My favorite radio station is ....

Sign my guestbook   |   Contact  K6EID

 
Band Statistics
Awards
Ex-Calls
6 Meter Page
  60 Meter Page
DXCC QSLs
My QSLs Over the Years
  KH6MG/ZK1 1958 IGY
Classic SWBC QSLs
USS Picking (DD-685) Site
 
  BREAKING NEWS

 

17 Feb 2020

I will be operating again as K4A in the 2021 Antarctic Activity Week . Starts 0000 UTC  20 February through 2359 UTC  28February 2021. CU then!

QSLs are via my normal K6EID instructions except that I only QSL upon receipt of your QSL!

 
 
 
 
Welcome to the K6EID Home Page
     
     

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.

My paternal great grandparents surnamed Finkjelsen and Michelet came from Norway in 1850:
Vestre Slidre, Valdes, Oppland (JP41kb)
Lillehammer, Gudbrandsdal, Oppland

My maternal grandparents came from Poland (then part of Austria Hungary) in 1913:
Brody and Lanckorona, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Malpolska (JN99uu)

Polish and American hero Gen. Casimir Pulaski who fought in the American war for independence was from Landckrona.

We have visited both communities. In Poland we met two aunts who did not migrate with their parents, and many cousins who stayed in Poland. In Norway we visited the farm Grythe which my greatgrandparents lived on in Norway.

 

**************************************************************************************************************************

 

I was a Boy Scout in Troop 2 in Burbank, California. I was a stamp collector and always followed the stamp column in Boys' Life, the Scouting magazine. One article described how to get postage stamps from other countries by listening to shortwave broadcasting stations and sending them reception reports to get their QSL card.

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, Radio Moscow, and other mysterious places! Here was my chance to get foreign stamps directly from the various countries. 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). I became personal friends with fellow SWLs Mike Christie (later K6OHD, K7RLS, and K4MZ), David Morgan (then K6DDO), Joe Barry (later K7SQ), Frank Winch, August Balbi and other Southern Californians. 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 Deloaches, put me up until I landed a job at Dub Appleton's Texaco service station. Thanks to http://www.ontheshortwaves.com/Clubs/Universalite-July1956.pdf I finally located a copy of the URDXC bulletin UNIVERSALITE. I typed these columns on stencils with the same one finger hunt and peck style of typing that I use today (I was 16 years young at the time). It is the July 1956 edition and my endeavor starts on page 8:

 

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 active 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 only 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 my short path to Europe. In  fact, from there, I only worked two Europeans, F7CP (a US serviceman in France) and G8TD both in 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 put 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, followed by a Kenwood TS-940S with an Alpha 76PA linear amplifier.

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 home, 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 later 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 747 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 get 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 our 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). 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. Today, I have a Yaesu FTDX-5000D transceiver and the SPE 2K-FA linear amplifier.

About me: I'm 80 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. After they were in school, they paid more attention to friends that we old folks. In fact, there's an old country song that I now say is the grandparents national anthem. It is "Old and In the Way."

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.

The XYL and I love to travel. We have visited every continent and about 100 DXCC counties. In our earlier days, we would fly into one city and home from another two or three weeks later with a rental car and usually no fixed agenda.  As we aged we started taking cruises, both river and ocean. We also made a most enjoyable land tour of the Finland and the Baltics. We will soon be taking another land tour to the Balkans. I have a website with reports and photos from all the trips we made over the years. If interested, visit https://www.finkle.org.

My radio shack with the (previous) SPE 1K-FA and FTDX-5000D and NRD-535

X-10 # 31610

SMIRK # 5145

EPC #2756

DMC #2021

 

 

My equipment

   

HF Radios:           Yaesu FTDX-5000D

                               JRC NRD-535 receiver for SWLing 

                               Yaesu FT-857D for portable/mobile operation

                               Yaesu FT-817 for portable operation

HF Antennas:       KLM KT-34XA for 10-15-20M

                                Cushcraft XM-240 for 17-40M

                                M2 6M7 for 6M

                                Inverted Vee for 60M

                                Inverted Vee for 80M

                                Inverted Vee for 160M  

Linear Amp:         SPE 2K-FA 160-6M 2 kW with automatic tuner

Digital Interface: Tigertronics USB SignaLink

             

      

 
 

QSL INFO:

Direct to:

Phil Finkle

3353 Forest Creek Dr.

Marietta, GA 30064-2441

USA

or via the bureau

NO SO-CALLED E-QSLS PSE!!!

ARRL POSITION ON eQSLs:

"ARRL does not accept QSLs (for any award, including DXCC, WAS, VUCC and WAC) that have been transmitted to the recipient via electronic means for its awards."

I DO NOT ACCEPT OR SEND SO-CALLED E-QSLS!!!!

I DO USE ARRL'S LOG OF THE WORLD (LOTW) BUT, BEING A TRADITIONALIST, I STILL SEND AND COLLECT PAPER QSLs