Local area outside of Ridgecrest, CA. (Photo courtesy of 'CALEPO') Photo is used in one of my current QSL cards designs. I make my own from photos. Who is KI6LO? My name is Gene Brewer and I live in Ridgecrest, CA. My home is in the upper Mojave Desert of southern California, about 150 miles NE of Los Angeles, CA. I have lived here since 1986 so I consider myself a 'desert rat'. One of my other hobbies outside ham radio is exploring and photographing the surrounding desert and mountains. Click here to learn about my hometown and some of the surrounding sights and areas. Click here for my listing in the QRZ.COM database. I like to build antennas and accessories. I have homebrewed (or converted) most of the station accessories and interfaces I use. I only wish Heathkit were still around, hihi. My Amateur Radio Activities I was first licensed as Novice Class in 1976 with call sign WN5UZU. Later in same year the FCC change the policy of identifying Novices with a 'N' in the prefix, so my call was changed to WB5UZU. In 1978, I upgraded to General Class as retained the same call sign. In 1980, while attending college in Dallas, TX, I upgraded to Advanced Class. Moving to California in 1986, I applied for a '6' area call sign and received my current call of KI6LO from the next available call sign pool. In 2001, I finally decided to upgrade to Extra with a bit of persuasion from my dad (Jack, W5DQ) and my elmer and best friend (Steve, WB5MFI). I am a member of the following organizations related to amateur radio: American Radio Relay League (ARRL) East Kern County ARES/RACES Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) TEN-TEN International (10-10# 24965) Sierra Amateur Radio Club (SARC) of Ridgecrest, CA High Desert DX Association (HIDEXA) SoCAL high Mojave Desert area World Wide Six Meter Club (6mt.com) Equipment that I own/owned (*) or had opportunity to use (+): KENWOOD: TS-520S(*),TS-830S(*),TS-440S/AT(*),TH-D7A(*),TH-27(*),TM-G707A(*) YAESU: FT101E(+),FT-726R(*),FT-1500M(*),FT-100D(*) HEATHKIT: HW-16/HG-10 VFO(*),HW-101(*),SB-103/SB-104(+),SB-1400(FT-747 clone*) DUOBANDER 80M / 40M (+) ATLAS 210X (+) RADIO SHACK HTX-10 (*) TEMPO ONE (+) TEN-TEC: ARGONAUT 505 (*), 1209 2M to 6M Transverter (*)