Eng. Boris Konyarov — Pioneer and Founder of the Amateur Radio Movement in Gabrovo
LZ2KAD — The Town Radio Club in Gabrovo and Founder Eng. Boris Konyarov
Every story about amateur radio in Gabrovo begins with Eng. Boris Konyarov. He was the true pioneer who established the town’s radio community.
1. Early Days in Dobruja: Memories of Lyuben Penkov (LZ2LF – sk)
Veteran operator Lyuben Penkov (LZ2LF – sk) recalled their early technical experiments in Dobrich in 1935:
„I was born in 1916. During our high school years in Dobrich, Boris Konyarov and I built our first homebrew transmitter. We assembled a single-tube Hartley oscillator. Initial tests failed because we were keying the main ground line instead of the high-voltage anode circuit.“
2. The Beginning in Gabrovo: Memories of Boncho Vasilev (LZ2AS – sk)
Boncho Vasilev (LZ2AS – sk) shared his first experience with radio in 1948 at the Gabrovo Electrical Engineering School:
„I was a student under Eng. Konyarov. One evening he turned on a shortwave receiver. Morse signals filled the room. He decoded a message and said: ‘A Romanian is working a Frenchman.’ That moment hooked me forever.“
3. Who Was Eng. Boris Konyarov?
Boris Konyarov fell in love with radio in 1927 in Dobrich. Inspired by E. Aisberg’s book ‘The Magic of Radio Waves’, he constructed his first crystal radio using homemade lead-sulfide detectors.
After WWII, working as an engineer in Gabrovo, he founded the first radio technical groups at NSST and the Technical School in 1946–1947. Among his early students were future engineers like Botyu Botev (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Ivan Mechev, Hristo Hinov, Shkodrev, and Stefan Dunev.
By 1949–1950, the first official radio club in Gabrovo, named ‘A. S. Popov’, was established. Members actively wired and modernized local public address networks. Later, Eng. Konyarov served as director of the Printed Circuit Board Factory in Ruse.
4. Historical Managers of Radio Club LZ2KAD
According to Rumen Stefanov (LZ2RS), the Gabrovo Radio Club was founded between 1946 and 1948. Its historical station managers were:
- 1946–1948: First manager unrecorded (likely Eng. Boris Konyarov).
- Until 1962: Trifon Kolev
- Until 1968: Atanas Gatev
- Until ~1970: Ivan Sofronieev
- Subsequent Managers: Kolyo Kolev and Ivan Ivanov
