One mistatement in the article, George was never a Director of the
ARRL. I knew him and W4RH appointed him the honorary title of Asst
Director. 73 Sandy, W4RU
--- Jay Pryor <jpryor at uga.edu> wrote:
> Here's a cut-and-paste story that appeared in the Athens newspaper,
> FYI. Some of you may have crossed paths with W4EEE, George Norton.
>
> 73, Jay/K4OGG
>
>
> #################
>
> A part of ham radio's history moving to Oconee
>
>
> A Five Points landmark that for decades connected an amateur radio
> operator with the world will find new purpose in Oconee County.
>
> Workers disassembled the old, metal windmill tower that rose about 65
>
> feet above the back lot of a house on Milledge Terrace and moved it
> to Watkinsville, where the new owner may use it as a transmission
> tower for a low-power radio station.
>
> The tower was put up in 1951 by the late George Norton, a ham radio
> operator who attached his radio antennas to the top, said Myra
> Martin, Norton's niece and the executor of his estate.
>
> In 1940, Norton selected the Milledge Terrace site for his home
> because it sat on some of the highest ground in Athens, about 785
> feet in elevation, which he wanted for his ham radio work, Martin
> said.
>
> Norton died in 1996, and his wife, Helen, passed away last year, and
> Martin begin liquidating the couple's estate.
>
> Martin reluctantly decided the tower had to go to help expedite the
> sale of the Nortons' home.
>
> She agreed to give the tower to Phillips on the condition he pay to
> remove it.
>
> "I hated to see it come down just because it's kind of like an old
> well-worn shoe," Martin said.
>
> The tower came from a Griffin farmer who had used it to support a
> windmill that pumped water to his cattle and crops. Norton bought the
>
> tower, disassembled it and moved it to his Five Points property to
> enhance his radio antenna.
>
> Norton, born in Athens in 1905, became fascinated with radio
> communication as a boy when he wound a copper coil around an oatmeal
> box and sent Morse code signals, said his nephew, Dan Norton Jr., who
>
> is Martin's brother.
>
> "He was a ham radio operator almost all his life, until the day he
> could no longer climb stairs to the radio shack - his radio office -
> in his house," said Dan Norton, who is an amateur radio operator,
> too.
>
> Selling her uncle's house also means Martin will have to address
> Norton's "shack," which is filled with memorabilia and awards for his
>
> amateur radio work.
>
> "His amateur radio call letters were W4EEE, and he was known around
> the world," said Martin. "His shack is lined solid with awards he
> received."
>
> Norton used his ham radio equipment to contact radio operators at
> more than 300 sites around the world, an accomplishment that gained
> him noted standing in the DXCC club, or the Distance Century Club.
> The club included any radio operators who made contact with other
> amateurs in more than 100 different countries.
>
> To prove that contact was made, Norton had to obtain a written and
> signed letter from each of the amateurs he spoke with across the
> globe, Dan Norton said.
>
> "For a time he was the leading member of the DXCC in the world,"
> Norton said.
>
> During World War II, when the FCC banned transmissions by ham
> operators, George Norton reportedly used his equipment to listen for
> news of the war overseas and convey information to his neighbors.
>
> "We heard second- and thirdhand that neighbors were getting
> information (from Norton) that wasn't available through traditional
> channels during World War II," said Dan Norton.
>
> George Norton's work with amateur radio reached beyond communicating
> with other operators.
>
> He was a director of the American Radio Relay League and helped
> improve radio signals by using satellites to boost transmission.
> During the 1940s and '50s he installed a mobile radio in his car and
> used it to help build a network of amateur radio enthusiasts around
> Georgia.
>
> Martin isn't sure how Norton learned about the windmill, but she did
> have a letter the Griffin farmer wrote to him about how to take the
> structure down and avoid damaging the farmer's well.
>
> Watkinsville electrician Quinton Phillips first noticed the old tower
>
> when he was doing some electrical work at a nearby condominium off
> South Lumpkin Street. Inquiries about the tower led him to Martin.
>
> Phillips spent Thursday morning clambering up the tower, taking it
> apart in sections while a crane lowered each to the ground.
>
> Later, he and several helpers further dismantled the tower and hauled
>
> it to Watkinsville, where Phillips plans to refurbish it for use with
>
> a possible low-power community radio station.
>
> "I want to clean it up and repair it and get it ready for the next 50
>
> years of being a landmark," Phillips said.
>
> The federal government opened up a licensing window for low-power
> stations in October, but the frequency Phillips wanted wasn't
> available.
>
> He said he'll wait for Congress to make more low-power frequencies
> available before starting his own station.
>
> Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 112007
>
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