The Man Behind The Mic
Dave Tulloss - K7DRT
I have been a ham since 1980. Both my dad and my mother's brothers were hams. They are all silent keys now. Their calls W8JBK (dad's), W8ISM, W8IST.
I remember as a child my dad having these large black boxes hanging on the wall of our den. His receiver was a Hallicrafters SX series model similar to the SX-28. When I was a teenager, while working in his machine shop, I played that "horrible" new teen music called Rock N Roll (1955 - 1960) on that receiver. I have my dad's and uncle's QSL cards which I treasure. My dad's is a confirmed QSO with one of my uncles in the late 30's.
I was born in Whittier, California and raised in Pico, later Pico-Rivera, California. I attended schools in Whittier and Montebello. I went into the Air Force at age 17 after graduating from high school. While in the Air Force I spent time in Texas, California, Montana, Morocco and Roswell, New Mexico. I then traveled to Denver to start my new civilian career in Denver, Colorado. I had a motorcycle, $200.00 and no debts. It was there I met Joyce. Two years later, I got on with IBM, Joyce and I were married and moved to Boulder, Colorado. We were transferred by IBM to Tucson, Arizona in 1978. Joyce and I have been married 44 years (1966-2010), raised seven children and now have fifteen grandchildren. The oldest two were ten years old this year. I retired from IBM after 38 years in the business in 2004.
During my thirty years as a ham I have operated contests, worked some DX, participated in public service events and built antennas with our radio club. I am currently interested in hf, especially 40 meters, antenna design and public service events. I also love to camp and set up portable antenna systems and operate. My station is described in my home web page. (k7drt.com)
73 from Dave, K7DRT