PY5EG HAMRADIO HISTORY
PUBLISHED IN CQ CONTEST MAY 1998
1. How did you get started in ham radio? Did you have any Elmers
Ham radio has been a passion for me since I was 14 years old. At that time, 1956, my father the former PY5EG was very active since 1942 in all bands and very enthusiastic for Dx operation.
I normally stayed with my father for hours, during the night, or holidays, helping him to organize the logs and QSLs checking. My mother was also a ham radio since 1944 and also very active mainly in low bands.
My father died in May 1958. I request to LABRE to reserve the call sign PY5EG, because at that time was allowed radio operation only with more than 18 years. When I completed 18 years I made the exams and got PY5EG call sign. This was in May 1960.
Several friend of my father ( PY5AO, PY5GA, PY5DB, PY5DX, PY5AM, PY5DG …) stimulated me a lot and I became also a fanatic for hamradio , especially DX!
With plus or minus the same age PY5OF Egon today PY2BW, PY5CA Maia, PY5BVL Didio and some others, together with the old timer and friend forever PY5GA the great Olav we all learn how to associate radio with excellent relationship and fraternity. Always my best and closest friends were hamradio people!!!.
2. How did you get started in contesting?
Been a fan for Dx and taking a listening in some CQWW, I began to acquire a special love for contest competition. In beginning of 1962 I started to participate in some national contests and in 1963 for the first time I entered in a CQWW SSB CONTEST. Was a fantastic experience and since then I never stooped to work in the majors internationals contests.
I attached hereto a list of my best results as a single operator.
PY5EG – Atilano de Oms Sobrinho Individual Participation
Worldwide Contest – CQWW CONTEST
Event Year Call Sign
World Champion in 10 meters (Record S.A.) 1981 ZZ5EG
Vice-WorldChampion 40meters 1982 ZZ5EG
World Champion in 40 meters 1986 ZY5EG
World Champion in 15 meters (World-wide Record) 1987 PY5EG
World Champion in 10 meters (World-wide Record) 1991 ZV5A
World Champion in 20 meters (World-wide Record) 1992 ZX0F
WPX WORLD CONTEST
Event Year Call Sign
World Champion in 15 meters 1977 PY5EG
World Champion in 10 meters (World-wide Record) 1981 ZZ5EG
World Champion in 20 meters (Worldwide Record) 1983 ZY5EG
World Champion in 20 meters (World-wide Record) 1986 ZY5EG
World Champion in 10 meters (World-wide Record) 1988 ZY5EG
World Champion in 20 meters (World-wide Record) 1992 ZW5B
World Champion in 15 meters (World-wide Record) 1995 ZW5B
WAEDC CONTEST.
4 TIMES WORLD CHAMPION 1980 TO 1990 Single All.
Several times winner of CQM USSR Contest, ARRL, and others
A.R.R.L. – American Radio Relays League sponsored by CQ Magazine assigned PY5EG for the Hall of Fame, among all radioamateurs around the world participating in international contests. The Contest Hall of Fame created in 1930 has awarded, up to the present, lest than 20 radio-amateurs around the world who were acknowledged by their performance in contests stimulating the development of radio-amateurs activities, ethics and quality of operation.
In the radio-amateur environment, the Hall of Fame reward is known as the Nobel award of radio-amateur activities and has meant, for the last six decades, the most important award, aspired by everyone participating in this activity. For me this recognition was one of the most important stimulation on my hamradio activity.
Thanks to the improved development of the activity in the North Hemisphere, all radio-amateurs previously awarded with the Hall of Fame belong to that part of the world, PY5EG-Atilano de Oms being the first representative of the South Hemisphere to receive such prize.
3. What is the station you have there today?
I live in the countryside, about 12 miles from downtown Curitiba. Curitiba is the Capital City of Parana State in Southern Brazil and is placed 60 miles from the Atlantic Ocean on a plateau 900 meters above the sea level. My home is closed to the road that connects Curitiba to the beach. It is a nice place for radio ham operation.
My property has plenty space for antennas and I have 8 towers with the following system:
Antennas
10 meters 7 over 7 stacked, boom length 12 meters 18 meters high tower.
15 meters 8 over 8 stacked, boom length 18 meters, 24 meters high tower. (W2PV)
20 meters 6 over 6 stacked, boom length 20 meters, 30 meters high tower. (W2PV)
40 meters 4 elements full size, boomlength 20 meters, 30 mt high tower (W2PV)
80 meters 4 elements KLM, 36 meters high tower (been erected).
Multiplier station TH11 24 meters tower.
160 meters Inverted V
Satellite KLM system
Moon Bounce 1 Parabolic 6 meters diameter for the next phase 3 satellite. (been erected).
Two beverages for 160 and 80 meters.
As radios I’m actually using:
YAESU FT1000 + Alpha 77 DX
YAESU FT1000MP + TL 922
KENWOOD TS 950 SD
Auxiliary staff:
Antennas Switching box TOP TEN and DX ENGENEERING
Log software PLUSV3, DX4WIN
Contest software K1EA
Dx TELNET.
We are using this station for most of the contests using several call signs as ZW5B, ZV5A, ZZ5EG, ZY5EG, ZX5A, PY5EG, especially when operating multi single. Practically all Araucaria Dx Group members, Brazilians and foreigners have used the station.
I’m attaching a helicopter photo of the QTH, and also a photo of the main shack.
Also I’m attaching a list of the major effort on multi operators from my QTH.
4. What are conditions like to EU, AF, JA and NA?
The propagation from here is normally good to Europe and NA. On top bands during some hours of the day, we have simultaneous openings to both to both, EU and NA.
To Africa, the propagation during solar picks is always good but we suffer with the problem that the Africans normally have the beam to EU or NA. We have the same problem with EU and NA when equatorial openings are present.
To Japan during the CQWW we normally have good openings via US on top bands (this is good because we can run simultaneously US and JA), and very good conditions on low bands at our sunset (via south path Africa) and our sunrise (via south path west Argentina)
We must consider that for low bands we are far from everybody. This is our biggest problem for single all, or multi operation from here. I addition to that, due the small activity in Brazil and all South America the NAs and EUs do not operate usually with the beam pointing South America.
5. Why isn’t there more activity in contests from PY?
As I mentioned before, one of the major problem in South America still the small activity during international contests. I understand that our participation is getting more important, but growing up on a very slow way!. I think that a big effort should bee taken in motivating on an aggressive faction the participation of SouthAmericans in contests. One of the major objectives of our Araucaria Dx Group is to stimulate the creation of other Ham Clubs in Brazil in order to multiply and to optimize the Brazilian participation.
Ours Official entities, not only in Brazil but all over South America does not demonstrate a real effort to incentive radioham competition. I think the ContestsGroups and Clubs should do that.
6. If you could think of an ideal contest what would by the parameters?
I really like the CQWW parameters. The CQWW includes all the most important challenges for a contester. The need to search zones multipliers, for country multipliers, for speed on the pileups, and of course the contest operation time strategy are the most important aspects on any contest and the CQWW has all the necessary rules to test the expertise and ability of each contester.
. Eventually in the future we could take a better look on unique calls and busted calls in order to define with more accuracy the penalties. I really think that in the future we would need the complete tape for the top 5 and records claimed scores.
7. Tell about the Araucauria Club
The happiness to participate on a contest on a multi operator effort and the desire to develop a team of great operators in Brazil and at the same time the wish to erect a super station in Brazil guide us in direction to form a Competition Group in Curitiba. We had the lucky to have some first class Dx operators in Curitiba, some experts on antennas and equipment repair and maintenance, and of course the principal ingredient ” motivation”. Those coincindences facts facilitated the creation of our Araucaria Dx Group.
So, in 1981 PY5EG, PY5CC, PY5CA, PY5TT, PY5ZBA (N5FA) and PY5ZBU decided to create the Araucaria Dx Group.
In principle PY5EG (Oms) took the responsibility to coordinate the Group, PY5ZBU (Don) for the technological area including equipment maintenance and antenna design, PY5CA (Maia), for the log and software coordination, and Jim N5FA, with the fantastic help of PY5CC (Peter), has act as the real motivator to implement our contest station and antenna farm. Our unforgettable friend Ton (PY5TT) who died in 1993 has been responsible for the facilities implementation (Civil works, energy, water etc..) at the contest station.
A good car always need a driver!, So our contest station mainly operated by N5FA, PY5CC and PY5EG received as guests many fantastic operators like:
OH2BM, N6ZZ, LU8DQ, LU6ETB, ZP5JCY, N6TJ, N6AA
OH2MM, N6KT, YU1RL, CT1BOH, YT1AD, JH1AJT, W6NV
In 1992 we decided to erect a big contest station in Fernando de Noronha Is.. With the extraordinary collaboration of our friend and A.DX.G member PY0FF (Andre), and all the others members of our Group, we can say today, that we really have a very good and competitive station. There we normally use the callsign ZX0F achieving some extremely good results. From the island we won several multisingle and single all contests and many single bands.
The antenna farm ZX0F has the following system:
80 meters 3 elements Force 12 at 100 feet high.
40 meters 3 elements Force 12 at 100 feet high.
20 meters 5 elements Yagi 60 feet high.
15 meters 5 elements Yagi 60 feet high.
10 meters 7 elements Yagi 50 feet high.
Multipliers TH6, 2 elem. 40m. and beveareges
Recently in 1997 after operating some contests together, we decided to have the Sta.Catarina Dx Group joined with our A. Dx G. The Araucaria Dx Group now have the section Parana, and the section Sta. Catarina , (leaded by our friend and terrific operator PP5JR).
Sergio PP5JR is coordinating the erection of a new super contest Station in the State of Santa Catarina at the “Serra da Boa Vista”. The location is really superb. 1200 meters above the sea level up in the mountain with already 5 towers with an objective to have all the capability to run a multi multi. We intend to have the station ready for a multi multi in the next CQWW SSB Oct/98.
The station will have stacked full size for each top band in separated towers and KLM 4 elements for 40 meters and 3 elements for 80 meters. For 160 meters we are still studying the most appropriated antenna.
Our dream is to enlarge the border of the A.Dx.G to others states in Brazil.
This is the list of the A.Dx.G.original members:
Araucária DX-Group Members
| CT1BOH | Jose Carlos C. Nunes |
| JH1AJT | Yasuo Miyazawa |
| LU1IV | Juan Carlos Vico |
| LU6ETB | Arthuro J. Garrarella |
| N6AA | Richard J. Norton |
| N6TJ | James B. Neiger |
| N6ZZ | Philip J. Goetz |
| OH2BH | Martii Laine |
| OH2MN | Villho Hulesmaa |
| PP1CZ | Ary Leonardo Barbosa Ferreira |
| PP5BRV | Rodrigo de Mesquita Vieira |
| PP5BRV | Rodrigo de Mesquita Vieira |
| PP5FMM | Mateus Augusto Grilo de Siqueira |
| PP5JR | Sérgio Lima de Almeida |
| PP5MCB | Mauro Cesar Basilio |
| PP5OW | Osmar Waterkemper |
| PP5SZ | Pedro Sirzanink |
| PP5UA | Pedro Gildo Schmitz |
| PP5UB | Fernando Bez Schmitz |
| PP5US | Arlindo Schmitz |
| PP5WG | Walter Vicente Gomes Filho |
| PPLB | Liuz Carlos Brasil |
| PU5OMS | Augusto de Araújo de Oms |
| PW8CZ | Amadeu Sikorski Filho |
| PY0FF | Andre C. Sampaio |
| PY1KN | Marcelo Gomes da Silva |
| PY0FF | Andre C. Sampaio |
| PY2BW | Herbert Egon Walter Guenther Boehm |
| PY2EX | Eger Gaertner Boehm |
| PY4OD | Talma D’ Angelo |
| PY4OY | Carlos Gregório de Almeida |
| PY5ALP | Renato J. L. Pimazzoni Júnior |
| PY5BVL | Didio Costa Rocha Loures |
| PY5CA | Nelson Otávio Maia |
| PY5CC | Peter Zoch Sprengel |
| PY5CW | Luis Eduardo Coimbra de Mauel |
| PY5EG | Atilano de Oms Sobrinho |
| PY5EJ | Aldenor Pavanatti |
| PY5EX | Edair Fraga |
| PY5GA | Olavo Scherrer |
| PY5GU | Augusto Guimarães Cortes Neto – “Gus” |
| PY5IO | Henrique Celso Teixeira Pinto |
| PY5JA | José Arthur Mota Vieira |
| PY5KK | Carlito Klein |
| PY5LZ | Luiz Napoleão Carias de Oliveira |
| PY5NW | Aristarcho Henrrique Cavalcanti Pompeu |
| PY5OF | Sidnei Campos |
| PY5OW | Otto Wilhelm Riederer |
| PY5PS | Evandro Fattori |
| PY5VM | Vani Emanuel Borges de Macedo |
| PY5VV | Joaquim Pinto Rebello Lacolla |
| PY5WD | Waldemar Conceição Dias |
| PY5YL | Geny Eliane B. Ferraz Rolim |
| PY5ZBA/N5FA | James Arthur Hoffman |
| PY5ZBU | Donald William Murden |
| W6NV | Oliver Sweingsen |
| YT1AD | Hranislav Hrane |
| YU1RL | Radivaje Lazarevic |
| ZP5JCY | Luis N. Kemper |
See some of the major A.Dx.G.’s achievements as multi operators
WPX WORLD CONTEST /MULTI Year Call Sign
Worldwide Champion (Multi Single) 1984 ZZ5EG
Worldwide Champion (Multi Multi/Worldwide Record) 1987 ZZ5EG
Worldwide Champion (Multi Single/Worldwide Record) 1989 ZX5C
Vice Champion Campeão (Multi Multi) 1993 ZX0F
Worldwide Champion (Multi Single) 1994 ZX0F
Worldwide Champion (Multi Single) 1996 ZX0F
WAEDC CONTEST/ MULTI OPERATOR
World Champion (Multi Single) 1992 ZW5B
6 times South America Champion (Multi Single)
CQWW WORLD CONTEST /MULTI OP.
Event Year Call Sign
Vice Champion Worldwide (Multi Multi) 1989 ZW5B
Champion S. America (Multi Multi) 1984 ZY5EG
World Champion Worldwide(Multi Single) 1996 ZX0F
World Champion Worldwide (MultiSingle) Claimed 1997 ZX0F
8. What advice do you have for beginners in our hobby?
First of all, I think that we should attend a contest as a listener paying the maximum attention how the best contesters really operate. The most important aspects are:
How to program an operation time. And rest periods.
How to satellite the most adequate time beaming.
How to maintain the pileups in a high level of contacts.
How to maximize the use of peripherals and contest software.
How to search for multipliers and how to improve the use of the multiplier station.
How to pull multipliers to other bands.
To be completely familiarized with equipment.
Operation technics.
Type of food during the contest is an important matter.
A perfect knowledge of the propagation in the area that you are going to operate is a must. Having a perfect knowledge of the openings you can elaborate an ideal time scheduling for the contest planing and also the rest periods.
I think is always recommendable to take a good listening to an important contest, like CQWW. Following the leaders you can have a perfect idea how they acts.
Of course the main preconditions are; motivation, perseverance and patience.
I would also recommend to start up on a single op category or as a auxiliary operator on a multi category and them wen you feel OK fight for the top 5 on your region!!!.