I was first licenced as EI8GHB in October 2009 (later upgrading to EI2KC in March 2010), but had been fascinated by radio communications since I was young. My first encounter with radio, apart from the commercial FM band and RTE Radio 1 on medium wave was listening to the control tower at Dublin Airport in the 1980s. My brother became active on 11 metres and I soon became fascinated by radio propagation and later followed onto this band. He became licenced as a ham in the early 1990s and due to lack of confidence in my mathematical abilities I never thought I would be able to pass the ham test.
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| Anthony (Tony) EI2KC |
It was in 2009 that a long-time friend, Brian (now EI4KC), decided to sit the test and passed. He gave me some help with the material for the exam and soon I had passed too! Since then I have been thoroughly enjoying the hobby. I am very active on HF, my main interest being chasing DX and new countries. I dip into contesting from time to time but it is not a major interest for me. I am very active on VHF, on 2 metres and 6 metres in particular when it's open.
I am the Chairman of
Dundalk Amateur Radio Society (EI7DAR) and a former member of the committee of the
Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS), the umbrella body for the hobby here in Ireland. I wrote 'HF Happenings' for the IRTS magazine, Echo Ireland, for several years and read the IRTS news for my local club, Dundalk Amateur Radio Society EI7DAR.
As of May 2012, in two and a half years on the air, I had 260 countries worked and 212 confirmed, 202 of these on CW (morse), which is my favourite mode. For more information, see my page on
QRZ.com
Update: As of September 2014, I have 308 DXCC worked and 293 confirmed on LoTW.
Update: As of December 2015, I have 316 DXCC worked and 305 confirmed on LoTW.
Update: As of July 2025, I have 329 all-time DXCC and 326 current DXCC worked, with 323 confirmed. I have DXCC on all bands from 80m through 6m.
