Tribute to Robert E. Leo

Tribute to Robert E. Leo - W6PBV, W7LR
February 23, 1921 - March 23, 2022

Bob Leo W7LR passed on March 23, 2022 at the age of 101.

Bob had a very interesting life and was best known for his Gatti - Hallicrafters DXpedition in East Africa called "To The Mountains of the Moon". Bob sent info, photos, QSL cards and magazines to be used on Hamgallery about this DXpedition. I never met Bob but had many FB emails with him. He would often go to the International DX Convention in Visalia, CA. K8CX

Besides being the main operator at the famous 1948 Hallicrafters East Africa expedition, W7LR was a Navy code interpreter at the very beginning of WWII, stationed at the Farallon Islands off San Francisco. He knew the Japanese wabun code and sent his deciphers to Navy Intelligence. Bob always thought his work may have played a significant part in the outcome of the Battle of Midway.

The story about the W7LR-3B8AD Delayed QSL Exchange was based on Bob's operating during the Gatti-Hallicrafters expedition in 1948. You probably remember that the logs for the 3 countries operated from (VQ3, VQ4, VQ5) were lost by Hallicrafters after the expedition. Since Bob was the main operator he made the bulk of contacts after W0LHS quit the expedition. He had kept a list of the most interesting stations worked, which is still shown under The Last QSO's in PA0ABM's site.
When I saw that list I told Bob I recognized a call of someone who is still alive, VQ8AD (now sk), who I had visited some years earlier. Bob was very excited when he realized there was a possibility of exchanging a QSL with someone from those lost logs. I put them in touch with each other, thanks to the help of 3B8CF, and they were able to exchange Email and finally QSLs.

Bob wanted to write an article about this, so he asked me if I would help him. We exchanged many Emails over several months, finally arriving on his article that was published in both CQ and QST. I think it was something like "The Long Delayed QSL Exchange." I don't have the issues, so can't reference them, but they appeared 6 or 7 years ago. W6YA

The following was taken from Bob's QRZ.com page:

I am now 96 (in 2017) but still an active ham. Downsizing some antennas on our 5 acre lot.

I worked all countries, Navy 5 years, operated NPG and copied JA code during battle of Midway.

RX array now 4 square in west field. Two 80 foot towers for WARC LP TH7 6M beams. TX antennas in east field, one 90 foot vertical for 160 80 40, one 64 foot vertical for 30m.

W7LR started as an swl in 1933 by building a receiver from an article by Hugo Gernsback. It had a coil wound on an oatmeal box, used pieces of tin can for tuning capacitor, and a type 30 tube. Licensed in 1937 as W6PBV. WW II for five years in U S Navy as RM1C radioman and later as LtCmdr. Operator at NPG and later in radio intelligence work. In 1948 went to East Africa with the Hallicrafter Expedition, operating VQ3HGE VQ4EHG and VQ5GHE. Climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and spent nearly a year in that area.See QST Dec 1993 for the story of that dxpedition. Next went on Norwegian tanker to Persian Gulf. Worked for Arabian Am Oil Co for two years in HZA and in the Great Arabian Desert.Visiting operator at HZ1AB. Also operated MP4BAL on Bahrein Island during that period. Back to W6 land, then Arizona, then Montana. Now W7LR. Was in Thailand 1963 to 1965 as HS1L, and helped found the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST). While in Thailand travelled to many SE Asian countries, including Angkor Wat in Cambodia Now retired from teaching EE at Montana State Univ. EE degrees from Cal Tech and Stanford. Registered Professional Engineer in MT & CA. EE Consultant on electrical accidents and fires; 200 cases' electrialfires and accidents. After retirement from the University in 1981, we have travelled to many countries and visited a few hams there.like la2pa in Norway. worked all countries on cw except P5 on SSB. Active on 160 meters, with 249 countries on topband. Some 160m dx: IS0/YO3RA KH8SI A61AJ 9V1PC XR0X PW0T 5U1A VP6BR T77C VP6DX T93J 4O3A V8FWP 5L2MS J5UAR TO5DX ER4ER EY8MM VP8/LZ1UQ 9J2BO XT2C LZ2JE 5A7A HB0/T94JJ OJ0B A25/DL7DF 3V8DLH CP4BT TR8CA A45XR TZ6CW 9G5TF 5B4AGC FT5XO 5V7A JT/K4ZW TX0C ZD7K 4W/N6FF XZ0A S92SS 3DA0CA UX0ZZ 9M0C 3XY7C 9L1AB ZP6CW PZ5UE 3Y0PI 9H1ZA 5T5SN JD1YBJ K5D 5N7M Z36W XU7ACY HS0ZEE 9Q TJ PJ4 PJ7 HK0 PT0S XW0YJY FT5ZM K1N XX9D

The 160m TX antennas: 90' aluminum irrigation pipe vertical, and a 30m vertical. RX antennas for 160are in the pasture in the winter when the horses are gone. some of this has changed. Earlier the farmer across the road keeps his horses there, and he plows us out in the winter when we are snowed in. One Beverage is 500' for South Africa or reverse. There are also two K7TJR arrays of four 20' verticals spaced at the corners of 70'x320' rectangular areas. One is aimed at Europe or reverse. It is outstanding when signals come from Europe over the pole and the aurora level is low. The other array is for Asia and SA. There are two 80 foot towers, for HF, WARC bands, and 6 meters.

XYL: Cobi from The Netherlands. She was there through WWII and a member of the Dutch underground. Her parents took into their home, downed American airmen. now one granddaughter has bad cancer. being treated in MT and WA.

We were married in Florence, Italy in October 1949. Two children, four grandchildren, and three greatgrandchildren. and one more on the way. We live in Bozeman Montana on five acres at an elevation of one mile - one acre for the tx antenna field, and one acre for the rx antenna field. The rest are big trees, a creek, big gardens and flowers, and views of the nearby forest and mountains to the south that reach a height of 11,000 feet.

Another adventure is in CQ May 2002, my story of "The Voyage of Discovery" about the canoe trip of some of our Bozeman MT ham club members down part of the Missouri River along some of the route of Lewis and Clark some 200 years earlier. Write ham stories, one about Navy copy of JA code msgs during battle of Midway. Also CQ magazine stories of qsl card excanges after 63 years for my VQ3 qso with VQ8AD; and a story of qso conacts with a lady ham 105 years old (young). now a SK at age 107.

Here is some US history, relative to that canoe story. The Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 expanded the US between the MS river and the headwaters of the MO river, in MT. West of that to the Pacific Ocean was unknown territory, occupied by Indian tribes and some fur trappers. President Jefferson authorized Lewis and Clark for an expedition to explore this territory and to see if there were a water route west. They went by boat, foot and horseback for 3 years and 8000 miles, from May 1804 to Sept 1806, to and from St. Louis, MO. Aided by the Indian woman and guide, Sacajewa,they reached the Pacific Ocean in November 1805. Their trip and our ham club trip along the MO river in MT were each called the Voyage of Discovery.This area has hardly changed in the intervening 200 years.

Recently a more complete story of my operation from the 1948 Hallicrafter Dxpedition to British East Africa, Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda (VQ4,3 and 5) has been written by PA0ABM based on material that Bill W0LHS (SK) and I have sent him. It may be found on the web page: http://www.qsl.net/pa0abm/ghe/00ghe.htm Also presented recently at Visalia by my friend N6TR.

Some life stories - first radio at age 12, Navy 5 years, copied JA code during battle of Midway, EE degrees from CalTech and Stanford, Registered PE in CA and MT, legal consultant on 200 EE cases, EE Prof 20 years in MT, GE computer facility, 2 years in Saudi Arabia, Stanford research director in Thailand and helped form RAST (Radio Amateur Society in Thailand),Naval Reserve LtCmdr and flew space available on airforce planes, Cobi and I travelled for 20 years to places like Cambodia, Egypt, Greece, Australia, Norway, Germany, and many countries, now retired for family and W7LR.

QSLs: I answer all cards received, swl or ham, bureau or direct. I can do LOTW if necessary. I initiate a QSL only for a new country on 160, or for a new band/mode on other bands. I don't need green stamps nor IRCs, just an envelope with your address. I do dxing and rag chewing, and help hams needing MT. W7LR modify these storied July 2017.

Here are a few of Bob's QSL cards:

W6PBV Farallone Islands, CA.

W6PBV 1947 San Mateo, CA

W7LR Bozeman, MT.

Bob's HS1L QSL Card 1963

Here are some QSL cards and photos from the famous "To The Mountains of the Moon" Expedition.

Tanganyika

They had 2 styles of cards from VQ3HGE.

See the stamps on the back of the card;
GATTI-HALLICRAFTERS EXPEDITION Tanganyika, JUL 15, 1948
Certified Sent from the Base Camp of the Gatti-Hallicrafters Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon.

VQ3HGE 1948 Tanganyika
Bob W7LR only had 2 of these beautiful double sided QSL cards left and he sent me one. K8CX
2,629 QSO's and 122 Countries from VQ3HGE

Operator: Bob Leo W6PBV (W7LR) and Commander Attilio Gatti.

Bob W6PBV (W7LR) operating CW at VQ3HGE.

Commander Gatti talking and Bob Leo in the chair during a contact with Charles Hamilton Jr. of Oyster Bay N.Y. (call sign unknown) along with Judy Beach (age 12).

Kenya

VQ4EHG Kenya
Equipment listed on the card:
Transmitter: Hallicrafters HT-4E, HT-18VFO
Receiver: Hallicrafters SX-42.
942 QSO's and 51 Countries from VQ4EHG

Uganda

VQ5HEG 1948 Uganda
Only 18 QSO's (3 Countries) were made with this callsign!

VQ5GHE 1948 Uganda
Card Style #1.

VQ5GHE 1948 Uganda
Only 233 QSO's in 19 Countries were made from VQ5GHE.

Here are some photos and info provided by W7LR

Their logo; "To The Mountains of the Moon"!

Some of the expedition well on their way.
Hallicrafters was their sponsor of radio equipment. Another sponsor was International Trucks.

The expedition itinerary legend.

The narrow road with more deep ruts and huge stones.
The road would climb up as if reaching for the sky, curve like a pretzel while hugging two or three tentacles of the mountain, plunge downward toward a deep gully, then start all over again.

Kilimanjaro's highest peak, the 19,860' Kibo, with its perennial cap of ice and snow, was the peak from which we decided to make short-wave radio transmissions.
We were in communication with our shack-on-wheels, which relayed broadcasts to hams everywhere. W6PBV in the photo.

It sure was interesting, operating, travelling, and interesting places to see. Gatti and Bill W0LHS are SK. I meant to drive over to Fargo and visit Bill Snyder W0LHS but I waited too long. We did go to Springfield, MO in 1994 to visit Weldon King the other photographer. He had a big pipe organ so we had music and visits for three days. He is SK too. I'm the sole survivor unless Norm Wakeford the camp manager is still with us - I never heard.

I did have a few adventures on this trip. I ran a pair of long nose pliers into one eye and a big cut, but it all healed up perfectly and no after effects. Then I got dysentary and went from the Navy 184 pounds to 148 pounds, one way to lose weight. The natives in our camp were raising a big antenna pole like a power pole, and dropped it, missed my ear by less than an inch, or I wouldn't be here today.

We had great times! We visiting Zanzibar with cloves factories, narrow alleys with spiked doors against elephants, British office with records of African explorers in early days (Stanley and Livingston). Also experienced the Serengetti Plains, trucking thru Uganda, and so on. W7LR

E. Leitz, Inc. New York launched the Leica Gun Rifle in 1938, using the codeword “Rifle”; it was produced for only one year (1938 to 1939).
The “Rifle,” inspired by Commander Attilio Gatti, the well-known wildlife photographer in Africa, was developed between 1935 and 1937.

The following write up and photos are courtesy of Champ E21EIC
Champ's write up is in Thai.

A 160 Meter QSO with XW0YJY

Visalia DX Convention 2007
HS3WT, E21EIC, W7LR (HS1L), K3ZO (HS0ZAR)

Visalia DX Convention 2007
HS3WT, W7LR (HS1L), K3ZO (HS0ZAR), W6OAT

Visalia DX Convention 2007
W7LR (HS1L)

JA3CZY, W7LR at Visalia Convention Center 2014

I knew Bob W7LR personally and met him many times at the Wayne Mills, N7NG BBQ in Jackson Wyoming.
Here is a picture I took of Bob and Elvin Miura, JA3CZY at the 2014 Visalia Convention. They were great friends.
What a terrific guy and a long and robust life he had. WR7Q

Tribute comments courtesy of K8CX, W6YA
W7LR Photo QSL and Bozeman, MT QSL from K8CX Collection
W6PBV Christmas QSL Card and Gun Camara photos and info from NL7XM Collection
W6PBV 1947, HS1L QSL cards from G4UZN Collection
VQ5HEG QSL from DokuFunk, Vienna, Courtesy of OE1WHC sk
Brown VQ5GHE QSL from the estate of W3EVW
Green VQ5GHE QSL from the estate of W5KC, courtesy of W5KNE
VQ4EHG QSL K8CX Collection
Expedition photos and info provided by W7LR
Info (in Thai) + Visalia photos courtesy of E21EIC
JA3CZY, W7LR Photo, comments courtesy of WR7Q

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