Some info
I was licenced in 1983, while still at school, with the call G4SLV after taking the RAE exam in December 1982 and the PO Morse Test at Cullercoats Radio/GCC in February 1983.
I moved to Shetland in 1999 and re-joined the amateur radio world in 2003 when I built an Elecraft K1.
I've had a start/stop amateur radio life, with periods of activity and then dormancy. Through all of these I've kept my CW going and when I'm active I'm usually on CW (or digimodes having long ragchews in Olivia mode on the 60m band).
Over the years I've come to the conclusion that I prefer manual/mechanical CW to electronic keyers and I've made the decision in 2023 to stick to straight keys and bugs. My bug sending needs more air-time to really settle down, and I hope to get on with this in 2023.
I've operated on the original UK "500kHz" Experimental band in 2007, mostly in straight-key CW and I'm also keen on 60m. I tend to avoid the high-traffic parts of the bands, and stick to little niches… I should get back on the mainstream bands.
30m has always been a good band for me, and I hope to spend more time there in future.
I try to call most days at around 10,1233kHz and I'm keeping a diary of activity & observations:
https://www.gm4slv.org.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=public:radio:radio_diary:start
and there's some CW QSOs on my YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoVBtwA9WeoQ7M4Nh3InPXg/
Cheers & 73
John / GM4SLV