Welcome...

You have arrived at the internet home of G0RIF, a website dedicated to my hobby - amateur radio. My name is Dean Barnes and I am a licensed radio amateur holding the English callsign G0RIF (Golf zero Romeo India Foxtrot). I live near to the cathedral city of Lichfield in the county of Staffordshire (Grid Sq. IO92cq 52.67N 1.76W).

I have been licensed since 1991 at which time Class A licenses (allowing operation on the shortwave bands) were only issued on passing a 12 word per minute Morse code test. This requirement was abolished in the UK in 2003 but as my primary interest back then was shortwave and the opportunities that this afforded for global communications, I sat and passed the 12wpm Morse code test. My QSL cards confirming a number of Morse code (or CW) contacts are amongst my most treasured. You can view a selection of QSL cards I have received on the QSL page accessed via the menu on the right on beneath the header image above.

What is amateur radio?

Amateur radio operators, radio amateurs or 'radio hams', as they're sometimes known, are granted licenses by their local governments allowing them to communicate with fellow radio amateurs all around the world. Licenses are issued according to local requirements but these usually relate to demonstrating (by exam) a required level of knowledge in technical aspects of radio communications, circuit theory and operating procedures. There are over 3 million licensed amateur radio operators in the world today.

Lichfield, a city by royal decree

City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. Although the holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a 'city', competitions for the status are hard fought. The status does not apply automatically on the basis of any particular criteria, although in England and Wales it was traditionally given to towns with diocesan cathedrals. This association between having a cathedral and being called a city was established in the early 1540s when King Henry VIII founded dioceses in six English towns (each having a cathedral) and granted them city status. Lichfield was subsequently granted city status in 1553 by Queen Mary.