About amateur radio station WS6L...

There are several things that I've been interested in ever since I can remember, and if you've browsed other sections of this website, you can probably guess my interests, but of all of my life-long interests, radio would have to rate as the number one interest in my life. Well... it would have to rate behind women, but I didn't "discover" girls until I reached the ripe old age of sixteen, and I'd been fooling around with radio since about the time I could walk. I can't remember how I got interested in radio, and when I asked my folks, they simply told me that I'd been interested in radio since I was able to utter "ma ma." I guess I was born with radio in my blood, but I don't know where it came from, as my parents, or none of my grandparents were intested in radio. However my brother Michael shared the radio bug with me, although he wasn't as deeply infected as I was.

Photo: These QSL cards were the ones that I used during the mid-1980's. The card to the left I used for QRP/CW, and the one to the right I used for everything else. Note that the card reflects my intrest in railroads, which I've had a passion for all of my life.

Like most ham radio operators, I've undergone periods of dormancy, but in my case, it was mostly due to job relocations, divorces, children, and other competing interests, such as booze, women, and four wheeling. But after each hiatus, I've always returned to the first love of my life: Radio. Radio, in any shape, or form...

When I was about 6 years old, my folks gave me a 5-tube supperhet radio, which received standard AM broadcast band stations only. I recall that the radio was housed in cracked, ivory-colored plastic case - you remember that thick, brittle, plastic from the early 1950's? - complete with a dial, directly attatched to the tuning capacitor, placed on top of the radio, and crudely marked to approximate my location on the band. The best thing about this radio was that it had a wire-wound antenna mounted to the rear of it on a bakelite panel, which made the rig quite directional, and made it a pretty rig to listen to distant stations. The old superhet was very sensitive, and I quickly discovered that I could hear distant stations at night, so instead of watching the likes of "I Love Lucy," "Bonanza," or "Gunsmoke" on television, I spent many a evening listening to the likes of WBZ, KYW, WSM, WWL, KOA, and other clear channel stations from around the country. Sure, I'm dating myself, but this was about 1960, and the band was populated with stations that truly were clear channel. Another great thing was that many regional stations signed off at midnight, leaving only a handful of stations on the band, so it was possible to hear many stations running power well below the 50,000 watt level. Looking back, the early 1960's were truly halcyon days for broadcast band DXing.

Photo: QSL card to the left is 1999 vintage, when we moved into our current location. Card to the right is dated about 1990, when we still lived in Hayward, CA. I never did print any QSL cards when I lived in Fresno, as I just "recycled" some of the Hayward cards. Give me a break! I was going through a messy divorce...

One thing led to another, and I soon discovered short wave broadcasting, QSL cards, and finally to a eighth grade science teacher who noticed that I had an interest in all things radio, Amateur Radio. After high school, I obtained my First Class Radio Telephone license, and spent a few years in commerical broadcasting, working in small market AM radio staions, until I realized that broadcasting was a tough way to earn a living. So I dropped out of broadcasting, hired-on with the phone company, and made a career out of telephony. But I never stopped loving radio...

Due to various factors, I didn't get my first ham radio license until 1984, when I earned the General call of N6MPM. I finally made Extra in 1986, when I received my present call, WS6L. I've been tempted to change it a few times, as it has a tendency to be a tongue-twister, and the 2x1 format still confuses many folks, but I've had it now for well over 20 years, and I've sort of grown attatched to it.

I consider myself to be a rather "casual" operator, as I rarely participate in contests, chase awards, or work DX. Sure, I'll answer a CQ from a DX station when I hear one, but I stay out of pile ups, as I don't have the desire, the patience, the interest, or the means to slug it out. I like to ragchew, meet new people, and just listen, listen, and listen some more. Perhaps my only real fetish is that I'm an avid QSL card collector - I have thousands of 'em - but really the most extravagant thing that I do, as I persue the hobby of Amateur Radio.

I occasionaly participate in contests, and I have earned DXCC and WAS, and I'm working on WAS again, but this time I want it to be a CW-QRP WAS.

Photo: QSL card to the left was used from 2001 to 2004. Right is my current QSL card. I QSL 100%, even if you're just around the block. I'm a sucker for QSL cards!

I operate CW, sideband, and I've just recently added PSK31 to my line up. I'm active on all bands, from 160 meters to 70 cm, with the exception of 220 MHz. My favorite bands are 75, 40, 30 and 15 meters, but I hang out where the M.U.F. is, so lately, I've been spending a lot of time on 20 meters. I work the evening shift, so much of my time is spent on the air during the days, except on days off, when I tend to concentrate on my first loves, 75 meter phone, and 40 meter cw. I'm a member of several high frequency nets, which I check into on a regular basis.

Well, that's about it from me. Now that you know a little more about me, I'll be looking forward to a QSO with you on high frequency one of these days. Until then, 73... de WS6L.

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