John Rollins Memorial DX Event
The John Rollins Memorial DX event is the third in a series of AWA sponsored “On Air” events. This event was officially renamed in 2009 to honor John W1FPZ (SK) and his many outstanding contributions to the AWA over the years. Like all “On Air” events it is open to everyone, members and non-members.
Event Details
Each year’s event has a unique set of details and rules of participation. They can be seen by clicking on the button to the right.
Results
After the event logs have been collected and the results tabulated, a set of event results are provided. The following button are links to the pages, which will contain the most recent results for this event.
The button to the right is linked to the John Rollins DX event results page.
John Rollins
John was born in Quiringua, Guatemala, on May 27, 1924, the son of Charles E. Rollins and Hildagarde W. Flett, while his father was expatriated to work for the United Fruit Co. After his father died of malaria his mother returned the family to New England, where he grew up. As a teenager John discovered radio and his brother bought him a $5.00 two tube regenerative radio kit to build. John built the kit, but it was another 6 months before he got another kit for the power supply. With the help of a ham who lived nearby, he got the radio working which opened up a whole new world for him. John was in High School when his brother went with him into NYC to test for a ham license at the FCC Field Office. For the next couple of years he was active on 40 M. CW using the regen receiver and a Hartley oscillator.
1924-2008
After graduate school, he worked in executive positions for Chevron in oil exploration on virtually every continent. In addition to his professional accomplishments, John was a licensed pilot with a multi-engine instrument rating. He was a competitive pistol shooter with wins around the world. He was a skilled gunsmith and an enthusiastic ham radio operator, call sign W1FPZ, as well as a builder of beautiful antique transmitters and receivers and also wrote the Amateur Radio column in the OTB for many years. Not forgetting his childhood roots in rural New Hampshire, he was an accomplished outdoorsman and trapper.
John enlisted in the Army during World War II and was part of the invasion force of New Guinea and the Philippines and served in the occupation of Japan. When John returned home from World War II, he earned a bachelor of science degree in geology from the University of New Hampshire and a master of science degree from the University of Nebraska. After he graduated, he accepted a job with a major oil company and moved to Marcaibo, Venezuela, where he worked until returning to the U.S. to complete a doctorate in geology from the University of Nebraska.
One of John’s greatest gifts was his willingness to share what he knew with others.