KN1LPL 1959 Providence, Rhode Island

Operator: Frank Donovan, now W3LPL, famous contest operator and station owner.

My ham station as KN1LPL was initially an Ameco AC-1 that I build myself, a Hallicrafters S-38D and a 25 foot wire running vertically from my basement hamshack along the side of a three story house. My S-38D was useless at night as was my feeble 80 meter signal. But I could reliably work to 50 miles or so on 80 meters during the day and there were plenty of teenage Novices to work on the band. My grandfather and I installed a 40 meter dipole a few days before Thanksgiving and I was off to the races on 40 meters during the day. My S-38D was still useless at night. But now I could easily work WV2s, KN3s and KN8s during the day with my 7188 kcs (not KHz!) crystal. Christmas Day brought a Hallicrafters S-108 which was a vast improvement compared to the S-38D. Soon KZ5MQN -- my first DX -- was in my log But my parents permanently put end to my 3 a.m. operating habits once school started after New Years day. I entered the Novice Roundup in February making 48 QSOs in 33 hours, See the top of page 144. I became K1LPL a shortly after the 1960 Novice Roundup. Soon afterwards my dad purchased for me a used TBS-50C and its rare matching VFO. Before long I was DXing and contesting with several dipoles hung from a tree in my tiny 1/10 acre urban lot. Fortunately we had a nice 50 foot tree that I climbed countless hundreds of times. My first contest QSO as K1LPL was with Sig W3WJD (now N3RS of course) in the April 1960 CD Party. I was fortunate that my local radio club -- the Providence Radio Assn, W1OP -- was only a short bicycle ride from my home and before long I was operating frequently from their rural hiolltop QTH.

QSL & Info courtesy of W3LPL