Martin Atherton: About me

About Martin Atherton:

I was born in 1953 in Torquay, Devon, and went to school in Kent (Bickley Hall), Surrey (The Hawthorns, Bletchingley), and the South London suburbs (Beckenham Grammar / Langley Park). I moved on to Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1971 from which I emerged with a First in Electrical Sciences in 1974. An unsuccessful period of research into optical frequency klystron tubes followed before I joined Post Office Telecommunications (subsequently BT) in 1978.

My BT career has included work on long range planning, demand forecasting, public telecom policy, international services, corporate strategy, and regulation. I am now dealing with European Regulation and working on a range of IT, e-commerce, and communications issues at European Union level.

My main hobby is amateur radio and I hold the callsigns G3ZAY (UK) and NU2L (USA). I am mostly interested in competitive long distance activity and have contacted all countries on the current DXCC List, as well as nearly 1000 islands from the RSGB's Islands on the Air (IOTA) list. I am currently Chair of the RSGB's IOTA Committee and have previously been Chair of the RSGB HF Committee and RSGB HF Manager responsible for international policy on HF.

I am also interested in tournament bridge and was a regular member of the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire County A team - though pressure of work and commuting to London mean I have not played for several years.

My musical interests are varied but I am particularly keen on classical concertos, where the qualities of a single instrument (be it piano, violin, guitar, etc.) are balanced against a full orchestra, and folk music (particularly Celtic folk music from Scotland, Ireland, and Canada).

Languages are another interest and, though not fluent in any of them, I have spent time studying French, German, Russian, Japanese, and Irish/Scottish Gaelic.

E-mail me: g3zay@btinternet.com