The Collection of Adinei Brochi PY2ADN
Welcome to one of the most important collections of radio communications equipment in Brazil and South America
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX-LU9EFO), travels to the city of Americana, in the interior of Sao Paulo, to meet his colleague Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN), owner of one of the private collections of the most important radio transmitters in Brazil.
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN), has a collection of incalculable value, which is made up of transmitters perfectly cataloged by brand, year of manufacture, origin and of course all are working perfectly.
Without a doubt, this is a spectacular collection of radio transmitters, so you cannot stop reading this article. You will find radio transmitters from all eras, but above all with Brazilian-made transmitters that will surprise you.
By: Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO)
Photographs: Ligia Katze
Introduction
Americana is a city located about 126 kilometers away from Sao Paulo.
Adinei Brochi is (PY2ADN), he is a civil police investigator in the specialized anti-kidnapping division, he is also trained in law and this year 2023 he is turning 45 with a radio amateur callsign, he is also a founding member of CRAM (American Radio Amateurs Club ) and undoubtedly possessor of one of the most important collections of radio transmitters in Brazil and South America.
I invite you to get to know this fabulous collection together, enjoy the interview!!
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): When did your passion for radio awaken?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): The passion for radio awoke in me in 1974, when I was six years old.
My uncle had a large electronics store with a repair shop, around that time a wonderful National NC-109 receiver turned up in the store with a valve missing and was put on the pile of old equipment to be destroyed.
Impressed with the beauty of this equipment, I went to the closet where the old valves were kept, and without understanding anything, I took out a valve and installed it.
By magic, the equipment turned on and I remember it as if it were today. I tuned in to a broadcast of Deutsche Welle (The Voice of Germany), it was like love at first sight.
I took my first steps in radio, of course, and in shortwave reception. It was in this way that it did not take me long to discover the amateur ranges of 80 meters and 40 meters, and hearing that people could communicate with each other by radio immediately aroused my curiosity and passion.
When I was ten years old (in March 1978) I took the exams and became a radio amateur, my first callsign PY2LWN. Later I became PU2LWN and soon after the callsign that I have to this day PY2ADN.
This year 2023, I am celebrating 45 years as a radio amateur.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): In addition to being a collector, I know that you are a great reference in Brazil, about BCL.
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): I have always been fascinated by listening to shortwave radio stations, since I was little when I started listening to foreign radios, as I mentioned before with my first National NC-109, it was in this way that I got my first radio call sign, listen to ZZ20652 at the end of the 70s, but I personally believe that nothing compares to listening to VHF and UHF transmissions, where we have the opportunity to listen to the most diverse private services that communicate via radio. As a child, listening to police frequencies was also what caught my attention the most, knowing everything that was happening on the streets in real time seemed fascinating to me, it was undoubtedly what led me to become a civilian police officer today.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): Going back to collecting, how did your collection start?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): My collection ended up appearing “by chance” and in an unpretentious way with that National NC-109 that I recovered and that is in my collection to this day.
When I started collecting tube transmitters they didn’t have much value to radio amateurs and weren’t even considered “wish items”.
Although the replacement of the tube by the transistor began in the late 50s, it became very popular here in Brazil in the late 70s and early 80s, when I started collecting.
The radio amateurs of that time, as a general rule, all wanted to have the latest news, it was very common for old transmitters to be dismantled by the radio amateurs themselves or even thrown away.
It was in this way that I fell in love with that garbage (laughs…), I had a lot of fun repairing the transmitters and using them for reception of shortwave bands and amateurs.
I never considered myself a “collector”, but rather a restoration “enthusiast”.
However, I never sold a single transmitter and it didn’t take long for them to start stocking up so to speak.
In the 90s, different colleagues began to visit my house, who curiously wanted to see my collection of old transmitters. In a conversation with one of them he told me that this was one of the biggest collections he had ever seen before.
When I denied the conditions of being a “collector”, he corrected me by clarifying that it was not possible for me to deny that condition. Only then did I realize that he had really turned me into a collector.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): You say that you do not consider yourself a “collector”, but an “enthusiast” of restoration, why?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): It is what I like the most about collecting, my fun is to recover the transmitters and restore them, it has always been the most fun for me.
Obtaining parts and components ends up requiring you to become a practicing junk dealer, hunting down old and obsolete components, even in junkyards and recycling warehouses, since you can’t find those components in today’s electronics stores.
Often with two or three teams, restoring only one, it is not an easy task, looking for and selecting the best parts in the best possible condition, when this is achieved it is a true satisfaction.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): Does your collection follow any lines or is it more generic?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): Well as you can see my collection ended up focusing on radio communication transmitters, for amateur radio bands, citizens band, military, private service and many more.
However, one of the main focuses are the communication transmitters manufactured here in Brazil, since the objective of conservatism goes far beyond the simple material possession of the transmitter, but to document the history of them and also of those who produced them.
Today, the main focus is to collect the maximum amount of information and technical documentation of this equipment (schematics, instruction manuals, advertising brochures, service manuals, etc.).
Being a collector of amateur radio equipment, I know very well how difficult it is to get information, diagrams and manuals for equipment made in Brazil.
For any foreign team, there are hundreds of pages on the Internet with all kinds of information possible, as well as books, magazines and manuals. As for the national teams, there is no bibliography, and often not even a schematic diagram.
This job has not been easy, since many brands are practically unknown, and on many occasions, even the manufacturers themselves no longer even have the schematics of the equipment they produced.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): What do you think about the criticism that various colleagues make to the transmitters, produced here in Brazil, referring to them as being of poor quality?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): Well, with my collection I intend to do justice to the Brazilian manufacturers, because although it is argued that the equipment produced here was not of good quality and there will be no shortage of volunteers to criticize them, they were the pioneers of an industry focused on our segment, without a doubt a small market and hard to make a profit.
And critics never remember the conditions that Brazilian manufacturers faced a few decades ago: ban on importing electronic components, lack of good quality material on the market, market reserve, obsolete machinery, galloping inflation, exchange rate with daily changes, cargo unfair tax. heavy social and labor charges.
And undoubtedly the worst of all: unfair competition with the smuggling of transmitters that arrived in Brazil from other countries and since they did not have all these charges, they introduced more sophisticated equipment to the market at lower prices.
That is why I wanted to take advantage of this space to say that more than a collector, after more than 40 years of experience in this hobby, I consider myself an amateur historian and more than that a preservationist, true collectors do not use the word “collector” and yes the word “preservationist”, because we don’t just collect a transmitter, it’s about embracing the whole history of the pieces and all the historical context linked to that, the people who built the transmitter, the people who designed them or the former owners of those transmitters ,since many of the transmitters that I have in my collection belonged to great figures of Brazilian radio amateurs.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): So: What would be the difference or foundation between collector and preservationist?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): The most important thing would be the foundation, for example the Aztec civilization, which was one of the most important Mesoamerican cultures, which inhabited the Valley of Mexico between 1345 AD. C. and 1521 AD. C., and became the dominant culture of the region until the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, said the following: death has three stages: the first is when life leaves; the second stage is when the individual is buried, and the third stage of death is when people forget the deceased, without pronouncing his name anymore. Therefore, we cannot let the entrepreneurial pioneers of the industry dedicated to our hobby die.
This same thing that I am mentioning to you now, I shared it many years ago in a collectors forum and these words reached the great Fred Osterman (N8EKU), author of the book Shortwave Receivers Past & Present: Communications Receivers, 1942-2013, considered by many to be the bible of collecting.
Fred Osterman (N8EKU), used these words about the Aztecs for his prologue to the book, which was a great honor for me, but not only because they were immortalized in his book, but also because Fred himself, when he sent me the book, He wrote in his dedication that thanks to those words he understood everything he did throughout his life, which was to preserve the memory of all the pioneers.
Fred Osterman (N8EKU) has been in the radio business for over 50 years, 13 at Radio Shack and 37 at Universal Radio, without a doubt a tremendous benchmark for us.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): Speaking then of the past and death, how is the dilemma of perpetuating your collection resolved, so that all this effort is not in vain?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): The perpetuation of a collection has always been the “nightmare” of every collector or preservationist.
Without a doubt The only certainty we have in life is death, none of us will survive eternity.
In this sense, the best way to program a noble destiny for the continuity of a collection is to form an heir, who can be a son, a nephew, a grandson, a godson or even a friend, instilling in him passion and affection. by the radio amateur, leaving it as recipient after our departure.
I was lucky enough to solve that dilemma by forming a successor who is my son Gabriel Brochi (PU2GAB), a radio amateur since he was ten years old, he also inherited all my passion for old equipment and of course he will inherit my entire collection, continuing my collection.
This is the advice he left to other collectors: form a successor!
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): Briefly, could you list for me transmitters of Brazilian brands, which can be found in your collection?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): Well, I will only list those that produced, in series or by order, a minimum amount of equipment, I am talking about (transmitters, receivers, transversions and linear). I will not list you the companies that only produced accessories or antennas, which were and are many to this day.
From memory I could list the following Brazilian brands: Delta, Eudgert, Intraco, Brazam, Major, Centauro, Mirandolino, PCM, Transalix, Soundy, R.E.B., Casa Castro, SNE, Telefunken Brasil, Ercic, Gruner, Marcol, Caiçara, JMR, Quantum, Beringhs, Pertile, Control, Eletrônica Hubsch, Gert, AJ Eletrônica, Blaya, Bacelar, DM5, SDRZero, Unda / Unitac, Lelic, Indeletron, Zamin, Racine, Nocar and many more…
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): What short story could you tell me, if you had to choose only one brand of Brazilian transmitters?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): Well, it is not an easy task to choose just one brand, since each and every one of the brands has a very important place within our hobby at a national level.
Perhaps the best known brand and one that Brazilian radio amateurs have a lot of love for is “Delta”.
Delta was founded in 1950 by Felicíssimo de Oliveira Junior, Fernando Oliveira and Gino Pereira dos Reis and was headquartered in São Paulo. That same year they imported monoblocks from the Italian company Geloso, beginning to produce the Delta 208, an AM receiver. Then they released the Delta 209 receiver, with BFO. Producing its own monoblocks, it released the Delta 309 receiver.
The first AM transmitter was the Delta Geloso 210, a copy of the Geloso 210, with the 807 valve on the output. In 1962, they released the Delta 310 Transmitter. Soon after, they made some changes to this transmitter, renaming it the Delta 310-1, and soon after, the Delta 310-I.
A power unit called the Delta 370 and an 811 4-valve linear amplifier, the Delta 1000 DSB, were also produced for the 40, 20 and 15 meter ranges.
They also made the Delta 340, which ended up being a very expensive transmitter and difficult to adjust, without much success the project was not continued, and few units of this model were produced as prototypes, one of which is in my collection.
In 1970 it launched the Delta 100, an 80 meter AM transmitter, and the Delta 120, an 80 and 40 meter AM and CW transmitter.
In 1975 Delta launched the Delta DBR 500, a 400 watt multiband SSB transceiver, using two 6KD6 tubes at the output, with already transistorized reception. Shortly after the DBR500 I models arrived and in 1982 the DBR550, this one with a built-in digital display.
In 1985 it launched its first VHF radio, the Delta DBR525, a 2-meter synthesized transceiver with memories, subtone, and 25 watts of power. However, as I already mentioned in the interview, the poor conditions of the Brazilian market, such as restrictions on the importation of electronic components, high social and labor charges, heavy taxes, inflation, lack of materials in the domestic market, dollarization of components, all This combined with unfair competition from contraband, with more sophisticated transmitters for an infinitely lower price, Delta was forced to close its activities. As far as is known, few copies of the Delta DBR-525 were produced, no more than six, as prototypes. Two of these transmitters I am lucky to have in my collection, Delta, closed in 1987.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): There is always a special item in a collection. What is your favorite transmitter?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): All transmitters are undoubtedly special, but maybe I can tell you an anecdote about some transmitters that came to my collection in a very special way.
I don’t usually talk about my work when I give interviews, but this time I will make an exception, since I will tell the story of some transmitters that belonged to Juscelino Kubitschek.
Juscelino Kubitschek was president of Brazil between 1956 and 1961, he was responsible for the construction of the new federal capital of Brazil, which is Brasília where you live now (laughs…)
In addition to being president of Brazil, Juscelino Kubitscheky was a radio amateur and his call sign was (PY1JKO), he was an excellent telegraph operator today (SK).
Those transmitters came to my collection by the daughter herself, named Marcia Kubitschek.
I worked in an investigation, where a niece of hers had been kidnapped and in that rescue action, we exchanged shots and I ended up injured and in the hospital.
Thank God everything went perfectly and we managed to rescue the niece safely and soundly.
Then Marcia came to visit me at the hospital, to thank me and when I entered the room where I was hospitalized, she saw that there was a radio receiver, that another friend had brought who came to visit me so that while I was recovering I could listen to a bit of radio, coincidentally it was a “Delta”, a brand we already talked about.
When she saw the equipment, she told me that her father was also a radio amateur and she remembered that equipment when she saw it as a child in her house.
When I recovered and left the hospital, when I returned home I received a box with all her father’s equipment, it was a complete line of DRAKE 4, along with a wonderful letter.
Unfortunately Marcia died very young some time later due to an illness.
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO): To close this interview, would you like to leave a message, advice or suggestion for anyone who wants to start a collection?
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN): First I like to say, that due to the pandemic, it had been more than 2 years since there would be no room for the collection, for anyone, since I live and work in another city, for this reason this interview is more than special for me, I thank you. Thank you very much for your visit and I apologize if some of the transmitters are a little dusty, but I haven’t had time to come before.
Second, I would like to give some advice to colleagues interested in starting a collection. Based on my experience of more than 40 years, I can advise you in the following sense: study, learn about and investigate the items of interest for the collection.
Another important recommendation: Be ethical, a collection should be a reason for joy, recreation and entertainment, not a dispute, a competition or something that causes or brings discord.
Something also fundamental: not wanting to “make money” or “profit” with a collection, since all those who acted in this way ended up unmotivated and unable to progress.
Collectors, as a rule, are supportive: they help each other, help and guide colleagues in restorations, supply components and never deny technical information.
In my case, I go further: I don’t sell equipment, because I was never interested in earning a penny at the expense of other colleagues and lastly, on principle, I never bought widow transmitters, these equipment do not enter my collection.
Finally, I would like to thank you once again for the visit and the magazine for the interest in publishing this article, it is a real honor for me, whoever would like to sign up for any suggestion on collecting can contact me at my e-mail:
From the Radio Heritage Foundation we want to congratulate Mr. Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN), since his collection has achieved a valuable archive of the history of Brazilian telecommunications.
Interesting Extras
Brazilian radio amateurs had their own version of CQ magazine in the Portuguese language, the magazine contained articles from the North American version translated into the original Portuguese and also notes and interviews about the hobby at a local level.
A total of 15 issues were released, which were published and marketed bimonthly.
Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN), was on the cover of issue number 6, with the absolute sales record, in said photograph we can see him accompanied by her son Gabriel (PU2GAB), very young.
Also Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN), was featured in the program “collectors”, of the Portuguese version of the important television channel “HISTORY Channel”.
Bonus Photos by Ligia Katze, private collection of Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN)
When I asked how many transmitters my colleague Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN) has in his collection, he replied that he simply lost count.
When I also asked him about the economic value of his collection, Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN), he replied that it is undoubtedly incalculable and that he is not interested in selling a single transmitter.
For more information about some equipment that you can see in the photographs and is not specified, you can communicate without problem to the e-mail
