EARLY YEARS:
In 1958 I was first licensed as KN9PXV when I was a senior at Moline, Illinois High School and upgraded to K9PXV as a General in 1959. Shown at left is my first qsl card. My dad, K9PXU and I took our exams at the same time so I created a qsl card that reflected both call signs.
The picture at right is our first rig as generals', from left to right, the Johnson Viking Valiant transmitter, D-104 mic, Hammarlund speaker, Johnson bug, and a Hammarlund HQ-110C receiver, a few months after this photo was taken we upgraded the receiver to a HQ-170C.
The balun at the top left side of the photo is the Heathkit balun to match a 300 ohm dipole and the low pass filter was attached to the feedline of the Mosley tribander beam. TVI was a real problem in the late 50's and early 60's.
The photo to the left shows the new receiver, the HQ-170C and the Elmac Trans-Citer AF-67 mobile rig which is sitting on the AC power supply, a Vibroplex bug, and a new base for the D-104 microphone.
I left the hobby in 1961 when I went on to senior college at Illinois State University and had to let my license lapse for inactivity.
Back in the 60's, to be able to renew your license you had to prove that you had been on the air during the last six months before the renewal or you are not eligible to renew you license.
30 YEARS LATER:
Then during the next 30 years I would think about getting back into the hobby but family, jobs, etc. kept my interest elsewhere.
Finally around the Christmas season of 1991 I got back into the hobby by passing my novice exam and then in Feb. of 1992 I passed my extra class exams and received the call of AA8GL.
VANITY CALLSIGN:
Then in 1996 I was awarded the vanity call of W8EB which incorporates all three of my initials, William E. Blick.
Thanks to W1TE, I was able to obtain a qsl card with the call sign of W8EB dated May 22, 1948. Joe Aker of Ohio was assigned the callsign of W8EB from 1947 through 1978 when he became a silent key (SK).
Chuck, W1TE, buys up all the old qsl cards that he finds. Then he sorts through the Extra Class callsigns and then checks the databases to see if the callsign is now assigned as a vanity call. Then he contacts the current holder of that callsign to see if they want the qsl card. I jumped at the opportunity to have the card.
Previous holders of 8EB and/or W8EB were Robert Munsell from 1913-1916, Russell Blair from 1920-1935 and Joe Aker from 1947-1978.
HAM RADIO INTERESTS:
My main ham radio interests are chasing the DX especially on the top bands, 160, 80 and 40 meters, contesting, especially RTTY, and being DX on St. Maarten each year as PJ7/W8EB & PJ7B and formerly PJ8A & PJ7WB with my wife, Dorothy, W8DVC.
CURRENT DX STATUS:
DXCC on CW, RTTY and SSB modes, DXCC Honor Roll with 336 countries worked and confirmed out of a grand total of 337, 5 Band DXCC Award #4955, WAS-160, WAZ-CW Award #124, and 64 countries confirmed on 160.
COLLECTING OLD EQUIPMENT:
I also enjoy collecting the old "boatanchors" that I used when I was a kid. Currently I have a Hammarlund HQ-170C receiver, Hammarlund HQ-180C receiver, a Johnson Viking Ranger transmitter, and a Dentron Clipperton L amplifier.
Several years ago I was able to locate a Heathkit Warrior amplifier that my father and I built when I was a kid. At the 2003 Dayton Hamvention I sold the amplifier and a Johnson Viking Valiant. Those rigs were just to heavy to move around. It was time for someone else to enjoy them.
CURRENT EQUIPMENT:
Yaesu FT-1000MP, IC-746 for 6 and 2 meters, an Alpha 87A Amplifier, Nye Viking MB-V-A Match Box, KAM+ TNC for RTTY and VHF Packet use plus the computer systems. FT-100D with ATAS antenna for the mobile operation, and an Icom IC-7000, the Ameritron ALS-500 amplifier and a screwdriver antenna for the 34' Southwind Storm motorhome.
For my logging program I use DX4WIN software.
CURRENT ANTENNA SYSTEM:
My present antenna setup is a 2 element 5 band Lighning Bolt Quad for 10 through 20 meters at 75 feet, a 40 meter rotatable dipole at 85 feet all mounted on a 70 foot PiROD free standing tower and a HyGain HyTower Vertical for 80 and 160 meters.
Another interest of mine is a 1969 Ford Torino GT Convertible pictured at left.
My first brand new car was a 1969 Torino GT Convertible purchased back in the spring of 1969. The color was Black Jade with a white top, white interior and factory installed A/C. I sold the car in 1972 since the company I was then working for furnished me with a vehicle.
During my college days I had a 1954 Ford Convertible, yellow in color with a black top and yellow/black interior.
In October of 1998 I saw an ad for this car and worked like crazy to convince my wife to let us buy the car. It was the perfect replacement for both former convertibles. The car was in pretty good condition but I have replaced much of the chrome trim, had the transmission rebuilt and the interior redone.
We have entered the car in several car shows and are learning the ropes and politics of the meets. We have been in several parades with the car including the Michigan State University 1999 and 2001 Homecoming celebrations. The car was invited to be in the Henry Ford Museum Car Show for the summers of 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. It has also been shown at the National Fairlane Car Show in Tennessee July 2000 where it received a first place trophy for cars of its class and in Arizona July 2001 where it took 2nd place, June 2003 in Cromwell, Ct. the car place 3rd and in 2004 it took another 1st place trophy at the Dearborn, Michigan show. The car won a 3rd place trophy for all 1969 Ford Torino's at the 2002 All Ford Car show in Carlisle, Pa. and in 2003 the car won a 1st place trophy for all 1969 Torino's.
I am now in the process of restoring a 1968 Ford Ranchero and hope to have it ready for the 2005 summer car shows. Here are some photos of the car's progress since bringing the car home on Dec. 17, 2002.
HAM BUDDIES SINCE THE 50'S
The Mystery Man on the K9PXV web site http://www.qsl.net/k9pxv is none other than KV4FZ, Herb Schoenbohm shown here in the lower right hand corner.
The picture was taken in the fall of 1959 when a group of young hams, from left to right, K9JXY now W0OHU, K9PXV now W8EB, K9AKS,and W0VXO now KV4FZ (Herb), and K9CHZ who was taking the picture, plus others from the Quad Cities were operating in one of the VHF Contests.
K9AKS, Curt Roseman is credited with creating the Grid Square mapping that the VHF-UHF hams use to pin point their geographic location.
All of the then young hams are now still active after over 40 years.
CONTACT ME:
Please feel free to email me at w8eb@cablespeed.com or check out the other site for the Great Lakes DX / Contest Club at http://www.qsl.net/k9pxv/ and the PJ8A / PJ7B St. Maarten Web site at http://www.qsl.net/pj7b/.
Good DX, 73 for now,
Bil W8EB-PJ7WB-PJ7B-PJ8A