E.R.A. Penisola Sorrentina

I8KMD

ADOLFO ACAMPORA

i8kmd@erapenisolasorrentina.com

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Adolfo Acampora, I8KMD, of Sorrento, Italy. A town with about 20,000 people, Adolfo is the town's only ham.

I have many fine memories of fellow amateurs who I have met over the 50 years that I have been licensed. Fellowship and friendship between people of like interests is a major benefit of Amateur Radio. For the first time in my life, however, I found how strong this bond is between amateurs from different countries.

Adolfo Acampora, I8KMD, of Sorrento, Italy. A town with about 20,000 people, Adolfo is the town’s only ham.

My wife Doris and I booked a tour trip to Sorrento and Rome, Italy in late summer. A few weeks later, I had a pleasant contact with Adolfo Acampora, I8KMD, on 20 meters, and I was delighted to find that he lived in Sorrento. When I mentioned our planned tour to Adolfo, he insisted that I call him upon arrival in town. He also wanted to know where we were staying, because his family owns many hotels in Sorrento. I later sent along the details with my QSL card.

When we arrived in Sorrento in mid-November, we were surprised to find a gift of local beverages in our room, along with a note from Adolfo asking me to call him. We arranged to meet the following evening after our visit to the Isle of Capri. Later that same evening during the pleasant cocktail hour conversation with our tour group, I decided to abandon the trip down the Amalfi coast with the group and instead spend the day with Adolfo touring Sorrento.

We had a great time driving the hills around and above Sorrento and talking about our interests in ham radio. Adolfo is part of the third generation of Acamporas in the hotel industry. He began a career in hostelry with his father, uncle and cousins, but later gave it up to pursue his interest in electronics. He is now basically retired, having given his electronic store business to his son; however, he still maintains his bench at the shop and does electronic repair. It was at his shop that he built the VHF and HF linears that he has integrated into his “shack,” which is a cabinet in his living room.

Living on the second floor of a five-story apartment building, Adolfo has a tower on the roof, with a three element tri-band beam for HF, as well as 2 meter and 70 centimeter stacked arrays. A 40 meter dipole stretches the full length of the roof. Adolfo loves Sorrento but laments the fact that the mountain behind his home totally blocks him from contacts to his south, southeast and southwest. He is the only Amateur Radio operator in Sorrento, and he regularly checks

Adolfo's apartment building in Sorrento with his towers on the roof.

into 20 meter DX nets in the USA.

We said goodbye later in the evening after dinner and shopping with our wives, promising to stay in touch and contact each other whenever we can on 20 meters. In our first contact, he referred to me as “my good friend, Bob.” Now indeed we are good friends, and I will come back to Sorrento in the near future.

First licensed in 1956, Robert Lawson, W3LIA, is an Amateur Extra. He first obtained his license while serving in the US Navy in Puerto Rico. Retired from the telecommunications industry, he now lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he uses a Kenwood TS-440S hooked up to two G5RVs. Daughter Dori, W3IBH, is a network manager on the MARC traffic nets; her call is one of Robert’s previous ones. Together, the father-daughter team initiated and hosts a “Chit-Chat Roundtable” on the MARC repeaters.

fonte:  www.arrl.org