.: dedication to Felix Ghirlando

My grandfather Felix Ghirlando was Italian born, married my grandmother from the island country of Malta and after the war, they setted here in Long Island, NY, USA. He was a very industrious man and was a technician at NBC Radio. I am told he had many interested in self doing projects.

He was a very active in amateur radio back in his day. He even was involved in local civil defense organizations and Radio clubs. I heard he was also active in foxhunts with his club and friends. He was active in the 40's and 50's, his call was W2VQY.

Sadly at only 47 years of age he became a 'silent key' in 1955, just a few months before I was born. His equipment was donated to the local church and his call; I guess was put back in the FCC pool. As far as I know that is where it stayed, until I began my search for it. Since nothing of his station was ever recovered, my search for his callsign was coming-up empty.

One day I remembered that ARRL's QST Magazine has a Silent Key column in every issue. I soon was in contact with John C. Hennessee, N1KB; The Regulatory Information Specialist, from the Field and Educational Services Department, at ARRL. Mr. Hennessee took the time to look in the back issues of 1955 and sure enough he found my grandfather's name and callsign in the March 1955 issue. I filed for his callsign and in less than 30 days was granted his call as my own. So after almost 46 years his call is now back in the family and on the air.