Category Archives: Stories

The Domain Saga

For those eagle-eyed users, you will notice that you are now visiting www.vk7ben.au and not vk7ben.id.au. This is the story about why.

In 2007, I acquired my advanced license and callsign VK7BEN. At this time I was quite big on websites and domains and having my own identity online. However it was not possible to own a .com.au/net.au/org.au domain if you were not a registered business or organisation. However you could register for an id.au domain if the domain name contained your your name or nickname. Beauty – VK7BEN could indeed be considered a nickname. I applied for the domain with this information, application was approved, happy days.

Earlier this year however the happiness came to an abrupt halt with an email from my domain registrar shortly after renewing my domain.

Continue reading →

In the Beginning…

Happy 2017 Everyone!

The New Year is about beginnings for many, so it seems as good a time as any to share my story about how I started in amateur radio.

I was introduced to Amateur Radio in the Early 1990s by Charles Payne, VK7PP. I met Charles when I was tracing back the history of my Heron Sailing Dinghy, Sobraon, at the time and which he and his son Andrew built in the 1970s. When he took me up to his study to find some photos, he pointed out all his amateur radio gear and showed me how to make contact. After that I visited several times over the next 2-3 years to explore amateur radio after school, before leaving for college meant that it was too difficult to visit.

Continue reading →