I was first licensed in June 1958 as KN2UMU at age 11. In April 1959 I passed my general and became K2UMU. I upgraded to extra class in 1970, then moved to California in 1973. My call sign was changed to NS6V in 1982, and to K6RB in 1997. Although I do get on 10 m and 75m AM every now and then (with my Globe King 500 and 75A-4), I am primarily a CW operator spending about half my time rag chewing, and the other half, contesting with a modest SO2R station and single-tower mix of yagis, rotary dipole and wires. You'll find me in the California QSO party, ARRL Sweepstakes CW and Phone, ARRL 10, ARRL 160, ARRL DX contests, CQ WPX, NAQP, NA Sprint, IARU and FOC Marathon. Thanks to my friend, Ed, W0YK, I am also now to be found in a couple of RTTY contests. I am a member of FOC, the Northern California Contest Club (NCCC), and CWops.

My current station consists of a modern SO2R set up and a vintage one. The vintage is a Globe King 500 and 75A-4. I use it mostly for casual CW QSOing and occassional AM. The SO2R station has a pair of K3/P3 combinations, one is teamed with an Alpha 87A amp, the other uses a KPA-500. Contest switching is done with an old 750 MHz CPU shack computer and DX Doubler. Band changes are as easy as hitting a button on either K3. That will trigger the band decoder to update the band-pass filter and antenna switch using ShackLAN. The Eight-Pak antenna switch will prevent both K3s from connecting to the same antenna.

There are 7 feedlines from the various antennas (see photo). The 5 BA at 75 feet has three feedlines (20, 17/15 and 10/12); the EF230/240 at 82 feet has two feedlines (30 and 40); the Sigma 180X at 90 feet has one (80) and the Double L wire antenna tethered to the tower has one (160). So, the single-tower installation covers 160, 80, 75, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. Resonance at the feedpoint of the 80 meter antenna is controlled from inside the shack but the feedpoint coils are at 90 feet. It's a device called a "Tornado" which expands or compresses a coil housed inside a PVC cylinder.