They were not, so the gentleman went to the magazine rack, bought two copies each of ARRL's “How to Become a Radio Amateur” and two copies of the “License Manual.” He presented them to the Len and friend. They never did find out who their benefactor was, but that was their introduction to ham radio.
At San Francisco Technical High School, which Len chose so that he could take courses in Electronics and TV, he also studied for his ticket and received his call, KN6ANP in March, 1953.
Four months later he up-graded to General. (Now he's Extra Class). He went on the air with an S-38, a home brew 6L6 Oscillator, and a 40M dipole. His first DX was a ZL and he got so excited he couldn't sleep all night. Later he built a 6146 rig and went after WAS.
After Junior College, Len went to work for Pacific Bell Telephone where he remained for the 36 years that comprised his entire professional life. He began hooking up wires in the Central Office, but he wanted to get into microwave, so he transferred to the Remote Unit which did pickups at football games, the Republican National Convention and other outside activities. Len had now moved into a Johnson Viking II, NC-183D and a Tribander, making DXCC with that setup. He was an active member of the San Francisco Radio Club, and at one of those meetings he met Rae, daughter of fellow member W6GGC. See, guys, there's more than one plus for going to meetings.
Anyhow, Len being a high-powered operator (ed: couldn't resist) it didn't take long before he and Rae were married and established a home in Santa Rosa. Len then was promoted into first level management. He became involved in designing multiple point circuitry for customers such as Dow Jones. Later he became a Supervisor of crews installing data transmissions systems. Promoted again, he was also transferred to Bellcore Labs New Jersey to work in engineering support for fiber optics and security emergency preparedness radio systems. Len and Rae have four children. Anthony, 33, is manager of a bus company in San Francisco. Alan, 32, W6GGC, is an attorney in San Francisco, and incidentally, got his maternal grandfather's call via the vanity call route. Rebecca 31 is a graphic artist for a computer firm, and Daniel, 30, KA6JHM, has just finished law school. When Len moved back to California from New Jersey, he re-erected the antenna farm, which he had developed before his eastern move. It boasts a 160M delta loop, 80M delta loop, 6 element 20M, 3 element 40M, 2 element 30M, 4 element 15M and 4 element 10M, plus handling a SYSOPS station for his area. His station is a FT-1000D, Alpha 76A, and no-surprise; its all computer controlled. Yes, he has a Big Signal! He's active in selected contests such as CQWW-CW, SS, and Field Day. He has operated overseas from FOØ, VP5 and was a member of the DXpedition to YKØA, Syria, in November, 1994.
Somewhere about the time Len reached the age of 40, a doctor friend told him he was a dedicated lounge lizard and should do a little exercising. Never one to go half way, Len opted to take up running and not just the casual jog around the block to the supermarket, but the long distance stuff-marathons! Major. He has run the Boston twice, Marine Corps once, Portland Oregon twice, Big Sur once, San Francisco three times (last run he was 4th in his age group) and others I'm too tired to mention.
