W6VVV

I attended school in Highgrove, and Riverside California. I left school in 1955 and started an automotive repair shop on Baseline Street in San Bernardino. I closed the shop in 1957 and went to work running cycads and other items across the southern border of Texas and Mexico. I also hauled palm trees out of South Texas and brought them to California. I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that I probably hauled half of the palm trees in Palm Springs in from South Texas. I left that business in 1959 and joined the California Division of Forestry as a firefighter and later as an engineer. I met my wife while stationed at the Hesperia CDF station. I proposed to her on our second date and we were married two months later. (I was never much of a procrastinator) That was 49 years, four children, seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren ago. We have had a wonderful life together, so that blows all of those whirlwind courtship theories out of the water. I went to work for the Riverside City Fire Department in 1962 as a fireman. I left the fire department in 1969 to pursue a career in electronics. I went to work at the local Motorola Service Shop in Riverside as a two-way radio tech. I left Motorola in 1972 and started Layton Electronics. I owned two shops, one in Crestline and one in Hesperia. I also built three of my own repeater sites and owned several conventional 450mhz and 800mhz repeaters as well as trunked 800mhz repeaters. I sold the business in 1985 and retired. We sold our truck/camper and bought a 31’ Coachman fifth wheel and the ford pickup that I still drive to this day. We went full time in this rig for about a year. We got bored with traveling and returned home. I had always regretted quitting school and had over the years attended many classes in the community college system. I went back to San Bernardino Valley College and Cal State San Bernardino and finished up with a degree in business. (A little late to be of any value except personal self satisfaction) I went back to work as the branch manager for the eastern shops with the company that bought me out. They did realignment in 1989 and I left in disgust. I went to work in Lancaster for the County of Los Angeles ISD as a Senior Electronics Comm Tech. I remained with the county until my retirement in October of 2002. We drifted around sharing time at our place in California and Arizona and our family. We bought a house with over a half-acre of land on the mesa in Hesperia, California in Oct 2008. I finally have enough property to put up an antenna and presently am running a 135-foot long wire and an inverted V antenna. We sold the Quartz Hill CA and the Yuma AZ property and now reside at the Hesperia location only. We have always been avid camping fans spending our honeymoon camping. We bought our first rig in 1978 and have been RV’ing ever since. I started checking into the RV Service net sometime back in the early 80’s and became a control operator on the Pacific Coast RV Net in May of 2004. I have been a life member of the WBCCI for many years. I was a charter member of the Good Sam Club and am now a charter life member. I recently became a member of the WPSS .  I try to Check into the Rocky Mountain RV Net, 7184 Khz at 0530 pst and the Pacific Coast RV Net 7268.5 Khz at 0900 pst daily. I usually do net control duties on the Pacific Coast RV Net at least twice a month Doyalene and I both acquired our ham tickets right after our marriage. We both have the original issue of WB6FLG and WB6VVV calls. I recently applied for and received the vanity call W6VVV. (I have wanted to get rid of that darn B in my call for years) Doyalene, and our youngest son Gerry (KB6AQD) are both generals, our oldest son Gary (K7VVV) and myself are both extras. We all enjoy the hobby. Our youngest daughter Christine was a novice but her interest waned and she let it drop.  My precious Doyalene became a silent key on May 22, 2015.  Doyalene spent 53 years, 7 months, 4 days and 3 hours and 40 minutes with me trying to be the best wife, mother and grandmother she could be.  Boy did she score!