Fellow hams,
Jerry Sevick, W2FMI, one of ham radio's great technical contributors, has
passed away.
I received word from his family that Jerry died peacefully this past Sunday
at the age of 90. I have known Jerry since 1995 while arranging for
continued publication of his classic book, Transmission Line Transformers,
after the ARRL decided not to do so. I was honored to be his collaborator on
the current edition of that book, and the editor of several magazine
articles and other manuscripts.
Jerry embodied the old-fashioned amateur spirit of innovation by experiment,
applying his many years of experience as a Bell Labs researcher to a
retirement project analyzing the performance of short vertical antennas.
That work led him to the study of transmission line transformers, for which
he became well-known in both the ham and professional radio engineering
communities. He brought a little-known piece of technology to the forefront,
and worried until the end whether enough people understood the principles
behind the operation of these devices.
An excerpt from his obituary:
"...Jerry was a graduate of Wayne State University and a member of their
Athletic Hall of Fame. He was drafted by both the Chicago Bears and Detroit
Lions, but did not play professional football. He served as a pilot in the
US Army Air Corps in WWII. He graduated from Harvard University, with a
doctorate in Applied Physics.
Jerry taught at Wayne State University and worked as the local weather
forecaster at WXYZ TV in Detroit. He worked for Bell Laboratories in Murray
Hill, NJ and retired as the Director of Technical Relations. An avid Ham
radio operator (W2FMI), Jerry was renowned for his research and publications
related to short vertical antennas and transmission line transformers..."
Rest in Peace, Jerry,
Gary Breed
K9AY
**Please forward to any list or individual you think would like to know of
Jerry's passing.
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