I had met Don Wallace in the mid-60's at the Visalia (then it was Fresno) DX Convention , but since I lived in Northern California and he in Sourthern California, our paths only crossed once per year. And then when I moved to Ascension Island in 1968, our friendship really took off. I forget which of the 18 rhombics (at the time) passed through ZD8, but his signal was simply outstanding - and we QSOed often.

I moved to Los Angeles in early 1973, and Don invited me to operate his station in a contest, certainly with some reluctance as only Don knew the workings of his station. I soon was able to convince him that the Johnson Viking 2000's (or whatever they were) had to go, and they were soon replaced with a couple of Collins S-Lines. The amplifiers, of course, remained the pairs of 833's and 450TL's, on each band. Later, Don got three Alpha 77's, especially designed by ETO to handle sudden high VSWR's in case the rhombic feedlines should short during high winds. And I believe it safe to say that this custom micro-processor controlled Alpha 77 became the predecessor to the fantastic Alpha 87 amplifiers.

So, pretty much from early 1973 to Don's passing in June 1985, I operated many contests from W6AM, and spent literally 100's of hours there - working on the station and listening to him and the history of ham radio. Don was truly one of the pioneers (I think he got his first "license" in 1912).

During the last couple decades of the W6AM rhombic ranch, it was 'only' 9 rhombics and 18 directions on 24 acres, 1234 ft above the Los Angeles Basin, right on the edge of the Pacific. During its heyday, Don's property was 120 acres with 13 rhombics and 26 directions. The site was originally a trans-Pacific radio site (Press Wireless, I think) and Don somehow "acquired" the property from the billionaire Howard Hughes. Height of the rhombics varied from 100 to 140 ft. In the late 60's or so, Don had to sell 95 of the acres (to pay the property taxes) and he collected the grand sum of $100K for the 95 acres. Today, the property is covered with hundreds of million dollar (plus) homes. Go figure.....

Don Wallace, W6AM, an amazing builder, DXer, contestor, and ham radio enthusiast right up to his passing 25 years ago.

Vy 73

Jim Neiger N6TJ