Who is GM0HKS ?
My name is Will Beattie and I have been privileged to hold a full UK amateur radio licence since 1987.
My main areas of interest within this great hobby are CW operating, particularly at QRP output levels and antenna design.
My main areas of interest within this great hobby are CW operating, particularly at QRP output levels and antenna design.
I was brought up in a little village in Northern Ireland, not too far from the well known Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim.
I joined the Royal Navy in 1970 and for 25 years, I served in both ships and submarines as a radio operator, finally being
promoted to Warrant Officer and ending my days driving a desk in support of the Ministry of Defence. I had my first taste of
amateur radio way back in 1970 when I came in to contact with the Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society. I didn’t know it at the
time, but this was GB3RN, the headquarter station of the RNARS, facilitated within the grounds of HMS MERCURY . I was sent
to “Mercury”, the Royal Naval Signals Training School near Petersfield in Hampshire (UK), to carry out my basic radio operator training.
Whilst out walking through the camp one evening and waiting to join a queue to use the one and only public telephone to call home, I could
hear morse code coming from a little brick building. This was the radio shack of the then GB3RN. As I had not as yet started my CW
training, what was being sent and received was totally unintelligible to me. Years later, I was appointed to a position within the training
organisation at the signal school and was a regular lunchtime visitor to the shack in the company of Mike Matthews (G3JFF). A highly
talented and committed participant in the hobby, Mike was one of the nicest individuals anyone could have been privileged to know
and work with. Knowledgeable and so very enthusiastic, he was most definately one of the anchor men of the RNARS and without his
commitment and dedication, GB3RN would have not been as active as it was. Sadly, Mike died shortly after retirement and I have always
considered that to be one of the most devastating losses the hobby and, of course his family, has ever suffered.
In May 1995, I retired from what was undoubtedly a wonderfully fulfilling career and ended up going back to Northern Ireland. Since then,
the family home has been uprooted and we all moved back to Scotland due to work commitments.
Enjoy the website 73......Will
I joined the Royal Navy in 1970 and for 25 years, I served in both ships and submarines as a radio operator, finally being
promoted to Warrant Officer and ending my days driving a desk in support of the Ministry of Defence. I had my first taste of
amateur radio way back in 1970 when I came in to contact with the Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society. I didn’t know it at the
time, but this was GB3RN, the headquarter station of the RNARS, facilitated within the grounds of HMS MERCURY . I was sent
to “Mercury”, the Royal Naval Signals Training School near Petersfield in Hampshire (UK), to carry out my basic radio operator training.
Whilst out walking through the camp one evening and waiting to join a queue to use the one and only public telephone to call home, I could
hear morse code coming from a little brick building. This was the radio shack of the then GB3RN. As I had not as yet started my CW
training, what was being sent and received was totally unintelligible to me. Years later, I was appointed to a position within the training
organisation at the signal school and was a regular lunchtime visitor to the shack in the company of Mike Matthews (G3JFF). A highly
talented and committed participant in the hobby, Mike was one of the nicest individuals anyone could have been privileged to know
and work with. Knowledgeable and so very enthusiastic, he was most definately one of the anchor men of the RNARS and without his
commitment and dedication, GB3RN would have not been as active as it was. Sadly, Mike died shortly after retirement and I have always
considered that to be one of the most devastating losses the hobby and, of course his family, has ever suffered.
In May 1995, I retired from what was undoubtedly a wonderfully fulfilling career and ended up going back to Northern Ireland. Since then,
the family home has been uprooted and we all moved back to Scotland due to work commitments.
Enjoy the website 73......Will