Pete Petersen, WY7Z

ARS WY7Z is in the closet. To come out I slide open the door and raise the drop leaf to form an operating table. The station consists of a Kenwood TS-430S with matching power supply, tuner, and speaker; lollipop mike; Yaesu FL-2100B amplifier; plain brass key; and an old Icom 2M rig.

The grey antenna control panel connects to antenna cables inside the wall. The right half of the shelf usually holds whatever IÌm tinkering with at the moment Û currently a Hallicrafters S-41G. The upper shelf contains a small part of our vacuum tube collection.

When I was a kid in the 1940s I built crystal sets and one-tube radios. I got my first call sign, WG6AEC, while at the Naval Air Station on Guam in 1951-1952. I didnÌt have a station so I borrowed the use of radios in navy aircraft. My Novice license expired after one year and I didnÌt renew it. In 1983, I got another Novice license, KA7QDB, and upgraded to Extra class in 1989. I donÌt operate as much as I used to because my time is increasingly taken with collecting and restoring antique radios. My wife, Shirley (she who must be obeyed) participates in the collection and we have over 150 radios dating back to the early days of radio. There is a limit to the number of radios SWMBO will allow in the living room but the house is starting to look like a museum. ItÌs fun sometimes in a QSO with a ham to tell he heÌs being received on a 1933 Hammarlund Comet Pro, or a Patterson Allwave, or whatever I chose for the day.