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Dave Bell W6AQ
In early 1951, Dave Bell was licensed W8GUE in Andover, Ohio. In 1956, he was DL4NV in Stuttgart, Germany and was a principle operator of DL4USA, originating thousands of phone patches.
In 1960, D...view moreIn early 1951, Dave Bell was licensed W8GUE in Andover, Ohio. In 1956, he was DL4NV in Stuttgart, Germany and was a principle operator of DL4USA, originating thousands of phone patches.
In 1960, Dave moved to Los Angeles, where he was licensed as W6BVN. In 1969, with the help of Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, Arthur Godfrey, K4LIB, Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF and many others, Dave produced THE HAM'S WIDE WORLD for the American Radio Relay League. He followed that in 1976 with a film entitled, MOVING UP TO AMATEUR RADIO, with NBC science editor, Roy Neal, K6DUE, as host.
In 1977, Dave operated the CQ Worldwide DX phone contest from Torres' QTH on Macao using Torres’ call, CR9AJ. This experience whetted Dave’s interest in contesting and DXpeditioning and he has since been on several DXpeditions including 4U0ITU, 9M6V, ZK1SSB and ZK1AQT.
In 1979, Dave was in Jordan filming THE WORLD OF AMATEUR RADIO, which featured His Majesty, King Hussein, JY1. Dave worked thousands of stations using his call sign, JY8AQ, and was privileged to speak with nearly a hundred stations, mostly in Southern California, from His Majesty's "shack" using the call JY1. This film was hosted by Roy Neal, K6DUE and Dick Van Dyke and featured Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA; Arthur Godfrey, K4LIB; Stu Gilliam, KI6M; and of course King Hussein, plus dozens of other hams from all over the world.
In 1983, Dave returned to Jordan to videotape His Majesty speaking with astronaut Owen Garriot, W5LFL, as the spaceship Columbia crossed over the Arab world. This scene is part of a Bill Pasternak - Roy Neal videotape entitled, AMATEUR RADIO'S NEWEST FRONTIER. Visiting Slovenia for WRTC 2000, Dave made a “personal video” of the activities, released as THE HAM RADIO OLYMPICS by the ARRL.
In 2002, Dave directed AMATEUR RADIO TODAY, hosted by Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, written by Alan Kaul, W6RCL, produced by Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF and Bill Baker, W1BKR, and edited by Keith Glispie, WA6TFD. This video has been exceptionally successful and is available for free download from the ARRL’s website. In 2005, Dave helped this same group produce THE ARRL GOES TO WASHINGTON. In 2011, Dave directed the ARRL/Allen Pitts/Bill Pasternak production, THE DIY MAGIC OF AMATEUR RADIO for builders and hackers.
In 1984, Dave was named "DXer of the Year" by the Southern California DX club and "Amateur of the Year" by the Dayton Hamvention. In 2003, Dave was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Radio Relay League. In 2011 he was named to the CQ Hall of Fame. He is past chairman of the ARRL Public Relations Committee, a past board member of the Northern California DX Foundation and past president of the Southern California DX Club. He is a member of the QCWA, the So. Cal Contest Club and the San Diego DX Club.
To support his amateur radio activities, Dave is president of Dave Bell Associates, Inc., producer of documentaries, motion pictures, and television specials and series. His productions include the Emmy/Peabody-winning television movie, DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE with Joanne Woodward and Richard Kiley, NADIA, The UNSOLVED MYSTERIES specials on NBC, many HBO documentaries, and THE LONG WALK HOME with Sissy Spacek and Whoopi Goldberg. He also produced LAPD: LIFE ON THE BEAT, a documentary series seen worldwide.
Dave and his wife Sam, W6QLT, live in the hills above Hollywood. Their station consists of an Elecraft K3, ALPHA 87A, monoband Yagis for 10, 15, 17, 20, 30 and 40 meters, and slopers for 80 and 160. For UHF/VHF the rig is a Yaesu FT736R with Yagis on 6 meters through 1.2 GHz.
His book WORLD'S BEST HOBBY is about his Ham Radio adventures.view less