Callsign History

K5AM QSL card - Canal Zone, 1939





Return address on reverse side:
WAR DEPARTMENT
Post Signal Officer
Fort DeLesseps, C.Z.
Official Business

Thanks to N9BUL for sending the card.

Fort DeLesseps was named after Count Ferdinand DeLesseps. Count DeLesseps won renown as the builder of the Suez Canal in Egypt. Ferdinand thought he could build a canal on the Isthmus of Panama. He subsequently was president of the French syndicate that failed in an attempt to build a sea level canal through Panama in 1881 - 1888. Long hard years of disease, poor planning and financial catastrophe contributed to the French Canal Company failure to complete the Panama Canal.

More callsign history:
1948. Mark, age 14, first licensed as W9ECV in Milwaukee.
1973. Mark receives the call K5AM in normal sequence, under the special 25 year
extra class rule for 1x2 calls; lost the call later due to a move.
1996. K5AM callsign reclaimed.


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