Giuseppe ALBERTI (Italy)
I born in Milan in 1934 , in 1953 I obtained my high school degree in textile industry in the Institute “Ettore Ponti” of Gallarate and I spent a lifetime in the field of clothing collaborating with many great Italian designers .
I am in the world of short waves as radio amateur since 1955, I obtained my license as radio operator of first class in 1957 and the third class in 1959 and since those days I am active only on radiotelegraphy with callsign I2AZ .
Three major events of my life conducted me in the world of radiocommunication.
The first event happened when I served in 1955 the Italian Air Force as a radar operator .
I attended the course in the big AIR FORCE based in Borgopiave , near Rome. After the noon hours spent to study, the evenings were free from commitments but the nearby town of Latina offered few entertainments and I preferred to stay in the barracks.
To overcome the boredom of those nights , I bought a beautiful book , the title was all: “First start in the knowledge of the radio ” written by Eng. Ravalico , famous for his books about radio technology simple and easily understandable.
In those days the word “electronics” perhaps did not even exist, there was only the radio engineering, a mysterious word charming and full of images of distant countries .
With this book, I entered the radio world, learning the rudiments of the radio reading the first schemes and following the paths of the various links.
The second event, made me more fascinating than the first, it was the construction of my first reaction tube receiver . One day, speaking with my uncle, I learned that in 1920 he built a monotube reaction receiver with direct ignition . After a certain period of time he disassembled it and put the parts on a drawer. I obtained those pieces from my uncle and with the greatest unconsciousness of the world I chose a pattern from the book of ‘ Eng. Ravalico , and I built my first receiver .
I promised myself that if the device worked immediately I’d become amateur radio and it worked on the first try !
Looking back , I realize that I have been blessed by good fortune , I had the material that ignorance did not know, a valve unknown, a variable capacitor unknown , well, putting together all these unknown variables I built a functional radio receiver . Which band it tuned is a mystery because I had no measuring instruments , but the device worked.
The third event occurred in the same period . One evening I went to to the cinema of my quarter where was given a film that had me intrigued , the Italian title was ” SOS Lutèce” while the original was: ” Si tous le gars du monde ”, a Jacque Christian movie with Jean-Louis Trintignant .
Briefly the story of a French oceanic fishing boat ‘s crew used to eat smoked ham house made and gets hit by a botulinum intoxication . The boat launches the SOS and a French amateur radio operator in Togo , receives the distress call.
The message was relayed to Paris, where an amateur radio personified by Trintiqnant coordinate vaccine research to send to the trawler crew and at the end of the film a military plane reached the F/T “LUTECE” launching at sea with a parachute the antidote.
The film of 1955, the beginning of the Cold War, shows involved in the aids to “LUTECE” the Soviet Army Command stationed in East Berlin.
This film has had for the amateur radio, supervision and masterful exemplary of a French colleague of which, unfortunately , can not remember the name .
These three events that took place in the arc of a couple of years and they deeply affected my decision to enter the world of amateur radio .
After all this facts, the achievement of the broadcasting license and the beginning of my activity on short waves which became a part of my life.