Bernd "Ben" Och, DL6FBL Christian-Wirth-Str. 18 D-36043 Fulda / Germany Tel.: +49 661 9440-201 (08-16:00z) Fax: +49 661 9440-100 Email: Click here

My Background
 

I was born in 1967 and first licensed in 1981 at the age of 14 (those days you couldn't get a license in Germany, when you were not at least 14 years old). My first call was DH2FAW (novice class). My father is DJ5ET and my mother is DL1ZBN. Luckily I could use their home station from the very beginning. So I concentrated on operating, i.e. working DX and Contests. My first contest was the "All Asian DX Contest 1981" with only a few QSOs on 28 MHz CW, the first weekend after I received my license, hi... I improved my CW speed and entered the HSC (High Speed Club, 25 wpm CW) and the VHSC (Very High Speed Club, 40 wpm CW), while still holding my novice class ticket, hi... In 1984 I upgraded my license to full privileges and got my current callsign DL6FBL. After some operating from home, I made the aquaintance of Hans-Joachim Burger, DF9ZP. He let me guest operate his super station for quite some years, while I was living and studying in Frankfurt/Main. I am still very grateful for his kind support - I have learnt a lot those days! And I had made more than 150,000 QSOs till then. After finishing my studies in 1990, I was concentrating on my work. From 1990-1997 I was not very active - only some casual VHF Contesting from portable locations. In 1997 I began to set up the first station of my own in the back of my company's building in an industrial park in Fulda/Germany. From May 1997 till August 1998 I made some 40,000 QSOs from my home station (mostly contests), before I got the chance to operate from Morocco (thanks to A.R.R.A.M. and Kacem, CN8LR). Most of the years 1999 and 2000 was spent on organizing and leading the big (and world record setting) CN8WW Multi/Multi activities in both CQ Worldwide DX Contests. Another highlight was my participation in WRTC 2000 [World Radio Team Championship] in Bled, Slovenia, together with Markus, DL1MFL. We finished #6 out of 53 world class teams. Not bad, but due to a computer problem with our log we had lost points and had normally finished #3. Finishing really #3 was acchieved two years later with DL2CC in WRTC 2002, Finland. Like two years ago #1 and #2 were N5TJ/K1TO and RA3AUU/RV1AW respectively. Well done, friends. Lots of QRL and family these days, it's hard to find some time to add stories, pictures and logs of the latest activities. In the meantime the pictures have to speak for themselves... Some links are not working yet. I know, but...

"Breaking" News Take it literally: The high tower at my home station is broken - as is the 40m-10m Quad on it. Good friend Toby, DH1TW, visited my station last CQ WW SSB, while I was at the DF0CG Multi/Multi. He found some bad VSWR on the 40m Quad, which had played fine only a few days before. Toby cranked the tower down, inspected the feed point and the coax, and didn't find any problem. While he was cranking the tower up again, the 7mm steel rope broke with no reason and the whole tower came down in itself. Toby was paralyzed and shocked and luckily not injured. A later inspection revealed: all antennas broken, some parts of the tower will see the angle gringer and be welded in again. Bingo! Off the air. [Did I already mention that my second Quad is stuck North and no longer working on 15 an 10 meters? Uh, and: the Titanex Vertical on the roof came down in a storm just one week later. That means effectively "QRT"... Maybe some time in summer I will repair the tower and put some Yagi(s) up again... If you hear me in a contest these days, I have hijacked a friend's station...]

Where do you go next?

			after the click...
2006		Uh, do we already dream of 2006 ??? Let's see... ;-)
2005	?	Coming Up: CQ WW DX CW Did I already say that the 9Y4 station is already booked? (Hi N6TJ!)	_ pictures ___ kB
2005	?	Coming Up: CQ WW DX SSB Where do I go next? Not 9Y4 this time, the station is already booked	_ pictures ___ kB
2005	DL6FBL	Coming Up: IARU Radiosport Championship Operating from any station that doesn't say "no" quick enough...	_ pictures ___ kB
2005	DF0CG	Coming Up: CQ WPX CW from DF0CG M/M if we eventually find enough operators...	_ pictures ___ kB
2005	DL6FBL (@DF0CG)	CQ WPX SSB as Single OP All Bands Enjoying Easter Weekend in the DF0CG Dungeon... :-)	_ pictures ___ kB
2004	9Y4ZC	CQ WW CW as Single OP All Bands Breaking the old SOAB(A) HP World Record, photo finish with 5B/AA1TN	_ pictures ___ kB
2004	DF0CG	CQ WW SSB is always a must for me Developing the DF0CG Multi/Multi station yet further...	_ pictures ___ kB
2004	DA0FF (@DL6FBL)	WAEDC (Worked All Europe) SSB Hosting DL4NER + friends while out of town. Enjoyed the last 4 hours only...	_ pictures ___ kB
2004	DL6FBL (@DF0CG)	IARU Radiosport Championship as Single OP Mixed Mode Rewiring the DF0CG station from M/M to SO2R... [#2 World #1 EU]	_ pictures ___ kB
2004	DL8WPX (@DF0CG)	CQ WPX CW - being a part of the first Multi/Multi at DF0CG Having fun and a good score operating with many BCC friends [#2 World #1 EU]	_ pictures ___ kB
2004	DA0BCC (@DL6FBL)	CQ WPX SSB Multi/Multi with special BCC callsign Setting up new antennas (and upsetting the neighbours)... [#3 World #3 EU]	_ pictures ___ kB
2004	DL6FBL	CQ 160m CW and SSB as Multi-OP with DL8WPX and DL3DXX Winter Fieldday from remote Airfield, easy RX there... ;-)	_ pictures ___ kB
2003	DL6FBL	Stew Perry 160 meters Contest Running 160m from home, difficult RX here in the industrial zone...	_ pictures ___ kB
2003	DL6FBL	CQWW DX CW as Single OP All Bands High Power Assisted Operating from home sets a new All-Time German Highscore	0 pictures 7 kB
2003	9Y4ZC	CQWW DX SSB as Single OP All Bands High Power Assisted Setting a new SOAB(A) HP World Record	_ pictures ___ kB
2003	DL6FBL	CQ/RJ Worldwide RTTY Contest Big fun Multi/Multi operation from my home station	_ pictures ___ kB
2003	DL6FBL	CQWW WPX SSB and CW as Single OP All Bands High Power Assisted from my home station in Fulda/Germany	_ pictures ___ kB
2003	DL6FBL	ARRL DX CW and SSB Casual part time entries from my home station	_ pictures ___ kB
2002	DL6FBL (@DF0CG)	CQWWDX CW as Single OP All Bands High Power Assisted Claiming a new High Score for Germany	6 pictures 159 kB
2002	DL6FBL (@DJ6QT)	CQWWDX SSB as Single OP All Bands High Power Assisted High winds destroyed all antennas Sunday afternoon...	7 pictures 285 kB
2002	OJ2V (WRTC2002)	World Radiosport Team Championship in Finland Operating as OJ2V with DL2CC; finishing #3 out of 52 teams
2002	DL6FBL (VHF)	VHF/UHF/SHF Contest operating portable from JO40XL Multi-OP operation with DH1TW; finishing #10	6 pictures 148 kB
2002	"DL6FBL/JR1"	March 12, 2002 is the most memorable day in my private life My first son Christopher ("Junior 1") is born. What a thrill.	1 picture 34 kB
2001	OE2S	CQWW DX Contest SSB (Multi/Single) Operating with DL1MFL, OE2VEL, OE2MON, OE2LCM, OE2GEN	2 pictures 149 kB
2001	SV9CVY	CQWW DX Contest SSB (Single OP All Bands High Power) Operating from a dream QTH against Murphy's attacks	4 pictures 105 kB
2000	CN8WW 2000	My biggest operation ever: 33 people form the CN8WW team Improving last year's SSB M/M World Record	4 pictures 30 kB
2000	S511E (WRTC2000)	World Radiosport Team Championship in Slovenia Operating as S511E with DL1MFL; finishing #6 out of 53 teams
2000	CCF Meeting Helsinki	Get Together of some well-known Contesters  Pictures and impressions from the meeting	10 pictures 203 kB
1999	CN8WW 1999	CQ Worldwide DX Contest (Multi/Multi) SSB + CW Claiming new M/M World Records in both SSB + CW	2 pictures 16 kB
1999	CN8WW (WAE)	Worked All Europe DX Contest SSB (Multi/Single) Setting a new World Record by just playing around...	4 pictures 66 kB
1999	CN8WW (WPX CW)	CQ WPX Contest CW (Single OP) Sharing the station with CN/DJ9RR, but still #1 Worldwide...	2 pictures 55 kB
1999	DL6FBL (VHF)	VHF Contesting in Europe ...it's fun, when you are in the middle of Europe	6 pictures 164 kB
1999	CN8WW (WPX SSB)	CQ WPX Contest SSB (Multi/Multi) Setting a new Multi/Multi World Record with 3 radios only...	8 pictures 121 kB
1998	CN8WW 1998	My first Single OP activities from Morocco: CQ Worldwide DX Contest 1998 SSB+CW	1 picture 26 kB
1998	DA0FF (@DL6FBL)	Worked All Europe DX Contest CW (Multi/Single) First time ever a 48h-contest live on the Internet (WebCam)	1 picture 34 kB
1997	DL0DK (@DL6FBL)	Worked All Europe DX Contest SSB (Multi/Single) Some pictures of the team, which beat the great DF0HQ :-)	6 pictures 105 kB
1997	DL6FBL	CQ WW 97 SSB+CW, CQ WPX 98 SSB+CW Some pictures of my home station (inside and outside)	6 pictures 178 kB
1997	DL6FBL/DU7	Just a few QSOs from Cebu Island OC-129 Some pictures from our antenna work at 4F1RWW	6 pictures 184 kB
1996 1981		No time for searching and publishing material... Maybe when I'm too old for contesting... ;-)

Proud to be a member of Bavarian Contest Club