W2LV's QSL Card

Robert M. Morris - W2LV - 2CQZ *1902-1997* Inventor and researcher, born 18 Jan 1902 and first got interested in ham radio in 1915. At age 13 Bob worked most of the summer and saved enough money to buy his first complete wireless set. In 1916, when a ham moved into his area, his interest continued to grow and he proceeded to build a setup so he could receive Arlington on his bed spring antenna.

Your author heard Morris make a statement January of 1996 actually a year before our subject expired. It was profound and I made a note of it. He was in a AWA radio net and stated “In the teens I went to college in Cleveland at Case Western Reserve and was taken into quarters by the Victoreen’s on East 93 Street.

The Victoreen family made hot receivers in a business (two variometers type). While at the 8ACH Victoreen station, Morris heard the 1BCG/ALS cross the pond QSO, December of 1921. Bob stated reception was marvelous in December of that year. In 1922, Bob passed the necessary tests for an amateur radio license and received his license with the call of 2CQZ. The following year, Bob became the third person in the world to talk on the radio across the Atlantic Ocean. He made a contact with F8AB a ham in Nice, France and his family still has the QSL card. Bob landed a job in 1924 at a radio broadcasting station WEAF, the NBC flagship station, and in 1926 convinced the FCC that with his electrical engineering background and his job with WEAF, he should have a 2 letter call. They agreed and issued 2LV. Later they added a W in front of it and he held this call until his death. He was one of a few that worked for General Sarnoff and again the gifted Edwin Armstrong of regeneration and FM fame.

W2LV's Spark Gap Radio

Mr. Morris continued to work as an electrical engineer and moved to NBC before taking a job with the military during the war years. Bob’s job with the military during the war years remained in the field of electronics and he was in charge of the design, location and construction of military radio monitoring stations in the Arlington area. After the war was over, Bob worked for ABC up until his retirement. Bob was presented a 50 year plaque from the New Jersey DX Association. In 1979 he achieved DXCC #2 using Oscar AMSAT and previously earned his WAS (Worked All States) via satellite. After retirement, Bob and his wife Dorothy moved to Sussex County. With acres of land and the house set off the road so no one could see him, it wasn’t long before antennas appeared all over the place. Bob was very active on the ham bands, getting on the DX honor roll in the early 80s and having worked all the countries in the world in the late 80s / early 90s. Bob was also proficient in American Morse Code.

W2LV

Bob was a life member of the Sussex County Amateur Radio Club. Recently one of our club members made a comment about Bob and he said “Bob was an inventor and he sure made a lot of things work.” Inventor, researcher and radio pioneer Bob Morris, W2LV of Sparta New Jersey, expired October 15 1997 - He was age 95, Morris was first licensed in 1922 as 2CQZ - He later worked with Armstrong the man credited with inventing FM and regeneration. He was an ARRL member for 75 years. He retired in 1966 after 42 years as inventor, researcher and broadcast engineer. A noted broadcasting historian and storyteller, Morris appeared in Ken Burn’s PBS-TV Documentary Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio. Founding member of the Antique Wireless Association and of the New Jersey DX Association, and Sussex County Amateur Radio Club. Bob designed the North Jersey DX repeater antenna, constructed by W2OEH.

Bob was an antenna design engineer for a company known as RCA, Bob's boss was General Sarnoff, a Russian immigrant who founded RCA and who contributed much to the development of radio and to the stories and scandals that seemed to be associated with radio at the time. The fact is that one of Bob’s greatest achievement was the design and installation of the first television transmitting tower perched on top of the Empire State Building in NYC. Survivors include his wife, Dorothy, a son and daughter and several grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. Services the family asked that donations in Bob Morris memory be made to the AWA Rochester NY.

Forward by Bob Morris W2LV - Radio amateurs involved in DX are an interesting breed. Good DX operators are usually intelligent, energetic and interesting but not necessarily good looking. A good DXer has to have patience perseverance and fortitude and with experience becomes skillful in psychology of operation. By careful observation he can know in advance what a remote operator is going to think and do. He can thus make a call at the right instant and frequency to make a desired long distance contact. All amateurs have an inclination toward DXing. After all, the purpose of radio is to overcome distance - the more the better. But many lack the perseverance not to mention patience and fortitude of a DXer and so turn to rag chewing on 2 meter FM. Marconi had the instincts of a dxer. He borrowed the technology of Hertz which spanned the width of a classroom, connected grounds and longer antennas to the equipment and extended the range to 100 meters then to about a kilometer.

In England in 1896 with improved equipment, Marconi first demonstrated communication over 2.5 km and then the following year, over 20 km between ships. Further progressive increases in distance were achieved until in December 1901 he spanned the Atlantic with his famous letter “S.” Of course, he had no QRM, only static to contend with - the QRM came later. In order to memorialize Mr. Morris, Sussex Co applied for and was granted W2LV. Today W2LV is heard constantly by the Sussex County ARC repeaters on 443 - 147 and 224 MHZ - which continues in the memory of this gifted electronics expert, who once worked for the giants in the industry, Major Edwin Armstrong and General Robert Sarnoff.

Prepared with assistance from North Jersey DX Association. W8SU 2008