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Originally licensed in 1968 as WN6DIL, took 3rd place nationally in CW
Sweepstakes in the Novice class back when it was a separate class. That got me
hooked on contesting, which continued for many years. My teen years were the
most fun as a ham, multi op contesting with local hams in the Walnut
Creek/Concord area, and also from Ross Forbes K6GFJ (then WB6GFJ) station in
Los Altos Hills. Ross and Rusty Epps, W6OAT convinced me to join the Northern
California Contest Club (NCCC). There I met lots of high level contesters and
had opportunities to operate at K6EBB and in later years at Ken Keeler's N6RO
super-station.
As a teen I hung around with other teens on 3965 and 7205, and was generally
obnoxious to all the Old Timers on the band. The stuff we used to do is
probably pretty tame by todays standards. As a teen I also did a lot of traffic
handling, and enjoyed the NTS.
Got married too young in 1974 and at that time I bought my first house and had
a decent antenna system and radio for the first time. A 45' tower with too many
monobanders on it and it went over in a big wind storm. I ended up with a
Mosley TA-36 tribander, sloper for 40, inverted vee for 80 and my Drake C-Line.
I placed in the top 10 for Low Power SS phone in 1978 and 1979. Had a daughter
in 1979, divorced 4 years later with custody of my daughter. Career and being a
single parent pretty much reduced my time for ham radio to nothing.
Now the daughter is grown and living in the Sacramento area and my new wife of
almost 15 years, Melanie, our two dogs, Turbo and Luna, and our cat, Cosmo, got
out of California in 2005 and have moved to an acre on a small hill in Spanish
Springs, just North of Reno, NV.
The interest in ham radio is still there, but just not enough time. We spend
most of our leisure time with our dogs hiking, camping, and other outdoor
activities (as well as the joys of home ownership). Radio is still on the back
burner, although I am still active on some nets on 75 meter phone and 80 meter
CW. My station today is either a Kenwood TS-930, TS-940, or a TS-440 to a very
low (21' at apex) 80/40 inverted vee. I have a 55' crankup tower and many yagi
pieces for someday when I find time.
I'm still working as an engineer for PSI for the past 20 years doing plant and
factory automation. I do miss the good old days and the many friends I've made
thru ham radio. If you're reading this, it must be that you know me (or have
WAY too much time on your hands) so drop me an email and say hi at
dwilkinson@pipesys.com
73,
DIL
Rev: WA6DIL - Jul 2007
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