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NADXA's Silent Keys...
NADXA has had some very distinguished members who have
moved on to that QTH where everyplace is line-of-sight. We fondly remember these former
members whose keys turned silent in recent years.
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ZK1TB at one of his favorite
QTHs, Rarotonga, in 1986. |
W7TB,
Lew Wilhelm (a.k.a. ZK1TB, 3D2TB, FOØWLW, ZK1XU)
Lew's
experiences as an aviator in WWII led him to enjoy many return visits to exotic locales
such as Rarotonga, Fiji, and Russia later in life. He was a professional radio technician
who loved designing and building top-quality homebrew gear. In honor of Lew's
accomplishments and dedication to DXing, NADXA adopted his W7TB call sign for the
club station. Before joining the ranks of silent keys, Lew had worked well over 300 DXCC
entities. |
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 W7EYG (right) chatting with KE7LK outside the
NADXA SSB trailer at Field Day 1999 |
W7EYG, Bill Webster
Bill spent
many hours chasing DX on SSB, earning quite an impressive total before he passed away just
before Field Day 2000. He was always ready to take the mike for hours through the night
when everyone else was sleeping, racking up points for the club. At last count, Bill had
worked 320 DXCC entities (with 316 confirmed).
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KD7XO, Frank Berberich
Frank was a
founding member of NADXA and an avid DXer.
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| Frank, KD7XO |
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 Miles, W6GYX (l) and Bill, W7YS, at the Coconino County
Fair many years ago.
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W7GYX,
Miles Shepard THE CALL W7GYX FIRST APPEARED IN MY LOG
ON 6 FEB 1975 (LSB ON 75 METERS) WHEN I WAS LIVING IN SIERRA VISTA, AZ. THAT
WAS THE FIRST TIME I RAN INTO SHEP. I GAVE HIM A 599 + 20 OVER AND HE GAVE ME
A 55. ON 14 NOV 1976, WHEN I HAD MOVED TO FLAGSTAFF, I AGAIN WORKED HIM, THIS TIME
ON 10M SSB. I GAVE HIM A 58, AND HE GAVE ME A 56. I SOON BEGAN TO NOTICE THAT HE
ALWAYS GAVE THE OTHER GUY A LOWER REPORT THAN HE RECEIVED. THERE FOLLOWED SOME 10
YEARS OF ASSOCIATION WITH SHEP. SOME OF IT WAS CALM AND SOME STORMY. HE PROBABLY HAD
HIS LICENSE BEFORE WW2, AND HE WAS A BUILDER AND EXPERIMENTER. WE SPENT HOURS
TALKING HAM RADIO, SCROUNGING PARTS AND TUBES FROM EACH OTHERS JUNK BOX, AND WALKING
AROUND SURVEYING OFFERINGS AT THE FT. TUTHILL HAM FEST. SHEP WAS THE CHIEF ENGINEER
OF THE LOCAL RADIO STATION. AT HOME HOWEVER, HIS HAM SHACK WAS A MAZE OF
WIRES. HIS BIGGEST PROBLEM WAS BCI (BROADCAST INTERFERENCE, TVI (TELEVISON
INTERFERENCE) WITH HIS NEIGHBORS, AND HIS VOICE COMING OUT OF THE ELECTRONIC ORGAN WHEN
HIS WIFE WAS PLAYING. HIS NEIGHBORS USED TO REWARD HIM BY SPRINKLING ROOFING NAILS
OVER HIS DRIVEWAY AT NIGHT. HE BACAME A CHARTER MEMBER OF THE NADXA- HE
COULDN’T FIND 100 CARDS TO QUALIFY, AND MADE A MOTION THAT WAC SHOULD BE A
QUALIFYING REQUIREMENT BUT WAS SHOT DOWN ON THAT. OUR PRESIDENT KR7Y FINALLY WENT TO
SHEP’S HOUSE AND AFTER ROOTING THROUGH A TON OF QSL’s FOUND 100 CARDS! IT
WAS A PROUD SHEP WHO BROUGHT HIS DXCC TO A CLUB MEETING SHORTLY AFTER. SHEP
RELOCATED TO WINDOW ROCK, AZ WHEN HE TOOK A JOB AS DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING AT THE 50KW
NAVAJO BROADCAST STATION. ON 5 MAR 1987, I HAD A PHONE CALL FROM HIS GOOD FRIEND
CARL RIECK KD7UN WHO INFORMED ME THAT SHEP HAD SUDDENLY BECOME A SILENT KEY
THAT MORNING DUE TO AN AORTA ANEURISM. SHEP HAD A LIFETIME FASCINATION
WITH RADIO BOTH AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL AND WE MISS HIS PRESENCE BOTH ON AND
OFF THE AIR. (by Bill Schuchman W7YS)
WX7E, Emerson M. Hoyt
“EM” WAS LICENSED AS W2LLH IN 1937 . HE JOINED THE NADXA IN
SEPEMBER OF 1988, AND WAS A VERY ACTIVE MEMBER. AS A RADIO ENGINEER, HE DID
EXTENSIVE WORK DURING WW2 IN THE FIELD OF RADAR WITH THE GOVERNMENT. PRIOR TO COMING
TO FLAGSTAFF, HE WAS EMPLOYED AT SPACE TECHNOLOGY LABS IN LOS ANGELES FROM 1958. AS
YOU CAN SEE IN THE PHOTO, EM HAD AN EXCELLENT STATION AND A TRI BANDER ON THE ROOF OF HIS
HOME IN CHESHIRE ESTATES . AN ACTIVE DXER AND EXPERIMENTER, HE RELOCATED TO OREGON
AND WAS A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL RADIO CLUB THAT WAS INVOLVED IN
ACTIVATING A RADIO STATION ABOAD A RETIRED SUBMARINE. EM BECAME A SILENT KEY ON 16
JULY 2005 FOLLOWING A STROKE AND HEART FAILURE.
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Marvin Mansfield KE7JVZ at Field Day
Marv Mansfield, KE7JVZ, passed away at home with his family at his side on October 28,
2011. Marv, a teacher, coach, Rv’er, and boat enthusiast, loved to
be outdoors. One of his favorite things to do was listen to DX and work
the various races for the CARC club. Growing up in Yuma he began
working in the melon fields helping with his family farming. Graduating
from Yuma High School, he went on to Arizona Western to play football and eventually
graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in education. He
started his teaching career at Camp Verde High School as a business teacher then went to
Coconino High School and finally retired form Flagstaff High School in 2002. He
became interest in Ham radio after one of the many RV trips listening to one of the other
RV’ers contacting and logging DX stations while camping in Yuma. After
contacting one of the NADXA members and asking him to be an elmer , Marv studied and
received his ticket. He will be greatly missed. -Dave,
W7FYW
W7YS Bill Schuchman
William George Schuchman (1922-2011) passed away on December 23, 2011 at
the age of 89. Bill was always into radio…. He repaired radios for the Army in 1942
and worked in the Pentagon doing communications for 30 years. He built communications
centers all over the World. He retired from Ft. Huachuca in 1974 and moved to Flagstaff in
1976. Bill had a passion for amateur radio for over 75 years. He constantly taught others
and encouraged new operators. Contesting and chasing DX were his favorite parts of the
hobby.
Bill was a founding, Charter Member of NADXA and an Elmer to many hams who
crossed his path. He was also a Charter Member of the Potomac Valley Radio Club (1947).
The call W7YS was assigned to Bill in 1972. It was previously held by Father Sebastian
Ruth of St. Martins College in Lacey, WA. (Y calls were originally reserved for schools
and experimental stations).
A tribute from Craig Anderson, W9GLT: Bill lived and
breathed radio, the frequencies in his brain were all band frequencies, from the bottom of
160 to the top of the top band he had them flowing through his synapses. CW –
continuous wave – was his second, actually I think, his first language. His skill at
sending and receiving are legendary amongst his friends and cohorts. DX was his passion;
meeting, getting to know and being able to talk to one another, on a regular basis, was
his goal. Not just a quick 599, exchange of location, name and equipment but; what do you
do, what is your area like, do you have family, do you know anyone here or might you know
so and so from this or that country? It’s not easy to wrap up a life like Bill had
and the impact his life had on others, in a couple paragraphs, but those of us that had
contact with this man, have been touched by a special person, one unlike many that we will
come across in life.
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