Hi all...the sad news reached me here in Geneva, Switzerland at 0400 local
hours when I woke up and turned my blackberry on...imediately it started
sounding off with messages that had accumulated while I had beeen
asleep...the one that touched me the most was from N4NX announcing that KS4Q
had lostthe battle against cancer...
I met Ernie in early 1983, and invited him to join Lee WI4R and myself in
operating MS in the CQWW CW test in November 1983...I had to drive up to the
military school near the Atlanta airport to pick him up as he was only 14
years old and was a was from being able to drive....as some build up to this
story, I had been a member of the FRC Frankford Radio Club in the
Philadelphia area...they had successfully designed a memory keyer and it was
the first of its kind...I had a prototype of the unit I had borrowed from
Chas K3WW and had brought it to Georgia to try in the CQWW CW test...Ernie
was excited to try this new memory keyer....so when he sat down to test
drive it...he reached up and turned the speed knob as far as it would go to
the right and started sending at 50 wpm or so...he just grinned from ear to
ear...he was happy with what he saw...we did the contest that year and
finished #1 in the 4th call area in the CQWW CW test..and Ernie was a big
part of the success...Ernie operated a numer of years from NQ4I...some of
the earlt years were M-2 and then M-M at both the old qth and the new
qth...Ernie took on the LOTW for the NQ4I qsl needs...he had uploaded over
50,000 qsos and maintained the role as administrator for LOTW for NQ4I, and
W4KZ....I never saw anyone as devoted to his children and his wife as
Ernie...he was really involved in scouting ....
I last saw Ernie 2 years ago at the Kennesaw Hamfest..he was wandering
around in the boneyard..as always he had a big smile and was always
upbeat...he had been battleing cancer even before then...we have lost a dear
friend...great contestor, father and husband from our midst...
Rest in Peace dear friend Ernie...I am sure that Bill Fisher is checking you
out on the station up there in heaven and you are working a contest with
Bill...
Rick NQ4I
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