K6EID is an amateur radio station
located about 15 km. west of Marietta in Cobb County in
the State of Georgia. The Maidenhead grid locator is
EM73qw, if you want to be extremely precise, the shack
is at EM73qw17ug37.
I started as an SWL (short wave listener) in 1953 in
Burbank California. The first receiver was a Silvertone
floor console which was the family's entertainment
center before we had TV. When we got TV, my father
relegated the radio to our bedroom. I had a paper route
and one day I found an U.S. Air Corps cloth helmet with
earphones in the gutter in front of a house. I was a Boy
Scout so I figured I could tap the speaker leads to be
able to use the headphones at night after I was supposed
to be asleep. I didn't realize that in those days the
speaker coil had B+ across it and I got shocked while
setting the phones up. I listened to medium wave DX
stations as I had no idea that the radio had shortwave
bands. My father caught me listening one night and in a
fit of anger slammed the big radio against the wall. The
next time I tried the radio, I was transported to the
wonderful world of shortwave (the slamming apparently
changed the band for me). I started listening to exotic
stations like Radio Australia, the Voice of Indonesia,
Radio Hong Kong, and other mysterious places! I was
hooked! My mother gave me an old WWII vintage Zenith table model
radio that I was able to use like an almost real
shortwave receiver. I bought a BC-453/ARC-5 LW receiver
which I used as a Q5er. I had to rewire the filaments in
parallel to use a 12VDC filament supply that was
available from a 350VDC power supply that I
constructed for the ARC-5. I drew off the 455 kc. IF
from the Zenith and tuned the ARC-5 to 455 kc. and
voila, I had a double conversion receiver (with its 85
kc. IF) which gave me vastly improved selectivity. Later I bought a Hallicrafters S-40B
from Cunningham's Auto Shop in Toluca Lake (for $50 on
time with my paper route earnings). Later I upgraded to
a Hallicrafters SX-71, a real nice radio. Here's a
photo of my listening post with the Zenith, it almost
looks like a startup ham station (BTW, I still have many
of the old QSLs that were affixed to the walls in the
photo):
I joined several radio clubs including
the NNRC (Newark News Radio Club), URDXC (Universal
Radio DX Club), JSWC (Japan Short Wave Club), the ADXC
(Austrian DX Club), and the International Short Wave
League (ISWL). Eventually I became the West Coast
editor of the URDXC, a position I held until I ran away
from home in late 1956 and hitchhiked to Odessa Texas
where a kind family, the De Loaches, put me up until I
landed a job at Dub Appleton's Texaco service station.
I joined the US Navy in Odessa in
March 1957. After boot camp, I was sent to FT
"A" School in San Diego where I learned to
maintain shipboard gunfire control devices including
radar, mechanical computers, combat display systems,
etc. After completion of the schooling in early 1958, I
was assigned to a destroyer, the USS Picking (DD-685) ,
homeported in Long Beach California. I spent the
remaining three years of my service time on this vessel.
I am proud of my service and my time on her and I set up
a website for the ship in the mid-1990s and keep it
current today. I have included a link to that website
for those who might be interested in Navy life sixty
years ago.
I was first licensed on 14 October 1957
as KN6EID with the Novice Class ticket.
Over the years I upgraded ultimately receiving
Amateur Extra at the FCC office in Long Beach CA in May
1983.
In the early 60s after I was discharged
from the Navy, I worked as an electronic technician, a
job that required an FCC 2nd Class ticket:
These licenses had to be renewed every
five years. Finally the FCC dropped this and issued in
its place the General Radiotelephone Operator License:
While the license had an expiration
date, the FCC granted the license for the individual
licensee's lifetime.
My first HF setup was a Hallicrafters
SX-71 receiver and a Johnson Ranger transmitter. I then
lived in Burbank, California and was primarily on 10
meters then using an 8JK wire beam about 15 feet high. In
Burbank, we lived just below the Verdugo Mountains that
pretty effectively blocked me short path to Europe. In
fact, from there, I only worked two Europeans F7CP (a US
serviceman in France) and G8TD both bin April 1958.
Worked lots of Asia, Oceania, and South America though.
Later I bought a used Collins KWM-1 and built a Heathkit
SB-200 linear amplifier. I could never get the amp to
work on 75/80 meters I found out many years later that I
had but the 40 meter capacitors in the 80 meter circuit,
and vice versa. This was followed by the
Collins S-Line (75S-3B receiver and 32S-3 transmitter).
Next rig was the Drake TR-7A (1980), followed by a Kenwood
TS-940S with an Alpha 76PA linear amplifier (1985). Next
was the Yaesu FT-1000MP 1995). Then the Yaesu FT-2000D
(2007).
). 
K6EID Northridge CA - ca 1985
In 1984, I bought a Yaesu FT-757-GX
with the new switching power supply as soon as they were
available in anticipation of an upcoming European trip. I bought this rig
for mobile and portable operations. It worked fine in
the States but I ran into a problem when I took it to
Europe in 1984. Before leaving I set it up for
220VAC input.
The first night in a Spanish hotel, I
fired up the rig and the room went dark! I called the
desk and told them that the XYL had plugged her travel
iron in and it popped the breaker. They came to the room
and reset the breakers which were in a locked cabinet in
a closet. I tried the radio again and the same result! I
was furious and wrote a scathing complaint letter to
Yaesu Long Beach on my problem.
We proceeded to Algeciras Spain where
we took the ferry to Tangier and then drove to Ceuta to
visit Juan Rosales, EA9IE. When we arrived in Ceuta, we
were walking down a street and I saw a TV store with a
URE (Spanish ham society) banner in the window. We went
in and he was another EA9. He had a new Yaesu
transformer power supply which I promptly purchased. I
was able to work K6EID/EA9 both from Juan's QTH and
super FB station and from the
hotel using the 757. After a most enjoyable three
day visit we returned to Algeciras by ferry from Ceuta.
Here's a photo Juan and me at the old Portuguese fort in
Ceuta:
I also had a ZB2 license but the
Spanish had closed the border so I was unable to operate
there. Here I am in La Linea, as close as I was able to
get to Gibraltar on this trip.
We stopped in Malaga and I operated
there from a Parador as K6EID/EA7. After checking
in, I drank some water from the tap and bingo, I got
Montezuma's Revenge! After that I kept to cerveza. Next we headed
to Andorra where I had the license C30LBP.
We stayed at a nice hotel (Del Tartar) in Soldeu. I tried operating from the hotel but only made a
few QSOs due to it being in a valley. We drove up from
Soldeu to a
mountain on the road to Pas de la Casa that had some microwave stuff and I was able to
make a large number of QSOs from that location in the
mobile. Andorra
was a neat place to visit and the XYL liked the shopping
in Andorra la Vella, the capital city.
From there we headed into France where
I made a few QSOs as F0IQO. We visited Monaco but I was
not able to get a license there as they forbade mobile
operations. We then drove to Rome where the US
Ambassador to the Vatican, Bill Wilson, was a ham from
Los Angeles. I wrote him that we were visiting and would
like to get a chance to see Pope John Paul II as he was
the archbishop of Krakow and he always stayed in my
mother's folks' family home town on his Polish visits.
Bill set us up with a special group that was going to be
addressed by the Pope. Alas it rained so it was moved
into St. Peter's which was already mobbed. At least I
got a couple of good photos of our soon-to-be sainted
John Paul II.
When we returned, I immediately took
the 757 switching supply to Yaesu. When I walked in with
it, the receptionist immediately said "you must be
the guy we got the letter from Switzerland!" I
corrected her that it was Spain. Any way they took the
supply and sent to to Yaesu-Japan to be checked. About 3
months later, I got the supply back and it worked fine
ever since. I assume they analyzed the failure and made
some kind of mod to prevent this from happening. I also used the 757 on other trips to
Europe.
In March 1988, we took a vacation to San
Felipe BC. We stopped in Mexicali and I applied for and
was granted a Mexican license XE2GBY. I used the trusty 757 and the mobile whip from the hotel on the shores of
the Sea of Cortez.
In the summer of 1988, I operated as K6EID/F, K6EID/HB0,
K6EID/LX, K6EID/OE, K6EID/PA, and K6EID/DL. Here are
photos of my /HB0 and /OE operating positions:
Our last trip with the
trusty old 757 was in 1993 when we drove to Poland to
visit family, then to the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Hungary, and Austria. I was able to get SO9EID, OK8EID,
and HA/K6EID but was unable to set a Slovak license in
time. In Poland we spent a week in Kalwaria
Zebrzydowska, where my Mom's parents and brothers
immigrated from in the early 20th century. My Mom was
along with us and she spoke Polish otherwise we would
have been unable to communicate with relatives
there. I operated as SO9EID from one of cousin's
backyards. Operated as OK8EID from the town of Breclav
and HA/K6EID from western Hungary.
I then got
the Yaesu FT-1000MP transceiver and a JRC JST-245
transceiver (the latter primarily for 6 meter work)
(1995). I
added an ETO ex-medical diathermy amp which I used on 6 meters.
I later replaced the ETO with a Henry 2006A linear
amplifier for 6 meters. My next rig was the Yaesu
FT-2000D (2007)and the SPE 1K-FA linear amplifier which I
bought in 2007. Next in 2010, I had a Yaesu FTDX-5000D transceiver
. In 2017 I bought the SPE 2K-FA amplifier
which is now used with the FTDX-5000D.
About me: I'm 77 years old. I
was born in Southern California. I now live with my XYL
Marilyn near Marietta, Georgia. I have two grown
children and six grandchildren who are an OM's blessing.
Visited with the Young Operators on the
Air group in Tartu Estonia in August 2013. Met some old friends and
many new ones. The group had teams from several
countries each operating a time slot at the two stations
set up at the site. Above is Rolandas LY4Q, Janis YL3AD,
and yours truly. Real nice to see the interest and the
spirit of the young OMs and YLs on display at this
event.
My radio shack with the SPE
1K-FA and FTDX-5000D and NRD-535
X-10 # 31610
SMIRK # 5145
EPC #2756
DMC #2021
