought me a Heathkit Electronics Workshop for Christmas 1961. This allowed you to make a variety of circuits without soldering. That first Christmas I was DXing on Medium Wave. I joined the RSGB shortly afterwards. My first G8 call was in 1966 and I became a G3 in 1967, taking my Morse test in the famous Liver building in Liverpool.

My first serious TX activity was when I moved to Cambridge in the early 1970s. My first outings were on 2m AM, then 70cm AM with a simple homemade QRP transverter. In those days most people were crystal controlled, so it was "tuning high to low" to get a contact.

These days, people rarely come on just for a chat. Times are changing.

My 2m-70cm transverter was based on this circuit in the old "VHF Communication" magazine. It produced  about 100mW on 70cm. From a local hill you could almost guarantee a QSO with this in the 1970s.