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.
I was first licensed in October 1957
as KN6EID with the Novice Class ticket. Over the years,
I upgraded to Conditional Class (while I was in the U.S.
Navy), General Class, Advanced Class, and finally
Amateur Extra Class in 1984. I also held the FCC Second
Class Radiotelephone License which was subsequently
changed to General Radiotelephone License.
I started as an 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 Zenith table model
radio that I was able to use like an almost real
shortwave receiver. Later I bought a Hallicrafters S-40B
from Cunningham's Auto Shop in Toluca Lake (for $50 on
time with my paper route earnings).
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 on late 1956 and hitchhiked to Odessa Texas
where a kind family, the DeLoachs, 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 fifty
years ago.
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.
Later I bought a used Collins KWM-1 and built a Heathkit
SB-200 linear amplifier. This was followed by the
Collins S-Line (75S-3B receiver and 32S-3 transmitter).
Next rig was the Drake TR-7A, followed by a Kenwood
TS-940S and an Alpha 76PA linear amplifier. I then got
the Yaesu FT-1000MP transceiver and a JRC JST-245
transceiver (the latter primarily for 6 meter work). I
added an ETO ex-medical diathermy amp which I used on 6 meters.
I later replaced the ETO with a Henry 2006A linear
amplified for 6 meters. My nest rig was the Yaesu
FT-2000D. In July 2010, I have a Yaesu FTDX-5000D transceiver and the SPE 1K-FA linear amplifier which I
bought in 2007 .
About me: I'm 70 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.
My radio shack with the SPE
1K-FA and FT-2000D and NRD-535
