K7WLX Robert P. 'Bob' Felton Carson City, NV QCWA # 25445 Chapter 190

On the air I go by the handle of "Bob", which is also my nickname outside ham radio.

I was first licensed in June 1958, at age 15. I have been continuously licensed since. My first license was Novice Class with callsign KN2UWR. I was in high school at the time and living in Baldwin, NY. In September 1958 I upgraded to General Class after taking the tests at the FCC office in New York City. Upon upgrade my callsign became K2UWR.

My dad's business transferred him to Reno, NV in early 1963. Being in college at the time, I moved with my parents to Reno. After providing the requisite Form 610 to the FCC, I was assigned the callsign K7WLX in March 1963.

In June 1965 I received a BSEE degree (and a commission in the US Army Signal Corps via ROTC) and in January 1968 I received an MS(EE) degree, both from the University of Nevada, Reno. I attempted to upgrade to Amateur Extra Class in the summer of 1968 while on active duty in the US Army and stationed at Ft. Monmouth, NJ. This test was conducted in front of an FCC examiner and, unfortunately, I failed the receiving 20 WPM CW test by one character. In those days one had to wait 30 days before being able to take the test again.

Shortly thereafter I received orders for a tour of duty in Vietnam. I served with CSEMA, HQ 1st Signal Brigade. Upon return from Vietnam I served a final 5-month assignment at Ft. Lewis, WA, completing my active duty commitment. While there I upgraded to Advanced Class in February 1970 after taking the test at the FCC office in Seattle, WA.

Upon discharge from the army in April 1970 I returned to Reno to find civilian employment. I wound up working in Minden, NV and living in Carson City, NV. In January 1976 employment took me to California (San Juan Capistrano initially and by the end of the year to Carlsbad) where I operated as K7WLX/6 until the FCC changed the rules to allow portability of callsigns between callsign areas.

In 2007 I decided it was time to attempt upgrading to Amateur Extra Class again and I took the test via the VEC system in December 2007 and passed. After upgrade, I decided to keep the callsign I had been using for over 44 years, K7WLX. In August 2008 I moved to Vista, CA and in October of 2011 I moved back to Carson City, NV after retiring.



QTH Information:
County: Carson City is an independent city, not part of any county. For the Worked All Counties Award, any of the adjacent counties can be used, on a one-time basis. Those counties are Washoe, Storey, Lyon, and Douglas.
Latitude: 39.17 (39° 10' 10" N) Longitude: -119.77 (119° 46' 22" W)
Location: Carson City is in the southwest corner of the northwest quadrant of Nevada, about 30 miles (48.3 Km) south of the city of Reno, NV. Carson City resides in Eagle Valley, a valley just east of the Carson Range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada.

Station Equipment:
Rig: Ten-Tec Omni VII (primary)
Ten-Tec Jupiter (backup)
Kenwood TM-261 (local 2 Meter activity)

HF Amplifier: Heathkit SB-200 (with modifications)
Antennas: 1) 110 foot (33.5 meters) doublet in a horizontal vee configuration (90 degree angle) at 18.5 feet (5.6 meters) fed with 450 ohm window line into a 4:1 balun and then via a short length of coax into a remote mounted MFJ-929 autotuner

2) 6-Band (20/17/15/12/10/6 Meters) NA4RR Hexbeam at 23 feet (7.0 meters)
Digital Mode Interface: Tigertronics SignaLink USB
PSK Signal Monitor: KF6VSG PSKMETER

Mobile Operation:
Rig: Icom IC-706MkIIg (80M through 10M, 2M and 440 MHz)
HF Antenna: High Sierra Sidekick screwdriver with 5 foot (1.52 meter) whip remote tuned using an MFJ-1924 Screwdriver Antenna Controller
VHF/UHF Antenna: Comet CSB750A 2M/440 MHz dual-band, fold-over

October 08, 2015