Posted: 8/12/2014 9:34:13 AM EDT
A guy in our club died last night. RIP Al Waters N4ARW USAF ret.  |
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Quoted:
A guy in our club died last night. RIP Al Waters N4ARW USAF ret.
I gotta admin that these threads give me a heart attack everyone I see one. While the passing of any ham is sad, I'm worried I'm going to get in here and read that one of you porkers will have passed... |
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Quoted:
A guy in our club died last night. RIP Al Waters N4ARW USAF ret.
Quoted:
A guy in our club died last night. RIP Al Waters N4ARW USAF ret.
Give his family our wishes, and as always, be sure to thank them for their sacrifices that resulted from his service to our country. Quoted:
I gotta admin that these threads give me a heart attack everyone I see one. While the passing of any ham is sad, I'm worried I'm going to get in here and read that one of you porkers will have passed... Same. I have a set of instructions in my will on how to notify all of the forums (communities really) of my passing. Quoted:
Do right by him and his and make sure someone who cares gets his gear. That's one of my biggest fears if I dirtnap before the wife, that she'll get ripped off by some shmuck who just wants to flip the hardware. Yep. same here. Which is why she always knows how much money I have into the radios, cars, and guns. |
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These guys, even when they go, their heart is still in ham radio.
We are honoring a local ham with our International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend event. Ray was not only one of the founding members of our club, but also helped us get our club station. He set up the radio room, and after he was gone, left us his 60' Rohn commercial model (not sure exact model number) tower, which we use to good effect now. A more recent ham that passed away a few years ago, and good friend of mine, left detailed notes of what was to be done with his gear. We were to cherry pick what we needed, and anything we could not use to sell, and the money to go to the ham club. We got another batch of gear from another ham, same thing, notes left for us to come get his gear when he was gone, keep what we wanted, sell the rest. We have a helluva station now, new hams can come in, sit down and operate near new reliable gear. And in the storage room, a few older, but good transceivers they can take home. Yes, it's a bit of, "If you die we're splitting up your gear" type thing, but that is what they want. They will be missed. And remembered. |
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Quoted:
Yes, it's a bit of, "If you die we're splitting up your gear" type thing, but that is what they want. They will be missed. And remembered. Indeed. May my good friends come and fight over what I leave behind. It would comfort me to know they cared for things after my death they cared not for before it. When I took the last of Amos Bragg's gear from his crawlspace I found a few things that were...unfinished. It pained me to realize I am not wise enough to know what they were meant to become. Then I started counting the things I have right now...unfinished. And I laughed and thought "This is resonance." It's what makes all this work. It's why this forum rocks. I stole a piece of still warm coke from the forge of the man that taught me to work metal the last night I saw him, I made sure it went in my first fire in my own forge, I like to think there are still bits of it in there, pointing out my mistakes and giving encouraging grunts at my efforts. Different Elmer...different hobby...no difference at all. It's all magic. We are all wizards. Find an apprentice. |
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There's an older, but good (I tested it) Kenwood rig in the club storeroom now. It wouldn't bring a lot
at a hamfest, but I can imagine a 15 yr old new ham pressing that Power button for the first time. It's sitting on his desk in his room. He's got his license thumbtacked to the corkboard on the wall over his desk. It cost him mowing Mrs. Jone's yard down the street. He's got a borrowed power supply and an old tuner, some coax a club member gave him, and a simple 40 m dipole we helped him put up. I can imagine the gleam in his eyes as he begins to tune around, trying to work up the courage to say his call sign and check into a net for the very first time, his first QSO. He probably wouldn't know the guy that donated the old Kenwood to the club but is very thankful to be allowed to use it while he saves his nickles and dimes. And I'm sure the old SK would have wanted this to be what happened to his gear. |
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There's an older, but good (I tested it) Kenwood rig in the club storeroom now. It wouldn't bring a lot
at a hamfest, but I can imagine a 15 yr old new ham pressing that Power button for the first time. It's sitting on his desk in his room. He's got his license thumbtacked to the corkboard on the wall over his desk. It cost him mowing Mrs. Jone's yard down the street. He's got a borrowed power supply and an old tuner, some coax a club member gave him, and a simple 40 m dipole we helped him put up. I can imagine the gleam in his eyes as he begins to tune around, trying to work up the courage to say his call sign and check into a net for the very first time, his first QSO. He probably wouldn't know the guy that donated the old Kenwood to the club but is very thankful to be allowed to use it while he saves his nickles and dimes. And I'm sure the old SK would have wanted this to be what happened to his gear. |
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Thanks.
I'm waiting for some kid to say, "I'd like to get a ham license, but I can't afford to buy a radio." I'd take him to the store room, "You pass the tests for Tech and General, we'll let you use this old Kenwood until you can save up for your own gear. You can mow some lawns for the test fee. The rest of what you need, we can scrounge up some stuff for you." |