K1FT Charles L 'Deke' Lightfoot III Barrington, RI QCWA # 33764 Chapter 112

Celebrating continuous active Amateur Radio since January 1960

The picture below was taken in the 90's during my heavier boatanchor days. Overhead steam pipes provided the heat and contributed greatly to the decor. The main picture at the top is the same spot after a shack remodeling - running a FT1000MP MKV field, TS-590 or Flex-3000 with a LK-450 - seldom needed. The second picture below is the current vintage station with a SX-111/HT-37, Drake 4 Line and TS-830S. The last two pictures are from 1963 and 1964. In 1963 the main rig was a homebrew phasing SSB rig with (the same) HQ-129X - the little Gonset IV for 2 meters was provided by RACES for community Civil Defense nets but was used mainly for ragchewing with the other teenage hams in Northern New Jersey. The last picture in 1964 has the addition of a SX-111 and a homebrew amplifer running a pair of 811's.




In 1957 I built a Knightkit Space Spanner regenerative receiver starting for me this lifelong hobby. Licensed in 1960 my novice call was WV2KAE in New Providence, NJ. Since then my calls have included WA2KAE, W2KAE, AA6DF, WA7IYF, WB5CPI and WB6JEU, moving around the country for school, Army, and working for Collins Radio Company, M/A-COM, and GenRad. My sons, Austin (N1PQW) and Will (KB1ELX) were both licensed as youngsters. In March 2011 I retired and stay active with math and literacy skill tutoring through a national volunteer organization.

Hopefully we get a chance for a friendly ragchew one of these days.

73, Deke

March 22, 2015