A LOVELY SURPRISE!

I recently received an email from a fellow radio enthusiast and it made my day! Jacques wrote to congratulate me on the blog and it was all the more appreciated, knowing it was from someone so senior - someone who’s been active in radio for 46 years and is still enjoying the hobby.

On Thu, 19 Mar 2026 at 11:54, Jacques Hankin <jacques.hankin@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Tom.

Due to an total ankle joint replacement (my second), I have 10 days of enforced immobility, have been surfing assiduously around my own passions, which include radio, classic cars, aeromodelling, target and clay-shooting, as well as much time on Bluesky.

I stumbled across your site, (following up on an IC-705 review - I'm thinking of revamping my shack-) 

and I have found a treasure trove in your site!.

So after much interesting reading, my first instinct was to write to congratulate you on a very readable, helpful site.

I hope many budding SWL's wanting to go the next step will find your "Starting in amateur radio" item. most helpful.

I also like your writing style, which I find very nicely paced, very factual (and honest),with no superfluous padding.

I am 79, and just getting fired up again on morse (struggling) and although not a tyro, have been active in radio in one form or another since I got my full licence in 1980, (career and raising a family permitting)!

I am old enough to remember programming Basic on the Commodore 64 and the BBC Micro (+ modifying it quite a bit. (64K RAM! hey, what an improvement))! The current state of computing, phones and communications, to a dinosaur like me (DOB = 1947) is still astounding, although I am up to speed (nearly).  😊

Keep up the very good work.

Best wishes,

Jacques Hankin G4NEH

I replied…

Wow!! Thank you Jacques, for your lovely email and kind comments. It’s so nice when people take the time to contact me and I truly appreciate it.

I must admit that I’m surprised to find I’ve had almost 800,000 visits to the Blog and yet just a handful of contacts like yours. I guess most visitors take what they need from the information posted and just move on (which is fine).

I only write the blog to help others (and often to remember how I got something working, lol), so I’m never looking to profit from it, but it sure is a treat when someone like you comes along and lets me know that my efforts are appreciated. Thank you so much!

Best regards,

Tom, M7MCQ.

www.m7mcq.com