About

Personal Details

Name Paul Gibson
Location Bromley, Greater London
Locator JO01AJ
WAB TQ46 Bromley

Or, how did I get into Amateur Radio?

When I was about 16, I was given an offer by a relative that if I got a Amateur Radio Licence I would be given a Radio. At the time I was not very interested in radio and the offer went on the back burner for a while, a long while.

Then came Christmas 2003 (Age then 27). In a reversal I was given an Icom IC-E90 (Handheld) radio and was told if I wanted to use it I would have to get an Amateur Radio Licence.

Call Licence Exam Location Date Passed
M3TZO Foundation WARG March 2004
2EØTZO Intermediate WARG June 2005
MØTZO Full / Advanced HFC November 2006
G1ZQN Full / Advanced Obtained from Late Uncle October 2008
WØTZO General Class Friedrichshafen January 2009

 

Member of various clubs including:-
Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB)
Sutton and Cheam Radio Society (SCRS) webmaster
Whitton Amateur Radio Group (WARG) webmaster
Isle of Wight Radio Society (IWRS) associate member

I like to work on 2m and 70cm. I can sometimes be found on eQSO & EchoLink (node #179744 for MØTZO). All logged are contacts uploaded to eQSL.cc and the ARRL LogBook of The World (LoTW).

Why TZO???

To be honest through a mixup (as always with me), but I like it now.

Why, what happened?

The calls I would have most wanted (with my initials for example) had gone. So then I wanted a call that could spell a word using the 3 as an E (MExxx). Obvious ones like M3TRO (metro), M3TER (meter), M3DIC (medic), etc had all gone.

Then I remembered about a restaurant in London which had a name like Metzo. A call to the Radio Licence Centre (RLC) and found M3TZO was available. I then discovered a slight mistake in my spelling of the name of the restuarant which was actaully METTO.

Another call to the RLC and oh no M3TTO had gone. I decided that as I had already found a call that was available, I would go back to that.

Shack

Yaesu FT-991A
(160-10m, 6m, 2m, 70cm – 100w All mode) HF/VHF/UHF Transceiver

  • Yaesu FT-991A Accessories
    • Yaesu MD-100a8x Microphone
    • Heil Traveler Single Side Headset

Yaesu FT-817
(160-10m, 6m, 2m, 70cm – 5w All mode) HF/VHF/UHF Transceiver

  • Yaesu FT-817 Accessories
    • LDG Z817
    • BHi DSP Module
    • Rockwell Collins 0143 (526-8686-010) filter
    • Rockwell Collins 0144 (526-8739-020) filter

Icom IC-E92D D-Star/Digital 2m/70cm Handheld

  • Icom IC-E92D Accessories
    • Icom HM-175GPS Microphone with GPS
    • Icom Leather Case

MKARS 80 Transceiver

  • Self built over 1-2 years. Worked when last used, but no 80m antenna at current QTH.

Antennas & other stuff

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