About LU2DFM

Argentine Amateur Radio Station CQ 13 - ITU 14 - GF15ab

I’ve been interested in radio since I was a kid. My father used to listen to “shortwave” on one of those Noblex 7 Mares radios that’s now in my kitchen. On that radio I started listening to regional Spanish-language broadcasting transmissions during the nights, using a long wire antenna (actually, not that long) and a lead water pipe as ground.

I occasionally received correspondence from international services of some stations, like Radio Nederland, the BBC and Voice of America. At some point I discovered amateur radio operators on the 80m band in AM.

First Steps

With a friend I approached what was then the newly founded Radio Club Berazategui. There, thanks to the dedication of some very patient and generous amateur radio operators, like Walter, Raúl or “el Japonés” (here I must apologize for the omissions I make, I know there were others but I can’t remember the names), I learned some things and built a couple of transmitters to accompany the 7 Mares, a QRP single transistor, and a grid modulated transmitter with a 6DQ6 in the output.

I don’t remember the call sign I had at that time, I remember going to the Central Post Office with my father to take the exam, some communication from the club station on the ground floor of the building next to the Municipality, little more than that… (I think this happened during my last year of primary school or during those summer vacations, maybe 1985 or 1986). I haven’t been able to find a single document of my activity in those years.

Eduardo LU9DX, founding member of Radio Club Berazategui, provided me with some information.

Shortly after my interests changed and I forgot about radio for quite a few years.

Return to Radio

Years later, my interest in radio resurfaced tangentially through a sub-hobby I had been having for some time: restoration of old electronic devices, tube equipment. This took me here and there buying radios, amplifiers and such, which would inevitably cross my path with some nice communications radios:

  • I bought in Ituzaingó or Padua a Hammarlund SP-400-X in quite good condition
  • In Capital a BC-348 for a pittance along with an ARC-5 LF
  • In Córdoba a pair of Hallicrafters SX-117 and HT-44
  • From another amateur in Capital a landing receiver RBZ
  • And some other radios that have come and gone

But I limited myself to repairing and listening to something, living in more or less central apartments there was no way to have a good antenna or a moderate noise level.

Current Station

A little over a year ago I was able to move to a house with some land and a slightly more suburban location, so really only now does the work begin to set up a more or less decent station… but now I don’t have time.

Current Activity

I’m a member of two radio clubs in the vicinity of La Plata, the Centro de Radioaficionados Dardo Rocha LU4DRC and the Radio Club Ensenada LU2ERC.

I’m not too interested in the social aspect of the activity, but rather in the technical. I’m not interested in making local contacts or DX unless I’m testing something or really wanting to do radio. Most of the time I have for radio I use it to study changes, build something I need, repair some equipment or device, modify some antenna or things like that.

The bands that interest me most are the low HF bands: 40, 80 and 160m. I also have some interest in UHF bands but for now I don’t spend time on that outside of what I do in relation to my work.