Dedications and My Current and Previously
Held Amateur call signs / QTHs:

This web page is dedicated
to the memories of my dear
friends
and especially to my Uncle Ron (W6ZF)


 

  Ainsley Phillips
North Biloxi, Mississippi

KA5NAL
called himself 
the "Naturalized American Limey"  
(SK-1985)
 
Ainsley, breaking into my very first ham radio QSO to pass along your phone
 number and to ask me to call you led to a great friendship, one that I will
remember for the rest of my life. We helped one other learn everything we could
about ham radio and it was so much fun; you made it even more so. 
Those trips to New Orleans to take our amateur exams
and those to  Kenner, Louisiana to to visit W5QJP were a blast.
Sorry about placing the wires for the secondary battery so close
to the exhaust on your truck.  I'm glad the resulting problem wasn't too serious. 
It was an honor to have known you and especially to have worked emergency
services with you those many times and most notably in Slidell, Louisiana in 1983
when we worked alongside St. Tammany Parish officials
No doubt you have your wings by now Ainsley...enjoy DX'ing and touring the entire universe.
 

 
Clyde Hurlbert
Gulfport, Mississippi
 
W5CH
(SK-1984)
 
Former ARRL Delta Division Director
 
Clyde we sure had a blast staying on the air while you were watching your house.  We were each
others' first contact on the WARC bands when each became available at midnight :01 on their respective dates.
 


Charlie Kelly
Song Tan, Republic of South Korea

HL9CK
(SK-1995?)
 
Charlie, thanks for taking a stubborn young man aside to explain to him
the importance and the integrity of the amateur radio volunteer examination program.
It was because of you that I became a VE and eventually ran two teams simultaneously
and helped many people more obtain their tickets.  Thank you Charlie.
 

Walter and Bea Daniels
Orange City, Mississippi

W5SGL

 WD5JXT

Walt and Miss Bea thank you for the many chats, letters and long distance QSO's.
I miss you both and you two are at the top of my list of the nicest hams I've ever met.


And very special regards to my Great-Uncle

Ronald Gray Martin
 (Colonel USAF-Retired)
Napa, California
 
 W6ZF
 (SK - Mar 16, 1999)
 
Uncle Ron may you rest in peace.  You helped to get
me interested in amateur radio. Thanks for all the letters you wrote
over the years; they were always so interesting. I'm so glad I had the opportunity
to have those HF QSO's with you. Thank you for the minestrone soup the day
 I visited you in Napa while waiting for my port call
 to go to Korea in May of '89. We didn't see each other often
so that was a big thrill for me.  Thank you for all those
bottles of wine from your "wine cellar."  My brother, mother
and I enjoyed some good stuff.  I'm a Riesling fan myself.
 
It was an honor holding your call sign W6ZF and I was happy to
keep the call in the Martin family for a little while longer.  I felt a great sense of 
responsibility while holding your call sign and knowing its history.  I know you
understand why I gave it up for a more friendly CW call even though you were one
of the great CW operators of your time Uncle "RM"  You must be ecstatic to
have Aunt Francis and Sharon with you now.

73 and gud DX....SK


KA5MWD [1981] Biloxi, Mississippi [Keesler Air Force Base]

I obtained my Novice Class amateur radio license after taking classes given by Paul Goble - WA2VMS (now ND2X) at the Keesler Amateur
Radio Club - K5TYP.  Just a note: Paul's daughter Jennifer was a Novice licensee during the time I was taking the class.  She was 9 years old
at the time.  When Jennifer was 11 she obtained the call sign NE0M.  I call that very impressive.


N1CLS [1982] Biloxi

In August of 1982 I passed my General Class exam at the FCC Field Examination Office in New Orleans, Louisiana.
I had to sign "KA5MWD Interim O-R" until my new license arrived in the mail. Using my home address of Lowell, Massachusetts
I obtained a first area call sign and was later elected President of K5TYP.  I wasn't the best radio club president in the world but was able to
keep the radio club from being disbanded by the base MWR (Morale Recreation and Welfare) and I ran many amateur radio classes during
my term in office. I also joined the Mississippi Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Association.


KB1LW [1983] Biloxi

I upgraded to Advanced Class in August of 1983, exactly 30 days after my first attempt at the New Orleans testing office.
My heaviest involvement in amateur radio emergency services occurred on the Mississippi Gulf Coast during this time.
I served as an AEC (Assistant Emergency Coordinator), under EC W5WLF, for Harrison County, during some of the worst
weather conditions I had ever experienced. For the first time in my life I saw water so deep that two story homes were
completely submerged. Ainsley Phillips, KA5NAL, and I drove to Slidell, Louisiana in his Jeep CJ-7 to assist St. Tammany
Parish officials when the Pearl River flooded the area. Two years later, on Labor Day of 1985, as I was getting ready
to transfer out of Mississippi, Hurricane Elena decided to make landfall over Biloxi and with 135 MPH winds. I had the
privilege of working with the American Red Cross in Pascagoula, Mississippi providing communications between there and
the Red Cross operations in Mobile, Alabama .


KB1LW [1985] Portsmouth, New Hampshire [Pease Air Force Base]

Within a week of my arrival to New England, Hurricane Gloria breezed through. She was more an annoyance than anything
else by the time she reached Massachusetts.  Guess who was blamed, by the local ham community, for bringing her up here
with me from the Gulf Coast? All I can say is, " I didn't do it!" - an O.J. and Bart Simpson Quote.


HL9ZF [Jun89 - Jun 90] Sóng Tan , Republic of Korea [Osan Air Base]

I received my HL9 ticket within 24 hours of arriving in country.  Talk about expediency. The only time, in my
 little over 20 years of military service, that I ever saw anything move that fast, other than some of the air
traffic I worked from the control tower, was my squad in basic training heading for the chow hall. I joined the
AARCK, American Amateur Radio Club of Korea shortly thereafter. Charley Kelly, HL9CK convinced me of the
integrity of the amateur radio Volunteer Examination program and because of him I decided to become a VE myself.
Before leaving Korea I made a half-hearted attempt to obtain my Amateur Extra Class ticket. My plan was to do just
that when the first call area got into the "W" 2x1 call signs. I did manage to pass the 20 wpm code test so walked out
with a CSCE,  certificate of successful completion,  for that.  Photo of me taken while on the VIP tour of the DMZ in
May of 1990 standing less than 50 yards from the North Korean Border. You will NOT notice me standing there with my
hand in my pocket. That is an order!!  My headquarters squadron section commander and good friend, Stan Spillers,
arranged  it so that those of us who went on this DMZ tour received the same tour as did President Reagan on his visit.
It was an experience I'll never forget.


KB1LW [1990] Alamogordo, New Mexico [Holloman Air Force Base]

My orders said, "Report to White Sands Missile Range." I did that and nothing happened.  So, I thought I'd better report
to a human body.  The unit I was to be assigned to had a classified mission and everything was stamped, "DATA MASKED."
I wasn't quite sure to whom I was to report to but they sure put me to work. I ended up with the 4th Space Warning Squadron,
of Air Force Space Command. My job there was so secret even I never really knew what it was. It didn't take long for me to find
out how come even though I was sporting an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University decal on the rear window of my vehicle, why most
of the younger officers had Starfleet Academy decals on the rear windows of their own vehicles.


WK1V [1990] Alamogordo

Shortly after my family and I arrived in Alamogordo I joined the Alamogordo Amateur Radio Club.  At the Alamogordo Hamfest, in
September, I made an attempt at the Extra Class written exam - my first attempt since Korea. I had to bone up on my math a bit and ended
up going back the next day -- and finally passed. Before my new license arrived the Air Force sent me to Omaha, Nebraska to attend a
Frequency Management Seminar. I was on a layover at the airport in Phoenix, Arizona talking to Michelle, my XYL (wife for non-hams) on
the telephone when she opened the mail and told me I had a new call sign. Having my Icom 2/AT with me I promptly got on the air
 (after finishing the phone call of course) to show off my new call sign. Later, in 1991, I took over the ARRL and W5YI VE team operations in
Alamogordo.  Michelle obtained her ticket in April of 1992, and received her call sign -- N1MBV. (Of course the rules did not allow me to
participate in her testing process...but she aced her exams nonetheless) She was later elected Secretary of the AARC don't ya know. You'll
 never guess who actually recorded the club meeting minutes. And, it was from Alamogordo that I ended my 20+ year career with the Air Force
 on September 1st of 1993, what a trip!


WK1V [1993 - 2001] Dracut, Massachusetts [Now "HOME" Air Force Base]

Well, we're here! And this is where we are! For five and a half years we lived with my father-in-law in Lowell, MA.  During that time
 I attended school at U/Mass Lowell and at Boston University's Corporate Education Center.  I  worked at Ham Radio Outlet in Salem, New
 Hampshire with some of the best people I've ever had the pleasure to work with and for.  Most of them anyway.... I want to thank Bob
Ferrero for letting be a part of his fine organization.   I now work in  the security access control industry.  I was hired as a  technical support
 specialist in May of '97 and in February of '98 I was invited to  join the Y2K team.  We made our security systems Y2K compliant for our
 customers who include over half of the Fortune 500 companies. In July of 2000 I was promoted to Sr. Specialist, Customer Technical Support.
  My wife and I purchased our own home located in Dracut, MA in February of 1999.


W6ZF [2001 - 2002] Dracut, Massachusetts

To keep Uncle Ron’s call sign in the family, I applied for it on March 16,   2001. On April 3, 2001 the FCC Database reflected that the call
sign was now assigned to me and that my old call WK1V had been canceled.   


WK1V [2002 - 2004] Dracut, Massachusetts

 On the 28th of May 2002 after missing my former call sign so much I applied to re-obtain it.  On the 15th of June 2002 my application was granted by the FCC
and I once again held the call WK1V.


W6ZF [2004 - 2007] Dracut, Massachusetts

I now hold the call sign W6ZF once and for all. After two years I decided it's best to keep this call in the family and it's what I really wanted to do.   I took a little bit
 of grief from the self-appointed "call sign cops" but who are they anyhow?  It's the FCC that I have to deal with.  I explained my situation to them and that's all there
 is to it. The license was re-granted on the 6th of June 2004. 


W1KQ [2007 - Present] Dracut, Massachusetts

More cw contesting and so many question marks in response to my call sign created the need for me to mention something in the Yankee Clipper Contesting Club
reflector that I needed a cw friendly call.  I received an email from a fellow club member who was keeping track of SK calls.  Looking myself I wasn't aware of this
 call, W1KQ.  Checking the SSDI database at Rootsweb.com I was able to get the data I needed to send to the FCC to request cancellation of the call.   The call
was granted in February and I've been happy with it since.


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This page was last updated on  2 December 2008

Copyright 2008
W1KQ, Dracut, MA, USA