Robin, G8VVY

Robin, G8VVY was licensed in 1979 and has been a VHF aficionado since those early days as a class B licensee. Although restricted to the bands 2m and higher he was always striving for dx. In the 1980s this meant working into places like Poland, what is now the Czech Republic and former East Germany, using 25 watts and a 9-element yagi on 144MHz.

After the mid-life gap in radio that many experience for various reasons, Robin renewed his interest in amateur radio in 2018 and has been very active since. His particular interest is QRP, enjoying the combined challenge of low power – maximum 5w – with indoor antennas, to see what can be achieved.

This is where awards and contests fit into Robin’s hobby, because both exercises provide a recognition of achievement under challenging circumstances.

Most recently, Robin has achieved the RSGB 50MHz DX Countries (30 countries) and Continents & Countries (1/30) awards, using his compromise VHF station, and has achieved creditable positions in the 2019 144MHz Backpackers contest and the related championship of that year, out portable operating.

Robin has grasped with both hands the availability of weak signal digital modes – they are ideally suited because of his operating constraints with indoor antennas. This has also tied in with relevant knowledge from his IT career too, and operating in these modes has enabled further awards and contests to be within his reach.

Robin says that awards of all types are fascinating and that “Knowing you’ve done well amongst others who haven’t had such a limiting [setup] is always a ‘feel good’ situation”

Currently, Robin is concentrating on the RSGB 50MHz awards, taking advantage of the excellent season we seem to be having this year on the “magic band”. His latest score is 251 squares and 41 countries, so he will soon be applying for upgraded awards!

Category: Award Stories