Luton VHF Group - G3SVJ / G2L

Over the years several members have joined the group for a few years or longer. As Don Ross reminded me he is the only person who has been in the group constantly since it formed in the mid 1960s. This page is a list of all of the people who have taken part in the group at some time. They are in no particular order, if you visit the site and you were part of the group at some time and you are not mentioned, please email with some details and a photograph and I will add your details.

Don Ross, was G8CDL now G4LOO. Don has been part of the group from the start. He is a keen constructor and has made much of the equipment to be seen in the photographs. He also owns the towers, masts and generator that we use on all contests.

Bryan Bourne, was G8EIK now M0BIK. Bryans was part of the group during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. He started going on contests again in the early 1990s. He has a passion for collecting primus stoves and uses them to cook our meals when we go contesting. Sadly Bryan became a silent key on 19/11/2018 after a long battle with cancer. He will be greatly missed as part of the group, he kept us fed and did his best to be our CW operator.

Brian Farey, G8GHR. Brian was part of the group during the 1960s and 1970s, he was treasurer of the group. His main interest these days is collecting old Hi-Fi equipment, he has an amazing collection and has done several interesting talks on decades of equipment.

Andy Barter, G8ATD. Andy was part of the group in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. He started going on contests again in the mid 1990s. His main interest is 23cm and computing, so he provides all of the logging computers for contests.

Barry Jackson, G8FFM. Barry was part of the group in the 1960s and early 1970s. He then went abroad with his job and returned to contesting with the group in the mid 1990s. He is now in The USA but we still use some of his equipment that has either been purchased by other members or is on long term loan.

Dick Giles, G4LBH. Dick started with 2m, 70cms and RTTY contests in the early 1980s and has been contesting ever since. His main interest now is constructing microwave equipment and we now use his 13cm (ex G8FFMs) and his own 9cm and 6cm equipment. Dick also has interests in ATV, and in running a 5inch gauge steam locomotive. Dick moved to Dorset in 2013.

Ian Jefferson, G1JCC. Ian joined the group in 2003, his main interest in the group is 70cm and he is constantly trying to improve our scores. He is a keen HF operator as well plus so we sometimes see his latest portable HF antennas.

Terry Baldwin, G4UEM, joined the group in 2007, he is returning to contesting after a break for several years. He is active on the HF bands, 2m, 70cm, soon 23cm, 13cm and 10GHz portable . His other interests include classic motorcycles.

Chris Gare, G3WOS, joined the group in the early 1970s bringing his expertise on 4m. He moved away in the late 1970s and now lives in Farnborough. He is very well known on 6m and in The UK Six Metre Group (UKSMG).

Reg Stevens, G3TDH, one of the 4m enthusiast in Luton in the 1960s was part of the group until 1975 when he moved up north with his job at ICL as an electronics engineer. Has not been very active for a long while and not on 4m since 1976. Now retired and intends to get back on 4m.

David Crowe, G4MVU, joined the group in the 1980's but left because of a move to Manchester with his BT employment in 1991. David has been a guest operator with the group on several occasions since then, the last being in 2009 when he brought along his new 24GHz equipment and had a very successful first outing.

Keith Blamey, G4KKB, was an active member during the 1980's when the group started using a private site near Whipsnade Wild Animal Park. Keith moved home to the Isle of Wight when he took employment with Trinity House

Roger Bowser (middle), G3PZJ, was part of the group in the 1960s and early 1970s. He moved to Scotland in the 1980s. He was interested in Moon Bounce with G3PZE, they built a complete 70cm transmitter with 2 x 4CX250Bs and a valve receiver. They only needed an antenna, this was started at the Putteridge Club site but only the circular track was built

Chris Burkitt, (on far right), G3PZE, was part of the group in the 1960s and early 1970s. He was interested in Moon Bounce with G3PZJ. Chris started a business in Luton in the early 1970s and this took up most of his time. LVG helped with rewiring the old hat factory for Chris's company, that paid for some new antennas.

Phil Rees , M0NVS is rather new to the hobby only being licensed a few years. He still also holds his intermediate callsign 2E0NVS which he uses occasionally on the odd low power contest. He still has lots to learn and enjoys this hobby hugely. He has been participating with the Chesham club and found contests either HF or VHF very rewarding and has become very active in UKAC and VHF contesting. He has also taken part in club events such as windmills on air, HF field day, CW field day, VHF field day, AFS and the backpackers

James Stevens, M0JCQ was first licensed in January 2013 (as M6JCQ), then got his intermediate license (2E0JCQ) in March and then moved to the full license in December 2013. He is an active portable operator, in fact if you hear him on the air he is probably /p. He enjoys Summits On The Air and frequently activates hills/mountains/volcanoes around Europe. He writes about most of his amateur radio activity on his bog: www.hamblog.co.uk. He enjoys operating using QRP power and gains a lot of satisfaction combining this with his love of the outdoors and using self built antennas on SOTA activations.