I1AN – Giuseppe Nicolai, Padua: Forty-Five Watts of Phone to France, January 1959

Introduction

A plain post-war card: "Italian Amateur Radio Station, Via Monterotondo 4 – Padova", operator Giuseppe Nicolai, who signs "Joseph". It confirms a telephony contact on 14 Mc/s with F9CE on 18 January 1959 at 15:15 GMT, RST 5-8, "Mod. OK", and notes the French operator as "Jean, Nancy". The call books of 1959 and 1962 list I1AN as Giuseppe Nicolai at this address (by 1965 at Via Caprera 5, Padua), with a second licensee of the same surname, Arrigo Nicolai, in the same household. F9CE was Jean Chevalier, listed in 1962 at Les Mureaux near Paris; Nancy was presumably where he was operating from in 1959.

The station

"XMTR: VFO + P35, input 45 watt. Antenna: long wire, 40 m. RCVR: R107." The R107 was the British Army's nine-valve communications receiver of 1941, covering 1.2–17.5 MHz, sold in great numbers as war surplus. The "P35" is most probably the German Telefunken RL12P35 transmitting pentode, another common surplus valve, rated at 35 watts anode dissipation: a VFO driving a single RL12P35 gives exactly the 45 watts input on the card.

The card itself

• To: Radio F9CE (Jean Chevalier), "Opr. Jean, Nancy".
• "Conforming our fone QSO in 14 Mc/s on 18.1.59 at 15.15 GMT. RST 5-8, Mod. OK."
• XMTR: VFO + P35, input 45 W. Antenna: long wire 40 m. RCVR: R107.
• "PSE – TNX – QSL. 73 es DX! Op. Joseph."

Key Specifications of I1AN

Sources

• Radio Amateur Call Book, Spring 1959, Winter 1962 and Summer 1965, foreign section: I1AN, Giuseppe Nicolai, Padova; F9CE, Jean Chevalier, Les Mureaux; scans at archive.org.
• Radiomuseum.org, tube RL12P35; Electronics Notes, "R107 vintage radio communications receiver".
• The card itself (front and back), K1FM collection.