Radio ham took on North 'missions' to activate operators

RADIO ham Clive O’Hennessey, who was born and bred in Wales but now lives at Savalbeg, Lairg, says he always finds something interesting to read in The Northern Times.

But last week’s edition (7th September) caught his attention more than most for it contained an article about him that he was unaware had been written.

The article was in the 25 YEARS AGO section of the Old Files and was an extract from the 4th September, 1987, edition.

It told how Clive, then living in "England" but on holiday in Sutherland, had tried to drum up enthusiasm locally for his own passion for amateur radio.

Here in his own words, Clive gives an insight into the fascinating world of amateur radio and brings readers up-to-date on how things have progressed in Sutherland over the last quarter of a century.

IT WAS with interest and some surprise that I read the Old Files in last week’s Northern Times.

What caught my attention was an extract about me in the 25 Years Ago section. It stated that I was an amateur radio operator on holiday from England and staying at East Langwell.

During my stay I sent out an SOS to find a radio "ham" in North and West Sutherland.

I never saw the article when it was originally printed as by that time I had returned to South Wales.

Just a quick point! I am not from Englandshire, but born and bred in Wales.

As a fairly new radio "ham" (amateur radio enthusiast, my call sign GM4VVX) back in the 1980s, my interest was in Very High Frequencies (VHF).

The VHF operators are given awards for contacting X number of countries in X number of "squares" – the world being divided up into many squares for ease of identifying the distances between radio operators.

The square that covers most of North and West Sutherland had no active operator on the VHF at that time.

So I used to drive, on average three times a year, from South Wales to the Lairg and Rogart area to operate my VHF radio, and therefore give other operators a chance to contact somebody in the square.

To try to encourage someone in the area to try amateur radio, I used to put on a display station at the Lairg Crofters Show. In this way I met Charlie Baird from Lochside, and Sandy McDonald from Inchcape, Rogart, who were both interested enough to obtain their Amateur Radio Licence.

Charlie encouraged his son, Frank, and grandson, Matthew, to also obtain an operator’s licence. So the square was now "active" radio-wise.

Later in 2000, after heart surgery, I retired, and moved with my wife from South Wales to Savalbeg near Lairg, so making the Sutherland square very active.

Later, Derek Gill, in Achfary, became active on his radio operation (call sign GM0HLV).

In the last few years, Martin Hall has returned to Clashmore, near Lochinver, with his radio (call sign GM8IEM).

Unfortunately, Sandy at Inchcape, along with Charlie Baird (call sign GM7ASN ) and his son Frank (call sign MM1AUD) have become "silent keys" – that’s radio talk for "deceased", and therefore their radio and Morse code key has become silent.

I am still very active on the VHF radio. VHF being close to line-of-site contact, you can see that the Scottish hills are a BIG obstacle to contacting other operators.

This is overcome by bouncing radio signals off storm clouds, weather fronts, passing aircraft, the hot trails of shooting stars, and the Northern Aurora or Northern Dancers.

New technology has allowed me to bounce signals off the surface of the moon and so get a signal to Japan or Australia, but it’s still VERY difficult to get a signal into Glasgow or Edinburgh!