BUENA PARK : Amateur Radio Club Hosts Romanian Pair

Stefan Leca left Romania with his fiancee, Lavinia Tatar, in August, 1992, to walk around the world. He had $3 in his pocket and wore the first of 50 pairs of shoes.

Leca said he was concerned about the money but planned to rely on the thousands of friends he has around the world. Those friends, amateur radio operators, have sustained the couple. They include the Amateur Radio Club of Buena Park.

Club President Collier McDermon said members were honored to host Leca when he arrived here last week.

“We’re actually individual ambassadors on behalf of our countries,” McDermon said. “It’s a community of people who have a mutual interest.”

Tatar, a former gymnastic champion, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport this week, after suffering flu complications in Australia.

The couple have walked across much of the Middle East, Asia and Australia and will head for Latin America and Europe after the American-Canadian leg. They expect to reach Romania in 1995 and write a book.

Leca, 34, was introduced to amateur radio by a teacher when he was 14. He built his first radio from old pre-World War II parts and began transmitting, although he was limited to light talk about the weather and geography until December, 1989, when the communist government fell.

It bothered him that many of the people he talked to had no idea where Romania was and he thought of the walking trip to promote the country and deliver a message of peace.

Leca said that the moment he was free, he got a passport and started preparations for his trip. He planned for seven months, sending thousands of letters to ham radio operators in other countries before he left.

Members of a Romanian community in Riverside picked him up at the Los Angeles airport and were driving through Orange County when he saw one of the huge antenna towers of a radio club member. Leca said he saw it and said, “Stop, I have a friend here.”

That friend was Russ Davis, who welcomed Leca and called McDermon, the club president. The city has been the American base of operations for Leca and Tatar since then.

The couple leave next week to continue the journey, carrying a new hand-held radio given to them by Alinco Electronics, a radio manufacturer. McDermon and other club members have sent messages to some of the 600,000 amateur radio enthusiasts across the United States to let them know that the couple will be dropping in.

“Amateur radio is a natural tool for this,” said Art Goddard, vice director of the American Radio Relay League. “It puts people in touch across the country every day.”