I met Bill during my spring break trip in 2001. I was headed to GA to
spend a week with a friend of mine, and it just so happened that WPX SSB
fell on one of the weekends I was there. So I emailed Bill on the off
chance that maybe his great station was free, and he was willing to have
a young lid like me operate. He said yes, and I was happy as could be.
Not only did I get to operate from somewhere other than KL7 or W7, but I
got to meet someone who I had looked up to for years.
It was a three hour drive for me to the mountain top, and Bill was going
to meet me up there. He showed up with a smile on his face, and we got
down to business: talking contesting. He gave me a rundown of the
place, and said good luck... and then he left. Just me, on top of a
mountain in the middle of nowhere, contesting. He showed up the next
day to do some work around the place, mostly gearing up for some new
towers and antennas he was working on. His son was riding around on his
little four wheeler having a blast. While CQing my brains out on SSB
(everyone's favorite mode...) I was thinking to myself: "How great is
this? I have never met this guy before, but have worked him on the air
100 times. THE W4AN! I fly 3000 miles and he just lets me take over
his station for a contest. During my off times we talked about how the
antennas were playing. He wanted my input on how loud I felt, and what
seemed to work and what didn't. That contest I got EXTREMELY sick, and
was coughing and couldn't keep food down. Bill kept me motivated while
he was up there... his energy was contagious.
Like N9RV said, it was great to have Bill give you words of praise. I
was on the receiving end of a few of these, and they had quite an affect
on me. Bill was someone I strove to be like operator wise. I've
operated from GA twice now... and winning CQWW CW from there is just
simply amazing!!! It seemed like 400 q's in the CW sprint was getting
to be old hat for him.
In the past year and a half we have lost so many big time contesters.
KL7Y, N8SM, K4OJ, W4AN...
It is not fun losing so many people who you look up to. Bill was a big
supporter of me as a young op, and I really appreciated that. I just
wish I could have told him in person someday.
His contributions and expertise will be sorely missed.
73z Bill es RIP,
-Chris KL9A
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