Friendly called “Pippo”, I2AY he was councillor of A.R.I continually for thirty years, since his foundation. 
He was president form 1951 up to 1953.
Fontana ran for many years an average firm of radio receiving apparatus for radio diffusion , the S.I.A.R.E. in Piacenza.
Then he was planner at the famous J. Geloso of Milan where he realized prototypes of many “assembling boxes” (for self builders) of medium waves radio receivers.
He was the first in Italy to start the auto constructions for radio amateurs , he planned and realized good apparatus for transmission / receiving that had agreat development in Italy and abroad.
It’s enough to think about G.209, G.212 up to the line “G” for excellence: G.216, G.228, G.229 and the famous Geloso VFO:
Toward the end of March 1928 he realized the first lateral link with Japan on 32 meters wave length , in telegraphy and telephony.
Pippo Fontana was active also on VHF during quite all the Contest up to the beginning of the 80’.
He was the first Italian to take the WAS (Worked all states) on the 2nd of June 1948.
