# OOOP's



## peterh76-86 (Jan 13, 2012)

Joined Vessel in Kawasaki. On sailing got usual QTC's from OM. Tried for most of watch to get through to GKA on 22Mhz. Could hear him but no reply. Checking main TX found that I was a decimal point out on TX frequency (synthesized tx). Got through to GKA when actually transmitting on 22MHZ and not 2MHZ. Spent rest of trip expecting to have been reported. (put it down to jet lag and not being an ars*).


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Heh. 

A mate of mine got a official violation from the Japs for excessive calling.

The Old Man had it framed and mounted in the bar...


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

I got one for transmitting in port, one for excessive calling and another for transmitting during a silence period. you haven't arrived until you get one.

John T


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## PeterY (Jun 24, 2008)

I got a Ticket from an FCC monitoring stn for excessive calling on 12 MHz. Was trying to wake up the operator at DZG Manilla. Had to do some swift talking to the radio superintendent on that one and only time. Seems you are not a professional radio operator unless you got one.

PeterY


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

trotterdotpom said:


> I got one for transmitting in port, you haven't arrived until you get one.
> 
> John T


They never caught me....

B\)


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Those Autokeys made such a happy clicking noise when keying a distress signal. I bet he laughs about it now.

John T


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

PeterY said:


> I got a Ticket from an FCC monitoring stn for excessive calling on 12 MHz. PeterY


Snap.


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## gwzm (Nov 7, 2005)

I got one from the FCC for excessive calling on 8M/cs trying to get traffic to ZNR in the middle of a horrendous electrical storm after he'd announced he was going QRT due to the racket on both 500 and hf.
Happy days,
gwzm


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## beedeesea (Feb 28, 2006)

Got done twice (US and Canada). After spending half an hour trying to get a reply from a coast station it was quite easy to forget the clock and stray into the Silence Period. Mea maxima culpa.

Brian


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## Mayday (May 26, 2009)

I got a nasty letter from UK for writing SPO instead of Silence period observed in log book.
I'd never in twenty years had one. Think they must have fealt sorry for me.

John.


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## sparks69 (Dec 18, 2005)

Got one for transmitting on full power (IMR 81 !) in the St Lawrence, then years later another one from the Indian PO with a full transcript of an HF chat with a friend on the World Something me in the S Atlantic him off the Japanese coast.
Wrote grovelling apologies as instructed by Head Office. Still got copy somewhere.


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## jimg0nxx (Sep 1, 2005)

I got one from Canada for transgessing into silence period whilst working a US coastguard station. Just ignored it and never heard anything further.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

R651400 said:


> The RO on a collier alongside somewhere on the Tyne kicked off a full blown distress at GCC by testing his MF transmitter on dummy load using guess what?
> He wasn't a happy bunny when visited by the local radio inspector.


Ahhh, a trap for young players....dummy loads that weren't so dummy.....

(Jester)


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## Mayday (May 26, 2009)

Looks like, if you never got one you were not taking the job seriously enough.

John.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Damn! Something else I failed at then.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

While I was with Niarchos a circular came around from the Radio Superintendant at the London office very politely mentioning that he had received a note from GKA that two of the company ships somewhere out East had interfered with them by using a 12Mc/s R/T frequency for intership purposes when it was assigned as a GKA receiving frequency.
He went on to query the propagation conditions which had given rise to the phenomenon and suggested that if R/Os wished to use frequencies assigned to particular coast stations for receiving purposes perhaps it would be a good idea to have a listen for the station first to see if it could be heard and was actually using the channel for link calls.
This was, of course, before synthesizers.


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## les.edgecumbe (Dec 24, 2007)

Had a letter from UK asking reason for absenting the Radio Room for 10 minutes..............Replied giving full details/quantity/quality/totals of the nature call. No more heard; they couldn't have been that interested after all.


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

les.edge***be said:


> Had a letter from UK asking reason for absenting the Radio Room for 10 minutes..............Replied giving full details/quantity/quality/totals of the nature call. No more heard; they couldn't have been that interested after all.


Who dobbed you in? You should have sent them a shoe box full of product.

John T


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

R651400 said:


> I don't think the lad lost his ticket but he must have come close and I didn't actually mention auto-key as the ones I sailed with never had the call-sign etched on them. Thankfully the call sign was transmitted and a sharp-eyed GCC RO remembered taking the QTP TR the day previous and instigated a very rapid QUM.


Did anybody ever lose their ticket over those infringements? I never heard of any. Let's face it none of them were done with "malice aforethought" and some of them, such as "extended calling", were done as unconventional but necessary "local" procedures.

John T


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Mayday said:


> I got a nasty letter from UK for writing SPO instead of Silence period observed in log book.
> I'd never in twenty years had one. Think they must have fealt sorry for me.
> 
> John.


Ha. I always wrote it out in full. My first chief insisted, and I stuck to it...

Bit bloody minded on the part of the bureaucrats, though....they must have been bored...



I still remember the reg: _A positive entry every half hour that the Silence Period has been observed_...or words to that effect...


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

I remember a story about an R/O alongside in Japan who got into a party up the road with a Cathay Pacific crew in Osaka.

Sometime after about 3 dozen beers, it was agreed that the respective parties would QSO on 10 MHz the next morning....while the ship was alongside and the CP aircraft was en-route Europe....

Sure enough, at the appointed time, a QSO was had for about an hour....everyone who was at the party had a nice chat...the R/O, the 3rd mate, the 2nd and 3rd engineers, the pilots, the flight engineer, and 3 hosties....

Kelvin Hughes _Zeeland _transmitters had a synthesiser that allowed continuous tx from 2-30 MHz....allegedly..

Of course, this was all a urban myth...couldn't have happened...

B\)


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

I received a citation in 1964 from the FCC's Canadaigua monitoring station for over calling on 12mhz. (trying to raise VCS from the Caribbean). It filtered through to the GPO Inspector of Wireless Telegraphy who wrote to me saying _"Although I considered my action justified, it was nevertheless an infringement of the Radio Regulations, and we must ask you to observe strict compliance in the future"_........ So a lot of interest there then !!

The IOWT signatory was one of the RO's on duty at GKZ on the night of the East Coast floods in 1953. He was handling a distress on 2182 but ended up sending one for himself !!

David
+


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Got one from the MoD when on Sir Bedivere calling MHI. Excessive calling on HF frequency. At the time we were in a howling NE gale in the German Bight with two holed bow doors and everything breaking away down below. Of course we also had the Blues and Royals wedding party, booze, costumes and the best man, Captn Eric Grounds, for Princess Anne's wedding onboard who were frantic to call Buck house to tell them they could end up anywhere. It was just a letter to the ROA. Couldn't hear a thing for most of the trip until got Cullercoats on If RT and that was another story. Instead of Harwich ended up in Immingham where we took out the landing stage going into the locks.Having just left Mercantile drydock three weeks before we ended up there again for new bow doors and hull welding.


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## King Ratt (Aug 23, 2005)

Hi Bill. MHI or MTI. Some naval ops used to send the latter badly and it came over as 8. Rosyth Coastal Common if my memory serves me correctly.

Regards

Rab T


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Long time ago King Ratt. It was Whitehall who I was trying to work. Can't remember many Z codes these days either. It was a wild night and I had my favourite bucket with me. You know what Sir boats were like! The hot press in the troops cafeteria broke away and the mil radio room, army section, didn't do too well. Then we went on the Liverpool Belfast run. Sometimes they couldn't get us off the wall at Seaforth so the army would disembark and catch the ferry from Birkenhead. Happy days!


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

The Wells Quadrant HF rx antenna is still on the Admiralty building....


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## King Ratt (Aug 23, 2005)

Bill.B said:


> Long time ago King Ratt. It was Whitehall who I was trying to work. Can't remember many Z codes these days either. It was a wild night and I had my favourite bucket with me. You know what Sir boats were like! The hot press in the troops cafeteria broke away and the mil radio room, army section, didn't do too well. Then we went on the Liverpool Belfast run. Sometimes they couldn't get us off the wall at Seaforth so the army would disembark and catch the ferry from Birkenhead. Happy days!


Well I remember going up into Sir Galahad's shack one wild evening on the run up to Norwegian waters. Every shelf had come down and their were publications and pages all over the deck. A real mess. The shredder had burst its mountings and was charging around the office. As you say, Happy Days. BTW MTI was Plymouth not Rosyth. 

73

R


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## ernhelenbarrett (Sep 7, 2006)

remember being called up by a South African Airlines Super Connie for a QTH check on CW when running up the West Aussie coast to Christmas Island and
having a chat with the Flight R/O, seems they had had lousy wx on the Joburg/Perth run and just wanted a check, think I went up and QSO'd him on 8 Mhz if I remembered correctly after a call on 500Khz.
Ern Barrett


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## J. Davies (Dec 29, 2010)

I got told on air to QRT by an Aussie amateur radio freak for chatting to another ham (a personal friend) on CW on topband 1.8 MHz using the ship's gear. Fair dinkum I suppose.


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## Ian Hay (May 26, 2013)

Had a letter from UK authorities (Southampton I think) bollocking me for missing one week's entry for testing lifeboat radio. Goodness knows how many months worth of logs they had gone through before finding my heinous crime!


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## P.Arnold (Apr 11, 2013)

One Christmas Day, after too much Christmas pud and rum sauce I did make an entry of "wishing all my readers a merry Christmas" embellished with a coloured sprig of holly.
I did get a note sometime later stating it was not an appropriate observation.
What a job!!!


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## GW3OQK (Jun 10, 2010)

On a passenger ship during weekly emergency practice I kept watch while 2R/O tested lifeboat radios next deck down. My biggest oops was I believed his log entry to that effect. To my horror a radio surveyor found one not capable of working.

On another ship the lifeboat check list included "Robinson Disengaging Gear" which the rather obnoxious 2nd mate routinely signed off every voyage as in good working order. A cadet tasked to do the job reported "Sir, these lifeboats don't have Robinson Disengaging Gear" 

He was the same 2nd mate who ridiculed my DF bearings to all at lunch time. I found he'd laid one off Inistrahull rather than Tory Island.

73, Andrew


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

P.Arnold said:


> One Christmas Day, after too much Christmas pud and rum sauce I did make an entry of "wishing all my readers a merry Christmas" embellished with a coloured sprig of holly.
> I did get a note sometime later stating it was not an appropriate observation.
> What a job!!!


Hahahah!

What a goose...

Imagine pouring through all those logs, black crayon in hand....takes a special mentality....


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

J. Davies said:


> I got told on air to QRT by an Aussie amateur radio freak for chatting to another ham (a personal friend) on CW on topband 1.8 MHz using the ship's gear. Fair dinkum I suppose.


I got bollocked by two hams for doing a similar thing on 80m...of course, we were on USB...terrible crime....(Jester)

They then went to CW (on the same freq) and proceeded to call me a pirate....big mistake....B\)


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Troppo said:


> Hahahah!
> 
> What a goose...
> 
> Imagine pouring through all those logs, black crayon in hand....takes a special mentality....


I always assumed that nobody read them unless there was an inquiry.

John T


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

That was certainly the case in Oz......


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Rather a few logs to wade through.....


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## M29 (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi all
My Radio Super sent me a copy of an official bollo!!ing with advice with what to say in reply.
The cir***stances were that we were heading to El Salvador and ALRS Vol 1 gave the local coast station as being HX on a single 8MHz frequency.
I spent ages finding this station and eventually the OM gave me an eta MSG for the local agents. 
I got hold of the coast station and gave him my working frequency but he refused to move saying I was good were I was and send the MSG. After several attempts to move him I gave up and sent the MSG on the calling frequency, it was only 8 words and took seconds to send but the USA monitoring station got me.
The report they sent had the MSG word for word including the QRU and TUSU at the end to prove the offence.
Its a pity they never caught the beginning of the exchange otherwise they might have taken pity on me.

Best Wishes 
Alan


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## Ystradgynlais (Nov 2, 2013)

Ooops! Is there a Statue of Limitations on fessing up on known violations? 'Cos I've got enough in my memory box to put me away for a very long time!

No.1. Whilst serving on a Stanvac ship, we had a standing sked on 11060 kHz One of the ships by pre - arrangement, would run the sked, and call each ship who had responded the day before. One of the ships c/s WFZJ, used a vibroplex key, and whilst he was sending, you could sing to the rhythm - it was a joy to listen to- I asked how his keying was so good - he explained that he was a radio ham, and that he qso'd with his friends on the amateur bands regularly, and used the bug key for hours at a time, using his own amateur call / MM (maritime Mobile) - well, why couldn't we do the same? Wrote several requests to PMG radio branch, finally getting a response saying my request was being considered, and set out conditions which would be imposed if they agreed. The conditions suggested were stupid! They only allowed the ham op to communicate with one pre-stated op in UK! Permission from Master, permission from the R/o (if not the R/o) etc etc., Quite impossible to comply with as an amateur. I had explained that we were aboard a ship flying the British Flag, which made the ship a virtual part of Britain and the laws of GB applied in all respects! So, I took the law into my own hands, gave myself a phoney call sign (which although starting with a 'G' was followed by a letter which could only be recognised as a Pirate C/S, what with the odd C/S and a 'G' beginning, and /MM ending (and helped by a lousey power supply that created a MCW note, instead of CW)! After a 'CQ' on 14 mHz, calls would come in and the first QSO, I explained I was a 'G' Pirate and forced into this state 'cos the govt would not extend to me the right to operate as an amateur aboard a British ship, I never got caught!, How could I? It sure relieved the boredom of a 4 week trip from Melbourne to Los Angeles . . . 

As for SPO - my first chief said "S - P - O" was good enough. In all my time I was never pulled over, and assumed that the log books would only be called in, if an incident had taken place in the vicinity of the area involved.

Another sin! Used to communicate with KPH fairly regularly, passing the time of day etc - they got to know me well enough for me to call with only a "dit dit", KPH replied with a single "dit" and away we got chatting! 

The only other non boring activity on a 11 knot trip across the Pacific, was a midnight yack with the 2nd Mate, trying to work out the meaning of life, by studying the Milky Way on a cloudless night! We would argue about evolution, ad infinitem! Never came to any conclusion, but it was beautiful over a midnight cuppa cocoa! Don't all you blokes wish you could do it all over again?

Ok, take me down for my sins!


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

The Kelvin Hughes Zeeland main tx used to tune up nicely on 20M.

Allegedly, Your Honour.


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Of course, in the enlightened colonies, one would be automatically granted a top tier amateur licence on production of an MRGC/1st/2nd...

B\)


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## Ystradgynlais (Nov 2, 2013)

My requests to PMG was prior to Regs being made. Their response was that they were 'considering' allowing "Hams" to operate aboard British ships. Their first rule was definitely "Contact with one person, (name to be supplied) located in the UK - 10 M and 10 watts were probably there too! Don't remember, the first suggestion was so ridiculous, didn't follow it up! Made my own rules . . . If I remember correctly, I did a bit of moonlighting aboard the Dalby/VJRF and took a Swan Single Band SSB Transceiver with me, operated with my Ham c/s
plus M/M. The operating bit was legal, but memory is a bit dim!


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

All this Ham rigmarole must have played havoc with the Merchant Navy Program.

John T


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## PeterY (Jun 24, 2008)

In July/August 1979 I operated /MM on an Australian ship VJAE. The Aust Regs at the time allowed MM provided you had the permission from the Master. No problems there. Made many contacts on the round the world voyage and keep in contact with my father, who was also a Ham. I used an Icom IC720 but restricted my use per day so the crew could listen to shortwave B'casts and get the footy scores, news etc while mid Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. Never operated in port, but did catch up with some Hams when I came into port. The most interesting chat was with an operator at GKA - bus-mans holiday - and worked him with commercial traffic a couple of days later.


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

I sailed with a Sparky who later became an ETO - in both capacities he brought his own kit away with him and operated on board (with Master's permission) - he had a fax set that could get better weather info than the "official" means - very handy when typhoon dodging.


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## Ystradgynlais (Nov 2, 2013)

For John T

Aw! come off it, we wouldn't do that - in those days I had a Webster Chicago wire recorder - recorded the program and sent it around the ship, to listen at their leisure . . .


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Getting back to citations etc, the other side of the Ooops coin was equally Oops. Was on a big tanker with a two port discharge in the Medi. As we were about to enter port 1, I learned of a msg at Portishead. I told the Capt and said I wasn't supposed to qso GKA inside port limits, but was happy to get it. He replied it might get him into trouble for letting me,so just leave it. On QTO for port 2 the message was a change of orders for a full discharge at port 1. Ooops - a quick u-turn !!

But why the agent in Port de Bouc didn't know this was a complete mystery to all.

David
+


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

R651400 said:


> Must've got the enlightenment from the Mother Country who had the same in the 50's for PMG1/PMG 2 and for those in radio sectors of the Armed Forces doing National Service.


So what happened in the 60s/70s/80s?

(*))


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

david.hopcroft said:


> Getting back to citations etc, the other side of the Ooops coin was equally Oops. Was on a big tanker with a two port discharge in the Medi. As we were about to enter port 1, I learned of a msg at Portishead. I told the Capt and said I wasn't supposed to qso GKA inside port limits, but was happy to get it. He replied it might get him into trouble for letting me,so just leave it. On QTO for port 2 the message was a change of orders for a full discharge at port 1. Ooops - a quick u-turn !!
> 
> But why the agent in Port de Bouc didn't know this was a complete mystery to all.
> 
> ...


Hahahahaha!

Oh dear...


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

Sorry, I can't understand your logic. How could withdrawing the exemption for Radio Officers improve the technical standard for amateur radio?

Surely AR needed more professionals involved, not less?


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## Troppo (Feb 18, 2010)

ahhh, I see.

Ta.

The Foundation Licence has been a disaster....in both VK and G...

Sad.


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## Ystradgynlais (Nov 2, 2013)

What is/was the foundation Licence? My PMG ticket got me a VK licence on presentation to the Radio Branch in 1955 - when the majority of radio amateurs "Home Brew' their own equipment. A great number bought war time equipment and made it suitable for 'ham' use, especially aircraft RX's - the problem that Home brew TX's had was that TV came into being, was the TVI that came with the home brew! Even shop bought TX's with all the filtering and traps they had, suffered TVI - because some TV's (i.e. Admiral) had 21megs IF freqs - anyone close by, using 21 megs, wow! After an inspection by the RI, cleared the TX! It still didn't stop a neighbour knocking on my door and accusing me of causing the QRM! On explaining that the RI had cleared me, she said "It is your fault, if you wasn't transmitting, there wouldn't be any interference! Logical or illogical? So from that time on, shop bought ham gear, first from the USA, Collins TX and RX (if you could afford it) Hallicrafters, Drake kits and many others the Japs came out with their wide range - synthesised RX freqs etc, accurate and stable as Uluru! TX's too, and then a host of transceivers . . . All 'nose stuck on the front shop window stuff' . . . I will post this now, but send another one immediately after I have located a website. Cya


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## Ystradgynlais (Nov 2, 2013)

Ystradgynlais said:


> PS - add this to #61 (with apologies to the moderators for losing track of the original "Oops "thread)
> 
> Any one interested - have a look at the - hamgallery.com - website, see K8CX Ham Gallery site Search and in search box enter VK9AD.


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