Outlaw Dick W7ZR

Outlaw Dick Zalewski W7ZR

Northern Area Regional Vice President

I was first licensed as KN2JSP in 1954. Since then I have held 17 calls. I have operated from 5 continents.
I started in the hobby by getting my novice license in Hillsdale, New Jersey. My old high school buddy Phil K2EPD mentored me and sat me in front of the old crank up Instructograph to polish up the code speed to a whopping 5 wpm for the test.

Years before I had been playing with radios by taking them apart and most of the time getting them back together. We had lots of parts to play with because I had uncles who worked in electronics and I got a lot of junk parts.

After being licensed as a novice came the trip to New York City and the ominous FCC office to take the general class test. Of course in those days it was code (send and receive) and the written. Sweaty palms and all I passed.

My first station was the Heathkit AT-1 and Hallicrafters S-38C. The Heathkit I think was $29.95, got 12 watts out of a 6L6. The Hallicrafters was $49.95 and I went into hock on promises to my mother in order to obtain that brand new.

All of us from that era have stories of being on the air. I have pages and pages of log book entries of just calling CQ with no takers. Of course my 80/40 dipole was only 6 feet off the ground so I could change the jumper to band change. Of course we were crystal controlled then too. We learned how to alter the crystals to get on a new frequency when there was interference. I would get up at 4 am before school to work 80 meters and the illusive W6s.

The same year I obtained my license (1954) I did my first contest. The Novice Roundup. Pounding away with a straight key and my great line-up of equipment including a receiver that could listen to the whole band without turning the bandspread was so much fun that this became the major focus for me in the hobby.

In 1980 along with Jim W7EJ we took a trip to the Pacific and operated from Hawaii, Guam, Yap, Truk, Palau, and the Marshall Islands. We operated CQWW SSB from Truk and held a record for the Pacific for a few years.

In 2006, I operated from Morocco as CN2ZR for CQWW SSB. The following March I was back in Morocco as 5C5Z for CQWPX SSB and set a world record for SO 20M. On average, I operate 33 contests a year.

Website: http://www.w7zr.com/