K7WX, Warren Hill, k7wx, KF7AY, WN6PRX, Central Arizona DX Association, CADXA, DXpedition
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Yep, that's my first call sign as a 13-year old novice operator from my home town of Northridge, California. |
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| In 1964 K6VZJ (now W6BF) gave me my novice license test and helped me to build a surprisingly good 6L6 oscillator using spare parts gleaned from an old television chassis. My sister even donated one of her hair curlers onto which we wound the 40-meter tank coil. Unfortunately, I had only a single crystal on 7.175 MHz. This put me right in the middle of a loud Region 1 broadcast station, making late night DX'ing pretty difficult! |
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| In spite of these limitations, I stuck with the hobby and soon was able to pass my general class license, becoming WB6PRX. As a teenager I could never afford to build or buy an AM or SSB modulator. In fact, the closest I ever came to anything other than a home-brew rig was to do my best to convert military surplus gear to work on the ham bands. Occasionally, friends would loan me a "real" radio, which made it possible for the first time to work DX in a meaningful way. As a result, I mainly did CW; a pattern that exists to this day. |
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During the last sunspot peak I became very active in CW DX contesting. By 1990 I earned my 35 WPM ARRL Code Proficiency Certificate and in 1991 I became a member of the German High Speed Club. Paradoxically, most recently I have mainly participated in SSB contests. Because the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are so close to the CQ World-Wide CW DX Contest, my family has resisted the notion of leaving the country in late November. Now if K3EST would just switch the dates of the CW and the SSB contests, that would be some real progress! |
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