Pabillonis – Federico Cherchi: «A great passion, but also a resource in an emergency»
One hundred and fifty years ago Guglielmo Marconi was born, who with the invention of the radio revolutionized the way of communicating forever. His example was soon followed by numerous technicians, DIYers and experimenters of over-the-air transmissions, i radio amateurswith often prodigious results.
Like in the early sixties, in the midst of the Soviet-American cold war, when two brothers, Achille and Giovanni Battista Judica Cordiglia, with their self-built station, managed to pick up radio signals from the launch of the first Sputnik until the conquest of the Moon. Their passion for the radio even brought them into the presence of the CIA and of NASA to communicate on Russian space frequencies.
Today it is much more difficult to intrude on protected frequencies, but the magic of the radio can always surprise, as the Pabillonese radio amateur expert said Federico Cherchi: «The legislation requires confidentiality, there are numerical stations (number stations) which transmit signals in alpha-numeric code, where only the interested interlocutor has the key to decode the message, but in some cases, unprotected communications can be heard such as propaganda ones coming from the current Russian-Ukrainian war line”.
From his radio station Pabillonis Federico Cherchi has reached the whole world via a signal directed towards the ionosphere (the highest layer of the atmosphere) which in optimal conditions functions like an immense mirror for radio waves: United States, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Australia; the furthest place where he established contact was the island of New Caledonia (a French colony located in the Pacific Ocean east of the Australian coast) 22,830 kilometers away from us.
Its radio station consists of three fixed base radios, all with different characteristics, five portable radios, a power amplifier, wave generators, oscilloscope and five antennas.
«I have probably always had a passion for radio – continued the radio amateur. Already as a child I was fascinated by toy walkie talkies, then with the advent of CB (citizen’s band), the so-called baracchini, which were the first social networks, I began to talk to people in the surrounding area, to exchange opinions and joke. Thus friendships, affections and loves were born. But then for a few years, for various reasons, I gave up until after graduating in IT and telecommunications, the passion forcefully returned and in 2014 I decided to get the Ministerial License as an Amateur Station Radio Operator, effectively authorizing me to transmit with the callsign of Isofkp”.
In 1985, aministerial order where it was arranged that all Italian prefectures, the Ministry of the Interior and the Civil Protection department were connected via Hf-Vhf amateur radio stations and that they were managed by volunteers.
“Once – Cherchi recalled – I heard a call from a sailing vessel engaged in a solo crossing in the middle of the Atlantic and Indian oceans, trying in vain to contact their family members in Tuscany. On that occasion I acted as bridge to put both in contact; so in the following days, at established times and frequencies, I turned on the radio and made myself available.”
A passion, that of amateur radio, which also conquered famous people, such as President Francesco Cossiga, Oscar-winning actor Marlon Brando, Prince Albert of Monaco and Elvis’ wife, Priscilla Presley.
Hobby, fun, but with a twist social utilityas Federico Cherchi underlined in closing: «In dramatic emergencies, when traditional communication systems are interrupted, we radio amateurs are called and we make ourselves available to guarantee essential communications, in such a way as to be able to ensure health and safety. safety of the community.”
Stefano Cruccas (This email address is protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) © All rights reserved
Featured image: Federico Cherchi with his amateur radio equipment.
Below, two types of antennas used by Cherchi
