DG8DP ist das mir am 13.04.1988 von derOberpostdirektion Dortmund zugeteilte Amateurfunkrufzeichen.
The transmission of messages by radio interested me quite early
and was
was awakened by CB radio Walki-Talkies.
Since the range and number of channels was quite limited, these
devices were quickly modified, which did not really bring
much.
At the age of 14 I was allowed to operate a CB mobile station.
But somehow this was still not what I had imagined.
A school friend at that time heard an amateur radio broadcast
in his world receiver, in which a course was announced, with
which one could make an amateur radio license. We informed
ourselves and took part in this course. You can imagine how two
14 / 15 year olds had to struggle through it. An examination to
the radio amateur was at that time everything else than
simple!
Basics of electrical engineering, HF technology, law, operating
technology stood as hurdles before the longed-for
license.
Thanks to the help of an OM's, which helped us also after the
official course, I was then assigned after successful
examination to the radio amateur of the Oberpostdirektion
Dortmund the call sign
D G 8 D P assigned.
In the following years as a radio amateur I tried and achieved
a lot despite my then still quite young age. I especially
enjoyed the self-construction of equipment, as well as the
modification and improvement.
Those were still times, where there were no commercial devices
in the GHz range.
Except for contests and overreach, talk radio hardly appealed
to me. I preferred to meet the people I had to talk to in
person.
In March 2007 I moved to Upper Bavaria in the district of Erding in the community of Taufkirchen. Here I felt very well and I had finally the possibility to be QRV on KW and UKW! It was a dream, top location on a hill, two masts on the roof, an inverted-L for the low bands in the garden and enough power on all bands.
We moved to Erding in June 2012, quietly located in the countryside, but still only 5 minutes away from the old town and the S-Bahn. With a self-built and improved Titan DX multiband vertical antenna it then went from here around the world.
Finally, in 2019, after a long search, we had finally found our own home, just outside Erding on a village. After all, there is a church, a butcher, a maypole and an idyllic pond with a small beer garden. Of course, amateur radio was also thought of, a nice big office with lots of space to develop. An antenna was also needed, but something discreet, a self-built multiband dipole without traps.
In 2024, a beam was installed on the roof for 20m 17m 15m 12m 10m. Of course, the beam is not really discreet. But as it is a wire beam, it doesn't look quite so massive. The difference is huge and DXing is great fun.