Jeff,
Thanks for the great writeup about Jack. Although I didn’t know him as well as
you did I had the pleasure of meeting him several times and saw many pictures
of the old setup. Logged him from Navassa on both trips, he not only had a
booming signal, he was always courteous operator. RIP VE1ZZ
73, Tony K2SG
> On Oct 19, 2018, at 1:10 PM, k1zm--- via Topband <topband@contesting.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hello Gang
>
>
> I am truly saddened to have to pass along the contents of an email I just
> received from Carl Leahy who was one of Jack Leahy, VE1ZZ's sons.
>
>
> It is short and sweet - but I will add some personal comments after sharing
> his note to me.
>
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
>
>
>
>
>
> Carl Leahy carl.leahy1@gmail.comHide
>
> To
> k1zm k1zm@aol.com
>
>
>
> Jeff, our family wanted you to know that dad passed away last evening. If you
> could let the people in the ham world know we would really appreciate it. It
> was a very big part of his life . He had just been talking about you and the
> book you gave him a few years ago..
>
>
> Carl Leahy
> Signing off for VE1ZZ 😞
>
>
>
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
> A few comments from my memory now follow - as best I recall them:
>
>
> VE1ZZ was not only a personal friend to many of us - he was probably one of
> the finest Topband Dx'ers ever to have lived. He goes back to not long after
> W1BB came back on the band at the end of WW!! - and was one of the strongest
> signals I have ever witnessed on Topband. His signal was almost LEGENDARY
> all over the world. EU stations used to say - "He is almost as loud when he
> calls in Asian pileups as the EU callers are over here"...and that says it
> all!
>
>
> Jack Leahy was personally responsible for my migrating to VY2ZM and was here
> at my home twice - once is 2002 and once in 2012. I last visited him and
> Opal (his XYL) in August of 2014 with Mike OE6MBG who wanted to meet Jack and
> see his QTH .
>
>
> When I finally had the time after building my house here on PEI to visit
> Jack which was probably in July of 2003 or 2004, at first blush his place did
> not make a huge impression on me because it had only a short triangular
> portion of land at the road in the Head of Jeddore NE of Halifax - and the
> land rose rapidly behind his home. One initially wondered "How does he get
> out so well from here down at the road?"
>
>
> The answer came shortly thereafter - Jack took me out behind the house - and
> we climbed that hill - up and up and up for something like a MILE - it was a
> pizza slice in shape and very wide at the top of the hill in the woods - with
> only about 100 feet (if that) at the road front side of the parcel.
>
>
> Some distance up the hill was Jack's 160m 4sq array - which was made of ROHN
> 6 tower - that was sitting on 18 wheeler truck tires as base insulators. The
> towers were not tall - perhaps 55 feet or so and the rest of each radiator
> was wire - so it was really a WIRE inverted L 4sq. Jack was the "ultimate
> scavenger" and his radials were all 1-2" diameter pieces of HARDLINE!!!
> Hundreds of them all over the hillside I think he had a friend in CATV or at
> his local dump - but he got most of it for next to nothing he said.
>
>
> From that point of his land, he could reach around the HILLTOP on 160m to
> acquire a clear shot to EU and the South was wide open and to the SW was
> also clear looking over the water. Looking straight up the hill was probably
> blocked to some degree - but often this does not matter all that much on
> Topband.
>
>
> The day I was there was shortly after Jack had managed to communicate across
> the pond on what I think was 600m - I may be wrong about the frequency - but
> the antenna he used to make the SLOW SLOW SPEED CW contact was something out
> of this world!
>
>
> It started about 1/3 of the way up the hill - and ran all the way to the rear
> of the property to near the furthest reaches of his land - and this was a
> LONG LONG LONG walk to get there - through some land that I recall was
> swampy. It had to have been at least 3000 feet long.
>
>
> Part way up the hill, Jack had built a small shelter in which he placed the
> BIGGEST homebrew loading coil I have ever seen. It was about 4 feet tall and
> about 8 feet in diameter and wrapped around some kind of coil form he had
> created.
>
>
> Jack explained that it took him awhile to resonate the system to his desired
> operating QRG - and this was done by taking a pair of alligator clips and
> through trial and error he tapped the coil he made - trying to use a DC
> ammeter to find the point of peak current into the system - which he
> explained seemed to indicate the system was reasonably matched.
>
>
> His was among the first to work across the pond with that antenna - just one
> of his many achievements.
>
>
> When I was in the US Navy stationed at Bremerhaven, Germany I used to listen
> to Jack and W1BB on 160m. W1BB would sit around 1801, KV4FZ often was around
> 1803 and Jack was down at the low end as well - calling CQ listening QSX up
> at around 1825-1830 in what was then known as the "DX Window".
>
>
> Jack had a huge signal even then - using equipment that was popular in that
> era. I recall a Hammarlund HQ 160 Rx or something close to that model -
> there is a photo of that station from the late 1950's in my book "Dx'ing on
> the Edge."
>
>
> Jack's More Recent Station - Inside
>
>
> When I first visited Jack in 2003/2004, it was in his old house - not the
> newer one he built further up the hill some years later. The station was
> vintage (much like my own on Cape Cod) - and Jack used a TS830 driving a HB
> amp to something around a KW DC input. Jack's operating table gave me a
> chuckle because there was only about 4 inches of space between the front
> panel of the radio and the edge of the table. Jack was a "leftie" and placed
> his paddle parallel to the front of the TS830 and did his best to keep his
> forearm on the table while he sent.
>
>
> Jack's keying system triggered a bunch of interconnected relays as he
> operated and he had quite a number of vintage antenna switches which selected
> his many Rx antennas.
>
>
> After visiting his shack, Jack later showed me around other parts of the rest
> of the house - and I recall several rooms CHOCK FULL of stuff most of us
> would die for. One room was full of EIMAC xmitting tubes - 4-400's, some
> 304TL's, some 4-1000A's etc
>
>
> Another room had shelves loaded with vacuum relays and vacuum variables he
> had collected over the years. Not one or two - but something like a 100 of
> them. There were also rotary inductors for HB design and many other things
> that made me drool.
>
> I think I remember a third room full of vintage ham radio gear as well.
> Older stuff he had used previously over the years I guess.
>
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
> I will relate one story about Jack when I was operating at 7O6T over in Yemen
> in 2012 I think it was. I was calling CQ arond 1823kHz waiting for SS to
> occur in NA - and this bone crushing signal came at me that almost blew me
> out of my chair. You can listen to this clip on my VY2ZM website - and you
> will see what I mean.
>
>
> I told Jack that I was operating in the snippet - and later asked him to
> please tell me when OTHER NA stations were calling. I said, please do NOT
> tell me the calls - just tell me that USA stations are now hearing me and
> calling me. Jack did as I asked and about 15 mins later a very weak in the
> noise caller was Dave Patten, NN1N who was probably 3-4 S units down from
> Jack's signal. Dave's station is first rate - but there is something truly
> magical about operating from the Maritimes along oceanfront property. It is
> just how things work - Jack had what I call the "front door" to the NE path
> and it often shows up as it did that evening at 7O6T.
>
>
> Here's how to listen to what I heard:
>
>
> 1) Go to http://www,vy2zm.com
> 2) Select the sound bites tab
> 3) Click on Sound Bite #4 and play VE1ZZ - Booming.
> 4) If you also wish to hear NN1N's piece look further down the list to hear
> the difference in signal levels.
>
>
> JACK's last years
>
>
> I last spoke with Jack in the summer of 2016. He told me he then had COPD
> and that his amp needed repairs and that his antennas were largely broken. I
> had heard him sparingly in 2015 and probably not at all in 2016 - and that
> explained why.
>
>
>
>
> JACK's 160m DXCC Achievements:
>
>
> For many years JACK held the #2 position WORLD in the Topband DXCC rankings.
> He finished his legendary Topband career at 334 countries confirmed at
> position #6 in the current rankings. This is only a HANDFUL of entities
> below that necessary to have qualified for DXCC HONOR ROLL - single band
> 160M. His mild, unassuming manner was also the measure of the man. He would
> stop DX'ing and work ANYONE who called him - which says alot as well. His
> was a special person and I have always admired him and what he managed to do
> in HAM RADIO.
>
>
> Not only did he make DXCC on 160m - in the summers he got me hooked on 6M and
> he had a 6M DXCC as well - just to keep himself occupied during the summer
> doldrums on 160M.
>
>
> I will close now and stop reminiscing about Jack - but I think it is
> altogether fitting that we stop and pause a moment to remember this fine 160M
> operator and gentleman and what he achieved on the band we all love to
> operate. He will always occupy a special place in our memories of Topband!
>
>
> 73 and thanks for the bandwidth.
>
>
> JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM
>
>
> Email: K1ZM@aol.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Jeff Briggs
> DXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters
> Available worldwide through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering, Royal
> Society of Great Britain, & Amazon
>
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