Reading K3LR and N9RV's comments about N8SM brought back some great
memories that I have of Steve.... Like everyone else I was shocked when I
first heard the news of his death.
I first met WD8IXE in the early 1980's when we were both members of the Mad
River Radio Club. We only lived about 15 miles apart so I would see him on a
regular basis. Over the years we operated together at many multi-ops from
KW8N,KS8S and W8FN. I remember one year we even did FD together from my
parents backyard.
Steve had a modest station at his parents house back in those days. I remember
he did many single-ops at KW8N and I think he still might hold some of the 8th
call area records in CQWW and ARRL DX from his operations at Bob's. Before he
moved to Texas he was a regular at the K3LR M/M operations too..
The both of us attended Ohio State during the mid to late 1990's. Those
were the glory days for contesting at W8LT. N8VW, W4EF, K3JT, W8LX, KC5R
(ex KC3N), Steve and myself were all members of the radio club during those
years. We had some memorable FD operations as W8LT/VE3 on Pelee Island in the
middle of Lake Erie... Getting their was have the fun. He also had fun hanging
out and doing all the things you do when you are college age....
I also remember the fun we had during the mid 1990's doing K3UA June
VHF Contest operations. A bunch of HF contest operators ( K3LR,K3UA,KU8E,N8VW,
N3RA,WD8IXE and KD8NS came from WPA and Ohio and WW2Y,KA2AEV,N2NT,KR2J(N5NJ)
and KZ2S (N2NC) from the east) met up at a hilltop in central PA to try our
hand in VHF contesting. It was cool to just "hang out" and talk contesting
during the slow periods that you get in a VHF contest. It was like a mini
Dayton contest suite !
In the late 1990's I was also fortunate to join Steve on one of the J6DX
contest expeditions. I remember all the fun we had and believe this was was the
first time I met a cocky young contester named Paul Gentry - who we all know
as K9PG.
As you can see I have many great memories of the times I was able to spend
with Steve and I am glad that I got to know him during his life. We lost touch
somewhat when he moved to Texas and started a family. Every once in awhile we
would work each other on the air or exchange an email and would update each
other about what was going on in our life's. I remember from our last
conversations that he was living his dream of building a contest station that
he could call his own.
Steve was not just a fellow contester and a super operator but a great friend
as well. He will be sorely missed.
Jeff KU8E
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