Biography

I live in Southern California in the city of Arcadia, 12 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Arcadia is located in the San Gabriel Valley, just east of Pasadena (famous for the New Year's Day Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl). I have lived in the San Gabriel Valley my entire life.

I was an SWL since about age 7 or 8 when my dad gave me an old tube shortwave receiver that I believe he picked up when he was in the Merchant Marines during World War II. I'm not sure what make/model that receiver was, but I keep looking at images on the Internet, trying to find it. That radio eventually died and my parents got me a Heathkit GC-1A "Mohican" receiver.

I got my Novice license in 1968 when I was 15. I passed my General in 1969, becoming WA6FWN. My station at that time consisted of a Hallicrafters HT-37 transmitter and a Hallicrafters SX-111 receiver. The antennas were a tri-band beam (20, 15 & 10 meters) up about 40 feet and a 40 meter dipole. I also operated on the K6MYK 2 meter AM repeater located on Mt. Lee in Hollywood with a Heathkit Twoer.

I let that license expire and took and passed the General test (again) in the mid 70's becoming WB6NAQ. During this time I operated strictly on 2 meters, mostly on the Mount Wilson repeater, WA6TDD. I was also president of the Mount Wilson Repeater Association (MWRA) for a year. I let that license expire somewhere around 1980.

Thirty-something years later, in November 2013, my son-in-law got me to take the test again. I "studied" by taking a General practice test on the Internet about 6 or 8 times while eating breakfast at Coco's restaurant right before the test. To my surprise, I passed both the Technician and the General (for the 3rd time) exams, becoming KK6HVX. I discovered that my original call was available, so I "reclaimed" the call WA6FWN. In June 2014 I upgraded to Amateur Extra class.

I currently operate on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters using a Kenwood TS-530SP and a fan dipole up about 30 feet. I also operate on 2 meters and 70 cm., mostly on the WIN System.

I work for AdvancedWare Corporation, a small software company in Irvine CA. I do technical support and I also develop applications. I program in UniVerse and UniData Basic, Visual Basic .NET, C# .NET and Progress ABL.

73, Phil WA6FWN

Worked DXCCs:

Equipment

Kenwood TS-530SP, MFJ-969 Antenna Tuner, Kenwood MC-50 microphone, Yaesu FT-101EE