I met Ivan for the first time on the evening of June
23, 1998 on 20 meter CW. Since then we have had many QSOs on 20
meter CW and SSB and 40 meter CW. Click here
to hear a short sound clip of Ivan's 20 meter SSB signal. Since
our first QSO, I have learned much about Ivan and his family. He
has many talents, interests and hobbies. Ivan is an amateur
artist who specializes in oil painting. He has painted more than
a 100 paintings and has displayed his work in the local art gallery and
at his place of work. Ivan sends his paintings to his amateur
radio friends around the world, I have several in my shack. Ivan
enjoys working in his garden with his XYL Ivanichka where they grow
fruits and vegetables. Ivan enjoys playing chess and listening to
country music. Ivan and his younger brother Peter collect
pictures, postcards, and souvenirs from NASA's space programs. In
addition to this, Ivan is the ultimate handyman. He helped his
brother build his new home and has helped his sons with carpentry,
plumbing, and electrical work when re-modeling their apartments.
In November 2004, Ivan retired with 42 years of service to his company.
He now works full time on his farm tending to his animals and
vegetable gardens. Ivan's XYL worked part time to help support
their family. She recently retired and now works part-time.
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Ivan and his XYL
Ivanichka.
Photo was taken in Ivan's garden during the summer of 2007.
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Petar, Ivan's
brother. This
photo was taken on the Bulgarian sea coast on the Black Sea.
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Ivan has been licensed since
1969. He enjoys
talking to his many amateur radio friends and working DX. In
addition to his native language, Ivan speaks fluent Russian, English,
and some Italian, French, and Spanish. Ivan can be found
daily
around 14.182 MHz +/- QRM from 0200 to 0300 UTC and on 14.182 +/- QRM
around 1200 to 1300 UTC. He uses a Kenwood TS-820 transceiver
and
a homebrew linear amplifier. He has a Force-12 EF-320
monoband 3
element 20 meter yagi 8 meters above ground and dipoles for 40 and 30
meters. Over the years, Ivan has made many friends via
amateur
radio and enjoys corresponding with them. He does not have a
home
computer but is very interested in the internet. I have
provided
this page for Ivan so his friends can learn about him and his family.
If you hear LZ2LP on the air please give him a call, he will
be
glad to speak to you. He will be happy to QSL direct if you
include funds for return postage. The post office does not
accept
IRCs.
Here's a few photos of Ivan's
shack and QTH -
Lovetch located in northern central Bulgaria about 128 kilometers
north and east of Sofia.
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1976: Ivan's shack with his
homemade transmitter and Volna receiver. |
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2011: Ivan mowing his front yard. |
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1995: Ivan's shack
with his
TS-820, TR-2500 homebrew 600w linear amplifier and MFJ keyer.
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1999: Ivan's shack with one of
his oil paintings in the background. |
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2009: Leonardo is Ivan's first grandson.
He may become an amateur radio
operator like his grandfather.
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2005: Ivan in his shack with his
second grandson Ivelin. |
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2008:
Ivan's shack with some of
his oil paintings in the background. |
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2009:
Ivan in his shack with
his second grandson Ivelin. |
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Ivan's 20M yagi, a Force-12
EF-320
three element mono-bander mounted on an 8 meter pole. The antenna
is rotated by the armstrong method.
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Ivan's home is about 3 miles
from
Lovetch in a small community between two large
hills. Ivan
says his location is good for working DX.
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The
city of Lovetch is
located in
north-central Bulgaria. Shown in the center of the photo is the
Lovetch Hotel and the famous covered bridge over the Ossam River.
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The
covered bridge is a Lovetch historical landmark. It was built
over the Ossum River to connect the old and new parts of the
city. The bridge contains small shops for shopping and souvenirs.
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A large cave 2 miles southeast of Ivan's
home. To appreciate it's size, notice on the right side of
the
photo the path winding to
the left. About two
thirds of the way down the path is Ivan's son, Stan standing along the
path. |
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Looking out from inside the cave. The cave entrance is 60 meters high. Ivan
told me that it was used by the
military during the communist regime. |
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Ivan's home is located about 2 miles northwest of the center
of Lovetch with a clear view looking northwest towards the U.S.A. |
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During the winter Ivan heats his home
with a fireplace. Here he is cutting wood with his homemade
saw made from a motor acquired from a local
factory. |
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Some of Ivan's QSL cards.
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QSL card printed by
Tony - LZ1JZ
for Ivan
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The text that follows is
Ivan's
amateur radio
history as written in his own words.
I was born on May 29, 1942 in
a
progressive family
without political interests. My native village is 12 miles
from my current QTH of Lovetch. On the same day in May John
Kennedy was born. A large number of my family are certified
engineers graduated from western schools in Germany and
France. I
have a brother whose name is Peter. He is a design engineer
and
lives in Sofia. He is married with 3 daughters. My
late
mother
finished an American College in Bulgaria for education of children with
teacher Mrs. Haskel from the USA. My mother lived to be 93
years
old. My father died suddenly in 1976.
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2002: Ivan and his brother
Petar.
Petar worked for an international marketing
company. Petar retired in 2010.
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A photo of Ivan and
Petar
taken in 1997. |
After the basic education that I got
in
my native
village, I continued my education in the near-by town of
Lovetch.
In 1960 I finished the last grade. At that time in every
school
Russian language was taught obligatory. During the same
period I
finished a free CW course - radiotelegraphy for the army.
Anybody
who was finishing secondary education could pass the course.
A
small speed of transmitting and receiving was required, only a speed of
30 characters per minute.
I passed this course with success.
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1968: An old photo of Ivan with the
parts to build his
first amateur radio rig. |
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1960: Ivan in the Army training with a
Kalashnikov
rifle. |
The
town is famous for its covered
bridge on the river Ossam, connecting the old and the new
town.
There are small shops for souvenirs. Lovetch is known as the
place where the first Bulgarian astronaut was born.
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Ivan (on motor bike)
with his
brother Petar (on the right) and some friends on an
ultra-light
named Blue Bird.
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Petar taking his ultra-light
aircraft
Blue Bird out for a spin at sun rise in October 2003.
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As
a student in high school in
1958 I saw a homebrew amateur radio station for the first
time.
It belonged to
my friend Ivan LZ2CX who worked only CW. Then I said to
myself
that some day I should have one. But at that time it was very
difficult to have a station for several reasons. First, my
personal profile had to be checked by state security
services.
For the building of the transmitter I had to find such books that
weren't available then. Instead of all difficulties my wish
prevailed. For the preparation of the transmitter I had to
give
an application to the Ministry of Communications. After that
I
got the permission and a period of several months to build the radio
station. After the end of this term I had to inform them in
written form that I was ready. Then an order from Sofia
followed
to the post office in Lovetch a committee to be assigned so they could
legalize the transmitter. A long story...
As
a start for the build of my
homebrew transmitter, I used the local club LZ2KEF. My
colleagues
and I used radio parts from old military appliances. I should
mention that our club station had quite an image on the air and won
many times the first awards in contests. The main purpose of
the
club at that time was to give a
preliminary education in CW to the lads before military
service.
There were two halls well equipped for education in conventional Morse
keys. I got class "C" from the local club. With
class
"C" I could work at 3.5 and 7 MHz only with 50 watts of ower.
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A 1992 photo of Ivan and his
XYL in
front of their home
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Ivan and his XYL in their
garden -
summer 2001
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The
components in the club were
delivered by the army very often. This was a joy for
us.
Everything was
distributed among us. Then we were given an old receiver,
BERTHA
from the time of Adolf Hitler, a 2-V-1 linear receiver which belonged
to the German army. I worked with it and I was listening to
the
amateur stations at 3.5 and 7 MHz very clearly because it was powered
by direct current. Now I am sorry because after I used it for
two
years in 1969, I disassembled it for parts. There are two
BERTHAs
in my region. They belong to LZ2GY and LZ2IU. I
suppose
that they would replace them with an old receiver - second or third
hand. LZ2TX and LZ2JW also dream of something old.
Unfortunately here in Bulgaria the standard of living is low, the
lowest profit per month is 5 to 60 US dollars. It is very
hard
for a radio amateur to buy something modern. Most radio
amateurs
design transceivers by the Russian model UW3DI, 1st and 2nd variant,
i.e. lamp and transistor.
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A 1979 photo of Ivan's XYL, Ivanichka during a
visit to
Moscow. |
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A 1979 photo of Ivan and Ivanichka taken during their visit
to Moscow. |
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Till
my 50th anniversary, I worked
with a transmitter 7AB. This was a Russian tank brew given to
me
as a gift by the local station LZ2KEF. With big efforts I
reworked it to operate at 3.5, 7 and 14 MHZ CW. I used
measurement units dip meter and signal generator from the club as
well. A Russian receiver VOLNA was given to me for use on the
amateur bands. At that time I was "B" class, I could work at
all
frequencies with great power at 250W.
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Ivan with his homebrew
radio, the 7AB, a Russian design that operated on 7 MHz only. |
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One of Ivan's prize
possessions, a Hristov family heirloom clock made in 1912. |
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1980: Ivan with
some of his specialty cucumbers grown in one of his many gardens.
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Unfortunately in 1999 the club was
closed because of financial reasons. I should note that my PA,
after receiving class "B", I constructed by myself and it works well at
all
frequencies. I used Russian lamp GK71. Those could
be easily found in Bulgaria and they are very cheap.