ΡΑΔΙΟΕΡΑΣΙΤΕΧΝΙΣΜΟΣ (τί είναι)
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Bridgeport ham radio operator reaches the world via Morse code
By: TONYA WIESER, Staff Reporter
Published: Saturday, March 14, 2009 11:01 PM CDT
BRIDGEPORT — Although many know him as Frank Cahoy, other recognize a Bridgeport man as KOBLT.
His call sign identifies him to friends as far away as Finland.
A ham radio operator, Cahoy is a member of the American Radio Relay League Organization, AMSAT Satellite Operation and is a a regular operator of the club station NONEB of Scottsbluff.
His interest in amateur ham radio began in the early 1950s as a short-wave radio listener.
“I started out with nothing more than a receiver and listened to The Voice of America, Radio Moscow, Radio Australia and the British Broadcasting Corporation, to name a few,” Cahoy said. “At that time, there were no local ham radio participants, but I had a very dear friend that lived a hour away who encouraged me to join.”
He taught himself Morse code, studying and preparing for the required written exam. In those days, Cahoy said, operators were expected to be able to send and receive five words a minute and pass a written exam.
“All of that had to be performed in front of another amateur radio operator who in turn sent it in to the Federal Communications Commission,” Cahoy said. “Then I waited impatiently for several months before receiving my actual license.”
Cahoy received his first license in June 1960 and originally was assigned the call sign KNOBLT, with the ‘N’ representing the novice entry level and limiting him to only 75 watts and the use of Morse code only.
After about six months, he had contacts in 40 states and a few “DX” (overseas countries) contacts. Over time, he upgraded his skills and equipment. Once he had earned his general class rank, Cahoy was allowed to drop the N from his call sign, becoming KOBLT, and to operate both via Morse code and by voice.
In time, as the equipment, rules and regulations changed, the FCC had invented an incentive program upgrading the testing.
Eventually he qualified for the “extra” class.
“It involved a broader band with more operating frequencies,” he said.
The process also required an upgrade of equipment from a simple 100-watt radio transmitter to a 100-watt transceiver connected to a power amplifier capable of generating up to 500 additional watts. It required him to get more sophisticated antennas as well.
“My main focus has always been working the DX, and my ultimate goal is to work every country, referred to as ‘entities,’” Cahoy said.
The thrill lies in making contact with other operators around the globe, he said.
There are 338 entities, and as of this week Cahoy has worked and confirmed 337 of them. The only one he is lacking contact with is North Korea, because its government forbids anyone to converse via radio in or out of the country.
Over the years Cahoy’s ham radio’s world has gained and lost entities. For example, the Canal Zone, which he worked frequently, was given back to Panama. And after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany and West Germany became just Germany.
Some entities aren’t even permanently inhabited. For instance, Scarborough Reef is a pile of rocks sticking up out of the South China Sea. Radio operators visiting the site took along a carpenter to build a platform on the rocks to serve as a base and set up food, radio equipment and generators in order to operate.
Through the years, Cahoy has met and made a lot of friends. However, he has a very dear friend, Martti, under the call sign of OH2BH, who makes his home in Helsinki, Finland.
“We started talking to each other in the early ’60s and I was the first Nebraska station he ever contacted,” Cahoy said. “Since those days, Martti has become a world-famous DXer and has gone on several expeditions to many, many rare and exotic places. In fact, my latest contact recently confirmed that he was in the Azores Islands.”
Cahoy is comfortable using Morse Code at a pace of 30 words per minute and still is an active competitor. Most competitions last 48 hours, with American and Canadian radio operators taking on the rest of the world.
“The principle is to contact as many entities as you can,” Cahoy said. “The numbers all depend on how much time you put in and on the propagation, which is the ability for your signal to be heard and vice versa, but I can easily work around 300 contacts throughout several entities during competition.”
Every May, Cahoy travels to Dayton, Ohio, to attend a major convention and competition known as the Hamvention, which lasts for four days.
“The event averages nearly 20,000 radio operators from all over the world,” Cahoy said, “and it is so nice to finally get to put a face with either the voices or fists (Morse code operators).”
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