Well, how have I missed this little group for so long?
I’m John, VK2BZB. My original call was VK2VPG, a novice licence, in the late '70s (1979, I think). I upgraded to a full-call (unlimited) licence a couple of years later. In the intervening years I have held VK2FG, VK2IUI and then back to my original unlimited call-sign I now use.
In the early years I worked HF frequencies, the majority of that on ICW. Later, when I could afford it, I bought rigs for 2-metres and 70 Cm and spent most of my time on those bands. On 2-metres, apart from local chit-chat on repeaters, I concentrated on 2 M SSB. My rig at that time was a Kenwood TS711A (30W PEP on SSB) with a homebrewed amplifier to lift the signal to 100W) and a pre-amp, also homebrewed, with about 30db of gain and an S/N ratio of less than 1.5db. The aerial system was a pair of horizontally polarised 13-element yagis stacked vertically at about 1.5 wavelengths mounted at about 15 metres above ground level and excited via a hybrid 600 ohm/52 ohm feedline. With that setup I held briefly (for <5-minutes) the record for the longest distance Australian contact on that band. At least I can claim the first recorded contact on 2-metres which was from VK2 to VK6. Oh, such fame! :roll:
Since those halcyon days the pressure of work and periods of impecunity led to me not renewing my call - hence the later ones. Now, I’m virtually inactive on all bands although I still have the Kenwood 711A and a Kenwood 820 along with my 70 Cm rig, an Icom (something or other) which is capable of 75W output. My aerials? I’m too embarrassed to say. 
de VK2BZB SK