50mhz still hadn't reared its ugly head for me when I arrived in Cyprus in the summer of 1989, indeed I was only just wet behind the ears with my HF experience in the UK, I don't think I really had any idea what to expect the first day I called CQ as ZC4MK, I quickly made contact with Alan (Geordie) ZC4JJ who gave me the necessary information about how to acquire my license, I was then put in touch with Alan ZC4AB who ran the QSL buro for ZC4 and subsequently was introduced to the premises of ZC4EPI (Episkopi Amateur Radio Club) from where I was to spend probably 50 percent of my spare time for the next 2 years, I have to say I really cannot remember the first time I called CQ although my log book shows that it was on the morning of 28 June 1989 on 15m, I was only the radio for about 25 minutes but worked about 20 stations trying to have a chat to each and everyone, little did I know that practise was to get rarer and rarer as the pileups grew over the months, the first person to ever have the callsign of ZC4MK in their log was OE7XMH, Fred in Innsbruck

My card wasnt the most imaginative of its time, then again in 1989 not that many people had brightly coloured photo cards, they were a damn site more expensive in those days, still it was confirmation enough for people who needed it
50mhz really came along for me by accident, I was aware of the 6m allocation in the UK but hadnt had any real desire to get on the band, HF was where it was for me, I came into contact quite by accident with members of the UKSMG group on 10m who had asked me of the possibility of 6m in ZC4 as the Sovereign base areas license was based and almost identical to the UK license, I along with others approached the relevant authorities in ZC4 to be told that it would be considered, we found out that they had been approached before and that it had been under consideration for some time

The radio club at Episkopi (where I spent most of my time) had an FT-726 with 6m module so equipment wouldnt be a problem, they also had a 5 element 6m beam which obviously wasnt being used, I soon established contact with many 6m nuts on 28.885mhz and as a result started to look for crossband 6m/10m contacts, soon after this I made a number of crossband contacts with stations in South Aftrica, I later learnt about TEP propagation which was the main method used for contacts between Cyprus and South Africa both being the optimal distance for TEP above and below the equator, over the next few weeks may more cross band contacts where to be had which was very enjoyable but not the same as a two way QSO on the magic band, not long after this we received the phone call that we had all been waiting for, 6m had been given the go ahead in ZC4, the Sovereign base area is a small place with only a handful of ZC4 licensees so we didnt need to recieve written permission or send our licenses in for  variation, the phone call was enough, We had arrived !!!