Charley, K1GZL, was a legend in Ham Radio for many years. He was most famous in the 1960's for running the Antarctic Phone Patch net where he made countless connections of people stationed in Antarctica to their loved ones back home via Ham Radio connected to the telephone network called a phone patch. He did most of this from New Gloucester, ME, and had a 3 element full size wire Yagi up on telephone poles there. I used to listen to him even before I got my Ham Radio license, and when he would come on and tune up, then you knew it was him since his signal was louder than the Radio Moscow shortwave station. He sometimes would just come on top of Radio Moscow and would take them out. When he moved to Berlin, NH, he put up a huge quad antenna on 20 meters beaming to Europe and Asia. He used to talk to Father Moran, 9N1MM, in Nepal on a regular schedule. Father Moran then came to visit him at his Berlin, NH, location. He had a schedule with a station in India that was only using curtain rods in his home for an antenna. That was how good his location and antennas were. He also talked to the technical university in Sofia, Bulgaria, LZ1KDP, and all of the students there including Nick Ikonomov, LZ1JY, who still kept in contact with him until this day. They called him Uncle Charley since they admired him so much. I got to meet him on the air in the late 1960's and kept schedules with him up until the present. He was a weather enthusiast and kept records of snowfall at his location for more than 20 years. His present location of Clarksville, NH, had an average snowfall over that time frame of 195 inches. Many times his forecasts for locations in the USA were more accurate than the mainstream weather forecasting services. He was a master of wire beam antennas and had experimented with numerous configurations over the years. His method was trial and error and measuring the field strength with a hand-held meter tediously adjusting lengths and spacings until he peaked up his signal. He was also famous for making recordings of his contacts and playing them back, first with a reel to reel tape recorder and then cassettes. He made many recordings of Capt. Mike Pelly, KX4WC, on many trips across the USA on a Boeing 767 aircraft in flight. He was not a contester but allowed myself and Bruce Long, WA3PTU, to come to his Berlin, NH, location and do the Phone Sweepstakes contest in 1978. Most of the operation was on 15 meters only, and we were in the multi-op category. We set a record for New Hampshire in this category that still holds to this day. Another highlight in the 1970's was talking to him on 80, 40, and 20 meters using the 1000 ft Arecibo dish on these frequencies. The dish was aiming straight up and had many bounces to get to him from Puerto Rico. It caused a huge echo effect. This was done with Rey Velez, KP4REY, and Angel Vazquez, WP3R, and myself from the control room of the Arecibo Observatory with a Collins KWM2 transceiver and 30L1 amplifier. There are many more stories to tell but this will give a glimpse into some of the highlights of legend of Charley Morgan, K1GZL (Giraffes, Zebras, and Lions). I was fortunate to visit him a half a dozen times in both his Berlin and Clarksville, NH locations. His distinctive voice and great personality will be missed for sure on the air. Prof. Jim Breakall WA3FET” R.I.P Charlie, K1GZL SK. Condolences to all. Ángel WP3R
