Atlanticon 2003 

QRP Forum Speaker

Jon Iza, EA2SN

QRPing in Europe

Atlanticon-goers this year are in for another real treat.  We are lucky to have Jon Iza, EA2SN as our "lunchtime keynote" speaker telling us about the typical European QRPer, and the facility he or she has to "work countries". There will be some maps, for comparison with the typical situation in the States.

The lunchtime talk during Saturday's busy line-up of presentations has become a bit of a tradition at Atlanticon.  After all the QRPers have shuffled back into the ballroom with their box lunches & sodas, the featured speaker informally presents an interesting topic that is often light and humorous. Last year, Dave Benson, K1SWL gave us a great lunchtime update on two new products coming from his Small Wonder Labs.

Dr. Jon Iza is a staunch and long-time supporter of the NJQRP Club. Even as a busy full professor at the University of the Basque Country Escuela de Ingenieros (in Spain), he has participated in every club kit and has contributed CCW and other technical material to help keep the club near the leading edge of digital and antenna fronts.

About Jon Iza, EA2SN ...

I got involved on radio stuff when the "Tres Reyes Magos" (the equivalent of Santa in Spain) gave me the "Philips Electronic Engineer", an electronics Erecto set. I built on the spot a three transistor radio and when it worked I cried so hard my family thought I was getting electrocuted. That was followed by many radios into cigar boxes and plenty of non-working  contraptions. I thoroughly read everything I had at hand, and my mouth was wide open when I was reading all those stories from the Handbook, QST, CQ and translations on the Spanish URE journal "Radioaficionados". I always enjoyed seeing the photos of big American cars with call-sign license tags, because such auto tags were not available in Spain. I dreamed that someday, somehow I, too, would have a ham radio auto plate.

After 100+ countries heard as an SWL I applied for my ham ticket the day I was 18. Even though Generalisimo Franco was dead I had to go through questioning by the "Brigada Social", the remains of the political police, who asked me questions such as: How many millivolts does have your antenna? I was quite naif and started correcting him: "the antenna does not have millivolts. It's the rig which may have power, measured in watts..." you figure out. I almost get kicked up for playing wise. Anyway, in March 1978 I was given the EA2SN call that I hold since that time.

I was attending the University since 1975, where I got a degree on Sciences an, after compulsory military duty at the Air Force, where I was Weather Observer and got a chance to operate ECK station, I worked for a while as a microprocessor technician and went back to School to earn a D.Sc. on wastewater treatment research. I took an opportunity for a scholarship to study abroad and went to the Agricultural University in the Netherlands and, later on, to the University of Massachusetts. I got a reciprocal permit from the FCC, and, best of all, I got a Massachusetts EA2SN call-sign auto tag. Sometimes, if you work some and get lucky, dreams come true. Nowadays I keep a photocopy of the auto tag on my office door at the University of the Basque Country (where I teach Environmental Engineering), so anyone who comes by can see that a ham is inside!

I always operate QRP, and have earned some wallpaper. Recently I've been reviewing electronic keyers and QRP rigs for the Spanish ham journal "Radioaficionados".

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