How I got into radio
My first computer, a ZX Spectrum, came from a radio shop in the early 1990s. The shop sold parts and kits too, and that is where the interest in radio started.
As a teenager I picked up a soldering iron. I built computers and telescopes at home, piece by piece, and over the years came to radios.
What I write here
This site is for people who use radios rather than build them: a parent getting a pair for a family trip, a hiker, a team lead buying radios for a site. I explain each topic in plain words first and add the technical detail only where it helps you decide.
Every number comes from a maker, a regulator or a standard, and the source is listed at the end of the page. I do not test radios myself, so claimed range and battery life are the makers' figures, and I say so.
- Early 1990sA ZX Spectrum, bought in a radio shop
- Teenage yearsThe first soldering iron
- LaterHomemade computers and telescopes
- NowRadios of every kind, and the sites about them
