Biography

Retired Fire Captain after serving the public for thirty years in a San Francisco Bay Area community. I ran a 100 foot aerial "truck company". Our job was usually on the roof in the thick of the action. Sliding off the roof, falling through the roof and having the roof fall down on us, just another day on the job. It takes a toll. Many of my co workers are SK as a result of their service.

In addition to amateur radio, my other passion is aviation, having owned numerous airplanes and obtaining my ATP rating, Airframe and Powerplant license and Type Rated in numerous Turbojet aircraft. I was trained by the best, thank you Keith, Ken and the folks at Flight Safety!

Have been to Oshkosh in the good old Twin Aero Commander 500B at least a dozen times, sleeping under that big 49 foot wing. Brewing "cowboy coffee" and taking in the amazing airshows right next to the active runway. I have been asked why do propellers have polished spinners, well it is for the pilot to shave.

Have flown privately owned large corporate aircraft around the world several times I can honestly say:

USA amateurs: Be thankful for the country that YOU live in and for those that stand in harm"s way for all of us.

Dayton Hamvention, attendee almost continually since 1980. What is great about flying a Twin Commander is that you can pile on plenty of "boat anchors" and bring back home all of this "Stuff".

What will I do with all of the "treasures" that I have accumulated over the years? No more room left in the hamshack which is in a large renovated, two story barn.

I am now content to pick up a soldering iron, build or repair something, work some DX, let the phone ring unanswered and maybe open the mail every other month.

In the summertime here it is a joy to see 15 to 20 humming birds scrambling over the feeders.

Living in the beautiful Sierra Nevada foothills at 1500 feet MSL on the top of this hill, a sweeping unobstructed view to the west overlooking the central California Valley to the Pacific Ocean. Looking Northward we see the snow capped mountains.

An amateur radio operators 'dream" location, just minutes from the city of Auburn but far enough away as to have no close neighbors or any antenna restrictions at all. I am working on crank up tower number four now.

14 acres of sanctuary, the coyotes sing at night and many soaring birds of prey riding on the day's thermals.

We are truly blessed to live here! May The Good Lord bless you and your family, de Dennis, W6DEN

Equipment

Icom IC-7700 driving an Alpha 9500 amplifier running Ham Radio Deluxe or DX Commander.

Array Solutions Power Master II Watt meter.

Antennas: Mosley 57 Pro all band WARC beam on a 4 section 70 foot crank up tower.

KLM KT36-XA on 55 foot crank up tower.

Create Designs 714X-x 3 band Yagi, 5 elements 15, 20 and 40 meters. 3 ELEMENTS ON 40 METERS on 55 foot crank up tower.

KLM 6-5 6 meter Yagi.

160 meter offset center fed dipole at 70 feet on a 4 section crank up tower.

Palstar AT2-K antenna tuner.

FlexRadio FLEX-6500 SDR, Windows 10, Maestro controller.

Complete Collins S-line 75S3-B, 32S-3, 30lL-1 amplifier, Collins station console, 51S-1 auxiliary general coverage receiver, Collins 62S-1 six/two meter transverter.

Yaesu FT-1000D and Alpha 76PA, Signalink Rigblaster for the digital modes.

Collins KWM2-A driving a Collins 30S-1 amplifier.

Collins KWS-1/75A-4 Gold Dust Twins.

Yaesu FT-847 for the satellite chores. 2 meter/440 solid state amplifiers, multi element circular polarized satellite antennas mounted on a Yaesu 5500 AZ/EL rotor.
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Military grade receiver:

Collins HF-2050 RX.
Harris R-2368A RX.
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Harris RF350K/RT-1446 solid state transceiver driving the matching 500 watt autotune amplifier using a single 3CX800 tube.
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Several 144/440 Yagis, verticals for various 2/440 FM transceivers.

To switch antennas, a home brew 30 port antenna patch panel utilizing type "C" high power quick connect connectors and jumper cables.

All rotors are: Yaesu G-1000-SDX, some are computer controlled with Ham Radio Deluxe and other CAT programs.