[CQ-Contest] W1CW = SK

[Robert White]

I was a Novice who didn't know squat but my Elmer suddenly had need of a 15
meter beam for the family antenna farm, which previously had had none.  This
is how things were with my Dad, W1CW - a giving man who always put his
interests last and everyone else's first.

Dad was the guy who made the DXCC what it was - he checked and administered
the program for almost a quarter century in Newington, and he didn't cut any
corners - everyone was held to the same high standards - this is what made
holding DXCC meaningful.  That was during the "heyday" of DXCC, including
the evolution of the DXpedition.  Dad later went on to set up and run the
"new" ARRL outgoing QSL Bureau.

Finally, when he moved to Tampa after Hurricane Andrew we had an opportunity
to put together a big ham station - capable of being first through the
pileups and supporting multi-operator entries in contests.  For numerous
hours in the early planning stages we would talk on the telephone while both
sitting in front of computers running YO trying antenna designs for the new
15 meter beam for the station.  Dad's final design has been a killer into EU
ever since.

I was in heaven - we would work on the projects during the week while I was
at work and on the weekends and I would install that needed special mounting
plate or reinforcement - that would be Dad's project for the week.... and I
would come over on Saturdays and piece by piece the antenna farm grew.  W1YL
(Mom) didn't always approve of Dad's priorities but I always thought they
were in order.  Multi-ops were hosted and certificates and plaques started
showing up in the mailbox.  This was ham-heaven.

During late nights when he could not sleep W1CW loved 40 meter CW -
especially since his station now had something he had never had before - a
rotary yagi - at 135 feet!  Each year when I went to Dayton and saw friends
they would usually say the same thing "I heard your Dad on 40".  He was able
to enjoy the station, talking to his friends in the First Class CW
Operators' Club and at times marveling at radio - almost like a new ham
excited about his first "run" of JA stations - he would tell me "two nights
ago was really good - they just kept callin' and callin'"  Radio filled
almost all his life, ever since his step-dad W6APG introduced him to it.

After the end of each contest we would pow-wow over what could be improved
and would this  be one of the upcoming projects for the station.  Over the
years the station grew and outgrew itself - we had to put additional
operating positions out on the porch when we went multi-multi but through it
all we had a blast.  Florida Contest Group multi-operations in all the major
CW DX contests, being the hub for the W1AW/4 IARU, and a threepeat as first
place finisher in the CW SS were some of the highlights. Mom would keep us
ops all well fed - Dad would routinely walk around checking the meters [no
Red LED's on the Alphas!].  A respectable contest station was born and
raised by W1CW... be it the miles of burried ground system or the custom
turnings from his lathe it all came together into a fine machine for making
ham radio communications!

This morning my father passed away.  His health had been failing and we had
been graced with an "extra" year with my Dad after he survived triple
by-pass surgery.  I just had lunch with my Mom and my wife and my wife
looked at me as I gazed out into the back yard and Teresa smiled and said -
"their his monuments" - referring to all those towers and antennas squeezed
onto his lot!

Dad had been licensed previously as: W6QEZ, W2QPZ, KH6QJ, W6YYN, and W1WPO.
He was a radioman during WW II  and a member of ARRL for over 60 years - my
Dad would often joke at how the League was gonna lose money big time on his
lifetime membership!

In my last talks with him he wanted to hear about the big efforts planned
for this weekends CQ WW contest and especially how a fellow club member was
coming on a major antenna project.

Radio - when I was little it separated me from my Dad, as I grew older it
became the gift that turned by Dad into my best friend... thanks for the
ride, Dad - say hello to W0DX and KH6IJ for me.

W1CW  SK  11/22/02

73,

Jim, K4OJ