*J.W.Nash K4HMS - Frank W8CRA DXCC Cert #1 (Pre War) The first great
American DXER. He has been badly slighted and no doubt should be in the all time
great category. Lucas possessed one of the greatest ears of all time - He wasreportedly able to identify almost every DX call on the air during the 1930's by thefist, the impact of propagation on the signal and other individual characteristics.
*Jules Wenglare, W6YO & pre-war W8DVS - W8OSL; “MR DX” A title mostdeserving has become a memory, sadly in more ways than one. Mr. Lucas W3CRA
Pre-war W8CRA became a silent key on 23 Oct 82. Fifty years ago he was alreadyworking the world on 20 meters, when the total bona fide countries who had any
active ham operators would not have added up to 100, some of the Asian and Africancountires were lucky to have one or two. But as they came on during the early, mid
and late 1930's W8CRA didn’t miss any.
I remember our first visit during 1931 with cohorts W8BSF and W8CXX to prove toourselves whether this guy was really hearing and working this rare DX, none of us,
who lived 25 miles away, were even hearing it. W8RTD – W8LTH were pals too.
It didn’t take too many weekend visits to realize this very likeable guy had the utopia
for Dxing. In the following years, it was incredible to see so many QSL cards fromrare countries, not only with QSA5 R9 T9x reports, but with remarks such as, “U aremy W QSO.” Not many USA stations can claim those remarks.
Frank and Clark Rodimon, W1SZ – also a top DXer and editor of QST at the time –formulated the DX Century Club. Soon after its announcement, W8CRA became
DXCC NR.1 – For a guy who didn’t QSL that much, it was an achievement. Withouta doubt, W8CRA’s location near the tope of one of the highest hills in western
Pennsylvania near Canonsburg, was his good fortune. His simple antenna for manyyears was an end-fed wire 133 ft long, 33 feet high.
The first rig I remember seeing in his small shack, a new modern building about 6by 8 feet in size, was a Colpitts using a Cunningham 210 tube. The receiver had twotubes, the quietest and smoothest regeneration action anyone could ask for, dry cells
for filaments and a burgess 22 and a half volt “B” battery ran it.
Frank was a perfectionist in building and making all his equipment work extremely
well. Nearly every year there were changes. MOPA followed the Colpitts then crystal
control and then VFO, in the PA, tubes like 852, HK354 then the Eimac 250TH .
Frank’s bigsignal and his achievements prompted Eimac to use pictures of his stationin one of their first ham station ads in QST during the late 1930's. During the periodof the 30's he installed a 70 foot three legged Wincharger Tower and a three element
home made Yagi. After WW II, his activities ran hot and cold.

He did build up a 4 by 1 linear, but he still preferred CW. In my opinion, Frank wasvery modest; he was not one to boast of his DX worked.
An admired pre-war big gun, Herb Becker W6QD, – If I am correct – wrote in his DX
section in Radio Magazine of that time, “My visit to W8CRA’s place was like aMoslem going to Mecca. Then in the 60's, Gus Browning wrote after one of his superDxpeditions, “I so well remember the S7 signal from W3CRA over the Indian Ocean
and up in the AC spots, when no other USA station was even being heard.” With
those remarks by Herb and Gus, no need to add any more except it would be a tributeto consider Frank Lucas, W3CRA for the DX Hall of Fame. (WR Feb 83)*W8MTC Mike Serotko of Newton Falls, O -An interview on August 6 - 1986 Frankhad visitors from Calif years ago to check on Franks station as they could not believe
in reality how easy it was for him to work DX.Frank instituted DXCC having Cert.
#1. Serotko said we were both Slavs. A close friend Ben Moore N3BM said Frankwas hated too, one guy out in Illinois 9th district told Frank he was going to kill him.
Seems that the W9 thought he had a good station and worked a certain rare country,
Frank came on and said “No you didn’t, you didn’t even get the correct report!”
I had a chat with WO3Z on 40M CW in the Nov 1991- Jim Tommasin at 84 Pa. Jim
said he lived 5 miles away from Franks location on Hill Church Road. It truly was aspecial location and Frank worked strictly 20M CW. Frank was accused of being awomanizer however, truly, his radio shack was his “girl.”
Frank Moger a neighbor of your writer, visited Frank’s station in the 1950's and had
lingering good remembrances of the visit when Frank was a seasoned operator.
Moger told your author in Aug 1991, Lucas was a quiet man, a rolly-polly guy withGood Ears! He was not a joiner, no local clubs, his shack consisted of a 16 by 24 footoil heated shack in his parents back yard about 400 or 500 ft from the house leading
up a hill. Ontop of the hill you could look towards Cleveland and view 6 or 8 Air
Craft Lighted Beacons spaced 30 or 40 miles. Best view southwest and west, worst
on Africa direct. He experimented setting up an antenna on top of the hill and it didn’t
have the qualities that he had with the antenna system on the side of the hill. He
placed the system back in service on the side of the hill where it remains to this day.
He ran wire antennas and low power to a 50 foot telephone pole in the 30's, using areworked HRO-7 and heard and worked marvelous DX.
The Lucas station eventually used a rotary beam and fed it with 2 pieces of coax
using a balanced system, because of the long run up the hill. He caught immenselightening. There was a report that Arkie W8NBK during the war heard Frank in abomber in the middle east believe Aden at 7 or 8 thousand feet, hearing Frank like hewas next door. Frank lived in an apartment in his later years and would come out tothe station and stay all weekend, working DX and smoking Camels.

One of Franks best friends was W8BKP in Washingtonville, Ohio. George told yourauthor, they would DX, drink beer and smoke Camels when it wasn’t a sin to do so.
Lucas enjoyed the area ham fests and was a regular attending them.
Frank Lucas W3CRA truly a forgotten link in the DX Community. Your author
recalls those CQ’s from Frank’s station at 2 in the morning when the 20M band wasdead, but somehow Frank managed to snag a rare one.
As mentioned neighbor Frank Moger here in the Warren, Youngstown region in ourdiscussion, Moger an antenna design enthusiast mentioned in the Canonsburg areaat the Lucas QTH, regionally mined throughout the years would lend to the belief ofmagnetic mass influence. Ideas of H.F. site impairment & enhancement by magneticmasses, etc., under the ground surfaces are superstitions, according to an article in
QST Sept 66 by Paul Rockwell W3AFM. He would attribute an unusually good
location by “Siting.” The matter of good siting has been appreciated by amateurs formany years. Recent work has made the criteria more clear. For the long hauls, thehigher the antenna, the better. Try for a take off angle main lobe at 1 degree elevation.
It is especially effective to locate an antenna of modest height on a Cone Shaped Hillon which the ground slopes downward in all directions for a thousand feet or so at anangle of, 20 degrees. Some conspicuous examples of well-sited stations are W3CRA- W4KFC and W6AM. These stations have in some directions radio horizons atdistances of 20-50 miles.
The advantage of a good site or high antenna can be of the order of 10-20db
compared with modest suburban neighborhood installations. It leads to situations
where the “mortals down below” can’t even hear traces of the other end of
comfortably solid DX QSO’s.
On a trip to the Gaithersburg MD hamfest with friend N3BM, Lucas had a heart
attack and suffered pain all night long. Moger advised that Lucas began to have heart
problems in the late 70's and went down hill in a hurry and expired October 23,
1982.Thus ending a great venture into ham radio ending 50 interesting unusual years.
Don Karvonen of Apple Creek, Oh K8MFO, well known DX guy and key collector
said; I met W3CRA at the Warren Hamfest a year or so before he passed on. His
health was very poor, but he was still working for an auto dealership in his hometown. Man I can still remember what 20 meters sounded like after Frank called a long
CQ DX! He would be very deliberate about listening to the pileup and try to comeback to the rarest thing he could hear! Karvonen has a number of rare photos fromthe estate of Arkie W8NBK, Frank Lucas is in a couple. Back in those days everyone
wore suits when they went to Dayton and it is great to see Frank, Arkie, Al Hix andothers dressed in their Sunday best. Your author is asking Don for a copy of CRA pix.

W3 Charlie Romeo America is now assigned to“Collins Radio Association” Sidman, Pa. W3ST
Dr. David Knepper – Trustee. The call lives again
however not on CW where Frank Lucas was Kingof the Hill. We will miss his sweet sound andunusual capabilities to pick up the weakest of theweak DX signals around the globe.

Frank Lucas - 1909-1982

Is your author qualified to write about Frank
Lucas? I have never met Frank to my knowledge
however I am sure I have attended the samefunctions and didn’t recognize him. I have been in
his ham shack out at Cannonsburg and viewed theunusual antenna setup. The rusted Vibroplex Bug
and hulk of a HT32 transmitter still rests on a desk
next to the walled linear 4 by 1 amplifier that has
been stripped out. I have chatted with dozens offolks who knew Frank and compiled the data intoa good story, capable of telling a very accurate
story of his ham activities.

My good XYL Pat KK8W, Mike W8MTC and I on our marvelous trip to Canonsburg
on that humid, hot & windy day of October 9th 1991will never forget the magnificent
view, taking pictures, exploring the old crumbling shack and finding W3CRA QSL
cards in a rack holder near the doorway entrance. Most of the cards had gotten wet
over the years and were sticking together however we managed to salvage about 3 or
4 and have one today as a keep sake of the visit. The shack roof had gaping holes, theequipment mainly removed however a Vibroplex bug and remnants of an HT32 werestill there, rusted, as if awaiting the owner to start up again and be King of the Hill.
I have a HT-37 in my collection and that old venerable Hallicrafters transmittersounds just as good today as it did 45 years ago. Op Note; Dennis Lucas, Frank’s son
is Master of Arms F&AM Canon Lodge #204 – W8SU 2002
Added 6 Aug 2002; I couldn’t help but think of W3CRA Frank Lucas today. Author has been
waiting to add Burma in the log on CW. An international group are over there now for a few
weeks and were heard yesterday. I got up early 6 Aug 2002 and was in search for the Burma
expedition using the call XY3C. Sure enough at 1130am eastern time, they were on CW 21.017
working Europeans. Some USA stations got thru and I started in earnest calling them withthe key. In about 5 minutes the two way contact was made to that far away place in Rangoon,
Burma which is now called Republic of Myanmar. Not recognizable any longer as Burma.
Frank would be proud.
CONTINUED

Added 8 Sept 2002; CQ Article Oct 1945 by Court Matthews W6EAK – Home Territory
W8CRA; At the risk of offending some of our West Coast brethren we are forced to dig into the hat
and pull out W8CRA. A DX’er and rag chewer deluxe, Frank Lucas kept the ether buzzing in thefour corners of the globe for years. First achieving prominence for his ability to work scores ofAsiatic stations when nobody else in the eastern U.S.A. Could even hear ‘em.
Frank proved his versatility by laying down an outstanding signal all over the world. Starting
modestly with the old faithful 210, W8CRA finally worked up to the high power class, but he could
always do better with 10 watts than we could with 1 KW – Much to our envy.
We’re looking forward to the day when we can get that post-war dream rig on the air and give Franksome real competition. But we know it won’t be easy, W8CRA had that “extra” push that’s hard tobeat. W6EAK CQ Magazine October 1945. Editors note; Article complete with a picture of theW8CRA station using breadboard style gear and walls filled with DX cards.