1970s

Club station on the UCLA campus in the early 1970’s. Antenna was a 3-band 4-el. quad with full size 2-el. 40 M beam rebuilt by Rocco Lardiere (N6KN), Ken Seidner (WA6DPQ), and club members.
Close-up view of the quad and beam antennas.
Field day preparation in June, 1978, at the Sunset Recreation Center softball field.
Field day June, 1978 (In operating position, Jeff Hillman (AI6K), Club President. Standing, Paul Wang (KU6T), Faculty Advisor.)

1970:

  • Marty Woll (N6VI, formerly WB6VZI) became Club President and held the post until 1972.
  • George Tauxe (W6FJT) was the Faculty Advisor.
  • Funds from UCLA Recreational Affairs were obtained to purchase a new Drake 4-line.
  • Member Clint Bauer (WB6WIT) and Marty managed to obtain an auto-tune HB3-1000Z HF amplifier from Henry Radio.
  • A 20′ tower with 4-element triband quad and a 2-element 40m beam plus dipoles on 80 and 160m were installed.
  • The shack had bad echoes from the concrete walls that became a hallmark of our SSB signals.
  • A 2-weekend “DXpedition” to Nevada was arranged for the ARRL DX Contest. Gene Rock (K7OQQ) was the host for our visit.
  • The new Drake 4-line did not last long. It was stolen the same year!
  • Other active members were Ron Ellis (now KH6DV) and Astronomy Professor John Irwin (K6SE).
  • Awarded DXCC (150 countries).

1972:

  • Purchased a used Drake T-4XB Xmtr. Traded in the National NCX-5 transceiver for a Drake R-4A Receiver to match the T-4XB.
  • The Club was very active in contests. Marty (N6VI) participated in the WPX contest (single op.) and obtained a score of 877,965 points.
  • The antenna rotator gave us fits.
  • The UCLA basketball team was winning continuously in Pauley Pavilion.
  • Mini-skirts and bell-bottoms were seen in our shack, though not on the same person at the same time.

1973:

  • Ken Seidner (WA6DPQ) began his 3-year term as Club President.
  • The Club continued to be very active.
  • Used HB3-1000Z amplifier to good effect.
  • Participated (and won) the College Bowl Contest.

1974:

  • Lots of activity. Participated in FD.
  • Many phone patches being run to South America by club members from that continent.
  • Lots of contesting.
  • W6YRA big signal on 160 and on OSCAR 6 (?).
  • Procured better rotator.
  • Began OSCAR satellite operations using Heath transverter on 2 m and 10 meter quad for downlink. Homebrew orbit calculators and slide rules in use.

1975:

  • Rebuilt quad using teflon wire after many failures of original copperweld. Had to tune it up carefully. Big signal resulted.
  • Built SB220 amp after 3-1000Z reclaimed by graduating owner.
  • Some club members worked at Henry Radio (close to campus), so we got a discount!
  • Club active in Mardi Gras – rebuilt the REAL, GENUINE, ORIGINAL Star Trek helm and made it work, lights and all (hard to believe, but true) as part of ESUC booth.
  • Traded in the Drake R4-A and T4X-B for a Kenwood TS-900 + VFO-900 with a Shure-444 Mike.

1976:

  • Big signals, lots of stations worked.
  • Received TVI QSL from US Congressman, who was contacted by old lady in Century City whose TV picked us up on 6-m AM. She noted that she normally received only sound on Ch 2, no picture, indicating she was truly tuned close to our operating frequency. Message from Congressman resulted in shutting down 6-m AM activity, for some reason.
  • Ken Seidner (WA6DPQ) and Rocco Lardiere (NK6N) participated in WPX Contest, and attained first place in the 6-th district.

1977:

  • Ken Seidner (WA6DPQ) and Rocco Lardiere (N6KN) graduated—only to find themselves working together on real space vehicles at McDonnell Douglas a few years later.
  • McDonnell Douglas Huntington Beach picked up a slightly used 40-m beam when it departs W6YRA in 1983.

1978:

  • George Tauxe (W6FJT) retired after serving as Trustee and Faculty Advisor of W6YRA since 1969.
  • Paul Wang (KU6T) took over the job in November,1978.
  • During this year, we had 58 active members.
  • Jeff Hillman (AI6K) served as the Club President, Jack Burke (KA6ARN) as Vice President, and Leslie Kuhn (WD6BAY) as Secretary and Treasurer.
  • Leslie did an outstanding job in redecorating the shack, and in designing the QSL cards which are still in use today (see Home page).
  • The Club members donated money to put in a new rug and furniture for the shack.
  • The Kenwood TS-900S was the work-horse rig of the Club.
  • An ICOM IC221 was used for 2M.
  • Rocco (N6KN), Art Tanaka (WA6TKO), Jeff (AI6K), Leslie (WD6BAY), and Daniel Cafaro participated in the WPX SSB contest, and attained first place in the 6-th district (multi-single) with a score of 890,442 points.

1979:

  • Traded in our old faithful TS900S + VFO-900 for a brand new Kenwood TS180S. That was a mistake. Within a year, the rig’s final transistors were burnt out. It cost us over $100 to replace them. It appeared that radios with transistor finals were to too fragile for our club station. Tube finals seldom suffered instant death!
  • Jeff (AI6K), Bob Maxwell (WB6LHO), Leslie (WD6BAY), Ken (WA6DPQ),and Rocco (N6KN) participated in the WPX SSB Contest, and attained first place in the 6-th district (4-th place in the U.S.) with a score of 2,115,608 points!