Nino PAGLIALONGA (Italy)
R/O Nino Paglialonga born Foggia, Italy. Coming from amateur experience (1971, as i7zcz ), on 1976 He got the 1st class international certificate for ships and aeromobiles without …attending nautical or radio-operator’s school. In fact the scientific “liceo” certificate “ (achieved years before) was a rule exeption for accessing the exam session in Rome. Anyway this facility was theoretic. So he studied by himself telegraphy, radio procedures, and radio-electronics. Ships always fashinated Nino so a chance for a job envolving professional-communications was a “must” .The absence of marine culture and tradition in his family and native town ( Foggia was known as “a sea of land” on past centuries) was an obstacle. It was a difficult affair in the middle of ‘70s to be signed on a ship as “radio-officer” without job experience. So, in his curriculum he added “ long time amateur-radio experience in radio communications”. So something changed . He received a phone call at home: “ I have a ship for you . You have a couple of hours to catch the train. Come to Venice and tomorrow we will complete all papers than you will fly to London and finally at Liverpool. The ship will sail in a couple of days bound for Brasil. The old R/O will give you all infos ,then you will be alone on board”.
It wasn’t an easy decision…never been at sea on big ships, never abroad or on board of an airplane…so…(a few long, long ,long seconds passed) ”See you tomorrow! “ Nino said. It was a “full immersion job”, long haul voyages, CIRM emergency, sometimes bound for eg. KeyWest or other plain ocean routes waiting for orders (by radio). There was a price to pay for… fighting against seasickness, closing discreetly the door of the radio-room and blocking his chair to the floor. The first ship: m/v MONTREUX / 6ZZY. Not so many ships, a few years later he was on board of a new ship: m/v FURIA/ 5MVE for the first voyage from the shipyard in Korea to Japan – USA, atlantic coast, using a fully sinthesized radio station by JRC. After a few years at sea Nino changed job becoming a professional SWL working for RAI (italian governative radio-tv broadcast), changing job again working for the governative telephon company and years later finally for the leading Italian commercial telephone company.
He always appreciated QRP transmission at sea as well as on his amateur radio station. Sometimes during low traffic days he sent AMVER messages to NMC in S.Francisco with Tx drive and PA meters almost to zero (sending “congrats” to the coast operator at the end of the voyage!). This insane use of low power turned very useful on 1973 when he was serving in the italian (transmission) army. The radio-room in Palermo caught fire just a couple of hours before the scheduled QSO with Rome. So Nino asked for a few men, some electric wire and a tactical radio transceiver used for local communications (low power, covering a few miles on the low side of short waves). The antenna was calculated and the wire cutted, than it was raised by the little team: thereafter Rome was calling on CW…and Palermo answered… QSA 4, the reported signal in Rome. Nino and his helpers were pleased including their smiling captain.
Qrp tx/rx , radioelectronicsand antennas his main interests, some original works published on amateur radio –magazines.
