[Wswss] Remembering K1FO

[David Smith]

Wayne, what an amazing story and adventure you had!

I am so sorry to hear about Steve.

I think it was at one of the first WSWSS conferences.
It was up in the Sequoia National Park back in the 1980's.
I don't remember exactly what year.... Steve had just
produced his very first Lunar-Link Amplifier prototype 
and someone brought one to the conference. What a
beautiful piece of craftsmanship it was!

I never met Steve in person but I talked to him
many times on the phone and email. When I had
the station at Fresno State I bought all four of Steve's
Lunar-Link Amplifiers (50, 144, 222, and 432 MHz). They
all worked flawlessly through the time I had them. 

Steve was an exceptional engineer, experimenter and ham.
His K1FO antennas were (maybe still are) featured in the
ARRL Handbook.

RIP Steve.

73,

Dave W6TE 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Wayne Overbeck<mailto:overbeck6 at yahoo.com> 
  To: wswss at mailman.qth.net<mailto:wswss at mailman.qth.net> 
  Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2012 1:37 PM
  Subject: [Wswss] Remembering K1FO


  Steve Powlishen, who died yesterday (just two months 
  after he turned 60) was not only an exceptional 
  engineer and builder of potent RF amplifiers--he 
  was also a premier VHF contester of the 1970s and 
  1980s.

  Steve, K1FO (WA1FFO until 1977), built a super-
  station in Connecticut and became the odds-on 
  favorite to be the top single operator in any 
  VHF contest, just as K1TEO is the odds-on favorite 
  today.  I got to know him well because I also 
  wanted to win VHF contests--and concluded that 
  I had to have a good station in the northeast 
  to have any chance against Steve.

  I flew to Boston for the September, 1978, VHF 
  contest, hauling seven suitcases of equipment.
  I rented a car, built a console inside, and 
  parked on Mt. Equinox, Vermont.  K1FO was 
  well aware of this--and redoubled his own 
  efforts so he could teach this California 
  carpetbagger a lesson.  And he did.  Steve 
  amassed the highest single-op score ever in 
  the September VHF contest, and did indeed 
  send me to the departure gates at Logan 
  Airport vowing to try harder next time.

  The next year I outfitted a Ford van with 
  kilowatts on all bands through 432, added an 
  Onan generator and mounted a tower on the rear 
  deck.  I drove east in 1979, towing a 70' 
  tower trailer behind the van so I could have 
  two towers on an eastern mountaintop for VHF 
  contests.

  Meanwhile, Steve built a killer home station.
  He was ready when I set up on Mt. Equinox 
  for September, 1979 for a showdown in what 
  was becoming a rivalry.

  The record books say September, 1979, saw some 
  of the best tropo conditions ever in a VHF 
  contest.  Steve and I both worked all the way 
  from New England to Oklahoma on the VHF bands, 
  working tropo DX on 2, 220 and 432 that 
  Californians can only dream about.

  Steve's previous record for September was 
  45,000 points (scores were much lower in 
  those days because ARRL sections, not grid 
  squares, were the multipliers--and roving 
  had not been invented yet).  We both shattered 
  that record.  I edged Steve out with almost 
  103,000 points, a September score that was 
  never exceeded under the section multiplier 
  scoring system.  But Steve was destined to 
  have the final word in the June contest.

  The rivalry continued for a few more contests, 
  then I abandoned these coast-to-coast VHF 
  expeditions and tried to get serious about my 
  career.  The next year, Steve went all-out in 
  the June VHF contest and scored almost 110,000
  points--the highest June score ever posted 
  when ARRL sections were multipliers.  Then 
  he, too, decided to concentrate on his 
  career--and became legendary in his field.

  It's very hard for me to accept that the 
  guy I remember as a young kid in a red 
  Ford Torino is gone forever.  Like thousands 
  of others, I will miss him.

  -Wayne Overbeck, N6NB

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