Greetings from our Shoreline looking North toward Oceanside Pier & San Clemente

The Big Quiet Zebra
Email: w6bqz@zebrahamradio.com

Radios
Collins 75A-4
Johnson Viking Valiant  
IC-7100  (portable)
Yaesu FT-1000  (shack)
Kenwood TS-930S (shack)
Kenwood TS-480HX (Guest Room & Remote)
Icom IC-718  (for Portable)
Talkers: FT-60R, Baofeng, VX3, & UV8D

Cards & Groups
Direct paper email only, but I'm 100%. 
Off and on I am on:
3.854.50 at 1300z -- 7.155 at 1400z
7.143 at 1700z -- 14.268 at 1730z
3.870 listening at night,
and Netflix with Leslie, KK6UYP

CONGRATS TO LESLIE, SHE
IS AN EXTRA & VE!

Shack with FT-1000 & Monitor
 TS-480JX in guest room
FTdx1200 in Office

Manage Ohana Net Web Site
on 14.268 - 1630z and
Group7155.com at 1300z
 

Lookin' Out My Back Door - Lately I'm Fascinated by Clouds

Looking North-NE - My wires are above & diagonal to fenceline
The Agua Hendonda Lagoon is down below approx. 50-70 feet.

I Love Oktoberfest in Big Bear, California

Relaxing at Lake's edge, Remote Rig, TS-480, Root Beer
Elks Lodge, Captain's Anchorage & Leslie KK6UYP
Life couldn't be better!

Did you  see the Zebra Bikini?
Didn't think so! And, no, that's not me!

Little Glimpses of Bliss Over the Past Two Years

2013 - 2015

(with side notes from the 50's and 60's)

The 2014 Office Edition Ham Shack where you'll find the FTdx1200. Power and coax is fed from the shack and there is a 42" flatscreen mounted on a facing wall for art gallery work.

My Start in this Crazy, Nutty, Insanely Addictive Hobby

In my knee-high flannel pajamas, I shuffled into this gig with a cheese board, tiny light bulb, big knife switch and a bigger (and heavier) dry cell battery that made it lights on, lights off from the very start. My first Shortwave came through a brand new Telefunken Opus on a shelf that I needed a chair to climb up on to twist the knobs. I remember asking my dad, what was that button with "SW" on it - and good golly Miss Molly, it unlocked far-away magic in a radio where others had only found music and DJs. I could proudly say I was different, and it defined my life from that point on. And then, somewhere around the time Elvis came back from Germany, I discovered and built an AM 100mw radio station in a 100-in-1 Allied Project Lab and began nimbly spinning records aimed to impress the older girls in 4th Grade.

But, when that didn't pan out the way I planned, I got a CB radio for Christmas one year and earned my rightful place with all the nerds in the neighborhood. The vertical antenna looked like a huge Three Musketeers sword had fallen from the clouds and speared the top of our house. The double loop capacitance hat at it's top completed the look. However, even with more power, neither the tall antenna nor my new found friends impressed the same girls who now, it seemed, preferred guitar and drums to my desktop mike and fancy accordian.

Gladly however, my 10-4 days didn't last long when I started plotting my entrance into Ham radio.  As luck would have it, a classmate took me to his house where I saw my first Ham Shack and his dad's brand new just unpacked Collins radios, dwarfed by the stately, yawning Hammarlunds. At that very moment over in the corner a new and very young President Kennedy was on TV giving his "Ask Not" speech to a split and very confused American public.

In 1969 I earned my Novice license. My high school Physics teacher was a seasoned Delta India Charlie Kilowatt and he had told me I was too stupid to ever get a Ham ticket. To his consternation I did pass and quickly turned him into the high school Principal. I know it was a snitch kind of move, but it needed to be done. Then I went off to college and afterwards a Masters program in City Planning.  Had kids, etc. After 43 years I returned to Ham Radio to secure my Tech, General and Extra in 2013.  It's wonderful to be back. I really enjoy all the people I have met on all the frequencies, even the colorful ones.

And so the years roll by. Robin Williams left the planet for good, the Royal Family had more kids, the Stock Market hit 18 and my flatscreen is now 4K Res. I still have a cheese board but these days I really do use it as a cheese board. And I found a gal who thinks it's cool to be a ham. In fact, she reeled in a Technician License and a few months later, a General License.  Her Call Sign is KK6UYP and she is a member of our local City of Carlsbad CERT Team.  I'm very proud of her and I don't have to tell you guys what a blessing it is to have a fellow ham under your share rooftop.  What used to look like a bunch of silly stuff and tired old radios to her now looks like liquid gold!  She's a keeper!

(Thank you everyone for letting me into your QSOs and putting up with me all these many months while I was learning what all the knobs and wires where all about. Thanks to the DX stations who had to pull me out of the noise so that I could brag to my friends. Thanks to my YL who wanted to sell my radios on Craig's list which gave me a kick in the butt to get back into the hobby and save those radios. It's good to be back!) 

Walking along the sand and watching the sun go down 11-17-2015

The Ol' Sock Drawer 480 Radio
holds down the fort at the far end of our house. Made a lot of contacts on this goodie.

After all these years I'm still working with Art Galleries and enjoying every single minute. I earned my stripes in City Planning, but this career has been my passion since 1996. Besides, the art is easy on the eyes, ya think?

The Shack when I First Got Back
TS-930S just purchased alongside older days DX-60B & Allied 2516.

"Bling" in Ham Speak!
Gotta love this hobby!

Written March 2015 - First entry in QRZ
At the time I held General License

My Start Back to the Hobby after being away for 43 years: 

Imagine, after 43 years, a retread. And, a happy retread. Got my Novice in 1969. Morse code was the only mode for me then. Other kids ran to the play field after school, now you can only guess where I went. I had a dipole. A short-ed at both ends, 8 ohm coax running the length of my parents Michigan backyard (not more than 15 feet above ground level per parental parameters, and it was flat country there, no hillside advantages); tapped in the middle, led thru a basement window into my own shack, complete with workspace to build more kits. Heathkit DX60b. CW, on a real old time key!

Today, in my first year of my sixties, what an awesome surprise. It started like this: my Craig's list hungry gal points at my "old radios" up in the garage shelves and says, "Are you really going to use these someday?" (and I begin to think, "I'm in survival mode now"). Thank God she kick started me! (Isn't that what you're supposed to do?)

Next stop, pure luck, I stumbled upon hamwhisperer.com (a great find, perfect free video lessons on Tech and Gen; you let the up-n-comings know it's there). I immediately decided the only way to rescue my rigs (and have a hobby in my retirement) was to get back into it. A great move. So, I studied and passed the Tech and General on the same day in January, 2013.

I am hoping to meet groups I can be a part of on air. Maybe coffee time or anytime. Get to know the locals in the western states. And, like many of us, I like to make DX contacts with the added hope of some meaningful conversation, not just logged and gone. You know what I mean. I'm still getting a feel for which segments of the hobby are the ones for me.

Got the Ticket, need the Rigs and the Wires

With the help of Ron, K2RP, I purchased a 1980's Kenwood TS-930s. It was owned by a Ham who must have purchased it in his late 60's and kept it waiting for me to come along. It's a find. Antenna tuner and all. I have Ron (who cleaned up my DX60, and helped me cut, place and get the antenna operating) and the Palomar Amatuer Radio Club to thank for getting me here, on the air, as fast as I did, even after 44 years. My buddy, Scott, (and a local artist) fed the coax from the garage through the attic to the patio cover (yes,it is a stealth) and fixed it to the top of the cover (we are about 55 feet above the local transitional lagoon, so I do get my fair share of dx). Later on, RF Bob from Palomar Engineers came over and put on the finishing touches by chasing out all the unwanted RF!

I am a lucky guy to have such good friends. And what an unexpected ride it has been. Before all this happened, when I talked about Ham Radio it was always in the past tense, and now, it is now.

I love the stories I hear while on the air. The best one so far was the family who studied together, mom, dad, son and daughter -- each night for Tech, Gen and Extra (and then took all three in one sitting) where not just one, but all passed this past year in 2013!

So, hello, I'm just getting started, again. Hi from Carlsbad. Help me get to know those of you on the air. I'm not up to speed, but I'll get there. 

Off I go, hope to make contact with you soon.

Ken

Update Winter 2014

 I would have never expected even 1/10th of what has happened so far in my first 14 months back in Ham Radio.  The people I have had the opportunity to meet, the things I have learned -  and even the ones who have been marginally agreeable - even they are filled with knowledge to share and learn from.  I am surprised that the ARRL isn't there for us when we need them (referencing a jammer issue),  but it too suffers from the pains of Big Organizations.  

 I am in awe of what local ham clubs can accomplish and their dreams of what they can be in the future.  I get up earlier now since I have been on the air.  I have more to look forward to.  There isn't a day now without a project in the offing.   And the hams I have met are really inspiring individuals.  I am grateful to be here and be surrounded by those who think big and have ideas that are worth thinking about, as opposed to other non-ham groups.  Oh my, If they only knew what they are missing.

The Beach Blanket 'Tenna

Our Universe Reflects Itself Everywhere

We might like to think we can control and shape
everything around us, but one look over our
shoulder tells us that Nature is the real control
operator; guiding the path our signals take,
directing the final destination of our DX contacts.
Five watts or 1500w, it makes little difference,
now does it, if Nature wakes up with a Solar Flare.

How's that for a Stack of Radios? 

 It was one of my greetings
on my Tour of the USS Midway

Thank you for stopping by.

Thank you for being my contact today.

Visit Group7155.com

Visit OhanaNetRadio.com