|
N6PM Gregory L. 'Greg' De Hoogh Laguna Hills, CA QCWA # 37916 |
 |
Greetings from 6-Land! If you work me, and in the unlikely event that you need a QSL for California, or Orange County, or DM13, I'll be happy to send you one. No SASE or $$ required. Same goes if you just want to exchange cards.
JAs - Please QSL through eQSL. I'm working on several JARL awards. Thanks to all who helped me get my WAJA award. Special thanks to JA4RQO in Shimane, the last prefecture I worked!
I was first licensed as KO6IR in 1994. I'd planned to start with a Tech-Plus license, but after I passed the 5 wpm code test the VEs encouraged me to try the 13 wpm test. It wasn't pretty - I got the minimum number correct - but I passed. Passing the written tests up to Advanced wasn't a big deal. I'd gotten my First Class Radiotelephone license back in '77 and had worked for several years as an engineer at radio stations in Aberdeen, SD, and then as a service engineer for a couple broadcast transmitter manufacturers (McMartin Industries and Broadcast Electronics), so I had the technical background. A few months later I passed the 20 wpm code test and moved on to an Extra Class license and AC6IA. That callsign lasted until the FCC instituted the current vanity callsign program, when I acquired N6PM. AC6IA was a great CW callsign, but I couldn't resist the chance to get a 1x2, and N6PM works pretty well on CW, too.
My ham "career" really started long before that, though. I got interested in electronics when I was in junior high school back in the '60s, and spent many great hours tearing apart old TVs before I moved on to WW2 surplus electronics. After puttering around with some ARC-5 gear, I bought a BC-348 from Fair Radio Sales in Lima, OH (which is still around!) There was no Internet or Web back in those days, which made locating a schematic for it was a challenge. So, I drew my own by tracing all the wiring (a lot easier than today since I didn't have to deal with multi-layer circuit boards!) I did make a go at getting a ham license. My uncle John, WAØLYR (SK), loaned me his Heathkit code practice oscillator and set of code practice LPs. No go, though. Not enough discipline. Then it was off to college, and ham radio became a distant memory until a couple friends, Kirk, K6LM, and Bob, K9NT, got me interested in it again.
For my first few years in ham radio, I made do with a dipole zigzagging around the attic of our one-story condo. It was hardly optimum, but I did earn WAS and got 60 or so countries using that setup. Then we bought a house and I moved up to a Cushcraft R7000 vertical in the back yard. More recently (October 2018), I switched to a 43' vertical that gives me 80m coverage and seems to work as well as or better than the R7000 on the higher HF bands. I took a break from ham radio between 2000 and 2016. Other things to do like work, etc. You know how it goes. Finally those other things slowed down, and I'm back at it now. My current rig is an Icom IC-7300. It's a great little radio. I can hear just about everybody who can hear me, and many others who can't.
73, Greg
February 04, 2019