I got my ham radio license in 1970 and began my
activity in 40 and 15 meters bands with a small station (50 W + dipole).
I made good DX contacts in CW, the most exciting ones being those in 40 m with
VK/ZL/JA/USA.
Later on, I also experienced others bands/modes but, starting in 1973,
I discovered VHF and from that moment onwards my
interest was mainly devoted to this band.
I am interested in all VHF weak signal modes (MS, EME, Aurora, Es, Troposcatter, F2).
Up to now I worked 406 squares in 60 DXCC countries (via
Tropo/MS/ES/Aurora/F2) and 5 more squares via EME, all with a single Yagi and
about 300 W.
My longest QSOs on 144 MHz:
TROPO
AURORA
MS
ES
F2
1335 Km
1387 Km
2027 Km
3184 Km
7596 Km
Early Years from JN65hq
In the 1970s and 1980s, I was active from JN65hq, a small town in the Venetian countryside. I achieved my best results on VHF using a TC20 — a 20-element Yagi antenna of solid, quite standard design, conceived and built by I2ODI. With its 8.10-meter boom length, the TC20 served me well and enabled excellent contacts.
Back then, moonbounce (EME) was still mostly done in CW, and one of my greatest satisfactions was completing EME contacts with just a single antenna — a real technical and personal milestone.
The City Years: JN55wj
From 1996 to 2010, I operated from JN55wj (central Padova). This site turned out to be rather poor for VHF DX due to heavy radio noise from urban sources — including computers and servers in university offices and labs nearby.
I used a 17-element F9FT Yagi antenna during this period, but the usable take-off was limited to directions between 20 and 180 degrees.
A New Start in JN55vk
At the end of 2011, I moved to the outskirts of Padova (JN55vk) and installed a LLY (Log-Loop-Yagi) antenna — a highly innovative three-section design, entirely developed and built by I3DLI.
Despite a slightly shorter boom (about 7.40 meters), the LLY proved to be one of the best antennas I’ve ever used on VHF, delivering excellent performance and mechanical reliability. Its sharp and clean radiation pattern would have been ideal for EME work — but by then, most moonbounce activity had moved to digital modes, which are difficult for a blind operator to use. Sadly, I never had the chance to exploit the LLY for EME.
HF with a Smart Touch
Paolo (I3DLI) also came up with a clever solution to use the LLY’s small supporting tower as a ground-plane antenna for HF bands. With this very modest setup — and just 100 watts — I managed to work stations all over the world on the 40-meter band. Another great source of satisfaction.
A Pause — For Now
In September 2024, due to condominium issues, I was forced to dismantle my antennas. I don’t know if or when I’ll be able to return to the air, but I sincerely hope to resume amateur radio activity in the future.
My logbook
My QSO entries, that I could recover back to 1978, are recorded at
www.qrz.com.
Since I am blind, I have problems in managing paper QSL cards.
In order to overcome this issue, I have set up an experimental on-line version of my station logbook, with the possibility of displaying a confirmation sheet for each entry.
I apologise with allOMs who did not receive my confirmation and hope this attempt will offer a reasonable replacement for QSL card.
receiver Drake R 4C with converter and preamplifier (1 dB NF);
19 elements LLY (Log-Loop-Yagi) antenna by I3DLI;
solid-state LD-MOS Beko power amplifier HLV-1000;
DTR by DK7KF to decode high speed CW;
DX sounds
This is a sample of the recording I made during my
random EME contact
with K1WHS, FN43mj, in September 4, 1983 from JN65hq,
with a single 20 elements long Yagi and 300 W power.
On that Sunday afternoon, at the end of international September contest, my antenna was randomly pointed to the moon at its set position
(at that moment, I was not aware of this circumstance).
I heared a weak but very clear CQ de K1WHS in CW, then I answered and immediately got a 549 OOO report> and completed the QSO in few minutes.
Either fill in the on-line form
or send me an
E-mail message.
To avoid TVI problems, I prefer early morning time.
Hamradio for blind people
This section
(in Italian) is designed to present various contributions, due to different authors, all relating to devices, appliances, information that might be useful for blind amateur radio people, as part of their hamradio interests.
Questa pagina
(in italiano) è dedicata a contributi di vari autori, tutti riguardanti accorgimenti, apparecchi, informazioni che potrebbero essere utili ai radioamatori non vedenti nell'ambito dell'esercizio dell'attività di radioamatore.
My pieces of software
In the good old times of MS-DOS, I made some pieces of freely usable software. You can
see:
Utility programs, particularly designed to be used on personal computers equipped with speech or braille devices. The package DOC can be configured to be used in
any language; the remaining ones are in Italian.