JT1AA 1957 Mongolia

JT1AA was Louis ( Ludvik) Kloucek, OK1KW, and his wife Milada Klouckova was OK1KX.

These low quality photos may be the 1st photos to ever be published of Ludvik Kloucek JT1AA. He and his XYL JT1YL were rare DX in the late 1950's.

Here is another photo of the rare DX couple from zone 23.

JT1AA 1958

Ludvik JT1AA just outside of Ulan Ude

Ludvik JT1AA and XYL Mila JT1YL

Photo of Ludwig OK1KW / JT1AA was taken in China!

Reported by G4UZN:
In 1957/58 Ludvik was a radio operator at the Czechoslovak Embassy in Ulan Bator. Mongolia was in great demand on the air, not just for a new country, but for Zone 23, which was the rarest of them all. So he got on the air with a home-made call sign - JT1AA. The Mongolian Government tracked him down, but a few strings must have been pulled, because he was given the official call JT1AA, and his wife was given JT1YL. This is noted as being the only reciprocal licensing agreement made with Czechoslovakia. The old Czechoslovakia seemed to have had diplomatic contacts with several places that were rarely on the air, and Mongolia was one of them.

Then in 1968 came the Prague Spring (Dubcek) and the Soviet invasion. Ludvik lost his job and also his radio license. Somewhere along the line he was divorced from Milada. He disappeared into obscurity and died in 2010, age 80, in Vamberk, a small Czech town famous for lace making. His successor in Mongolia in 1959 - JT1AB - also a Czech, worked in a shoe-making factory, presumably related to Czech trade contracts.

It was reported by Milos OK1MP:
Ludvik Kloucek, ex-JT1AA, ex-OK1KW, born July 27th, 1929, has became a SK on March 16, 2010 at the age of 80. He was very active in the 1950's and 1960's. Ludvik activated Zone 23 from the Czechoslovak Embassy in Ulan-Bator, Mongolia in 1957-58. This was the only activity from Zone 23 at the time. He was also active at home in Czechoslovakia as OK1KW. He was not active on the ham bands in 1968 when he worked at the Czechoslovak Embassy in Washington, D.C. However, he was a radio operator for the embassy. After that, during 'normalization,' in 1969 he lost his license, OK1KW, and his occupation and never returned to amateur radio. He was divorced from his wife JT1YL when Milos visited him 30 years ago. She is also a Silent Key.

QSL from the estate of W8UAS
1st two photos from Short Wave Magazine sent to Don Chesser W4KVX, The Ohio Valley DX Bulletin #30, May 27, 1958
Third photo from The Ohio Valley DX Bulletin #35, July 1, 1958
Fourth photo courtesy of UY5XE
Next 2 photos from Don Chesser W4KVX DX Magazine #91, October 28, 1959, sent to magazine by W6AM
China photo from Don Chesser W4KVX DX Magazine #81, August 4, 1959. Photo sent to magazine be K2VUI
Info courtesy of OK1MP, G4UZN
Magazine clipping from Short Wave Magazine March 1959 courtesy of W5KNE