Two weeks ago I got a phone call from my dad telling me Rob ON4CED suddenly passed away. Rob lived about 50m away from my parents’ house and I grew up almost under his tower and antenna. Of course as a kid I didn’t know anything about ham radio and the neighbors just thought he was a CB’er. I got to know Rob after rolling into ham radio myself when I became a member of the local club where he was a regular attendee. Rob had a heart for the hobby and was active almost daily, with 20m SSB his favorite hangout. The news of his sudden SK came as a shock to all. Rest in peace OM!
A lot of dust, literally tons of concrete debris and a huge stack of sand and stones is what’s measured in stead of RF flying around here. For a split second I optimistically dreamed that I would have finished phase I of the construction project in time for the IARU contest but in stead it seems that for the second year in row (remember THIS?) I’ll have to skip IARU. Although I have done a lot of heavy work over the last weeks, there’s only so much a man can do. Yesterday I was digging trenches to bury the cables and I’m provisioning extra tubing to have some ‘escape routes’ for future projects. I think I’ll be more or less (probably less) ready to play in the Russian WRTC-like thing, just like last year (link). Maybe some contacts in IOTA? Anyway by now the ham virus rears its ugly head and makes me want to be radioactive. I badly need a shot of CW! Other than that, nothing to report.