About Steven (EI4GKB):

My name is Steven, I was born in 1968 making me 54 years old at the time of writing (January 12th, 2023).  The picture opposite was taken by my daughter Holly.

I started my journey in radio at a very young age when I was often found taking things apart to see what was inside and just how they worked.
I was probably around 10 years old when one of my dad's friends had a CB radio in his car and a DV-27 antenna on the roof, I was amazed at this little 40-channel radio and the fact I was allowed to talk on it.  It wasn't long before I pleaded with my dad to get one in his car, and he did.  I spent many happy and cold hours sitting in the driveway listening to and talking with many local CB operators around the area and running down the car battery.

I was hooked and eventually asked to move the CB from the car into my bedroom.  Permission Granted, I did what many youngsters did, mounted the DV-27 on an old biscuit tin.  Local contacts were not a problem but TVI (Television Interference) was so I had to get an external antenna.  A Hembro half wave was purchased and installed on a set of brackets on the rear of the house, beside my bedroom.  That was great, I had hundreds of conversations on that 40 channel, a President AR-7 AM radio.  I was starting to hear about the HI channels and DX'ing so for Christmas I received a TRISTAR 747 radio, I was in awe, AM, FM, SSB, and 120 channels.  That's when I got a taste of DX'ing.  I loved it, changed my antenna for a FREE Broken Shakespeare Superstick  which I was able to repair, so that replaced the Hembro and also got it a bit higher.  from then on I never looked back.  I had a lot of happy years on CB radio and made many good friends.

After moving to Clonmellon I bought a President Lincoln for my homebase radio and a President Jackson for the car along with a Wilson 1000 antenna (Mobile) and the Imax 2000 that I bought many years before, the antenna was located about 75 feet to the base, this served me very well for several years. Until 2014 when my ridge tile cracked and to facilitate repair the Antenna and mast had to come down, I videoed the process and shared it on YouTube, it was a sad day.

Fast Forward to 2022.  I have been on and off radio over the years since getting that Tristar 747, I got married and became a father, and with work and other projects, I didn't have a lot of time for radio.  As my children are mostly all grown up I find I have more time for radio so Christmas 2022 saw an Icom 7300 arrive on my desk, thanks to my wonderful wife.  I have since got into FT-8 and am having fun with that.  I also bought a Hotspot to get into DMR. I am finding that the digital modes can be fun but like everything else need to be used and understood.  It took me quite a while, well over a year to get to grips with DMR, Codeplugs, Talkgroups etc.

I will update this bio from time to time so please do check back again.

Steven