[CQ-Contest] Another contester is gone - W4AN SK

[Barkey, Patrick M.]

Like Cedrick, K9YO, I am still not ready to accept that W4AN is no
longer with
us.  The contesting community has lost some real giants this year.
 
Bill Fisher could be obnoxious, opinionated, and blunt.  But I can't
think of a ham I 
had more respect for.  In an internet world of talkers, Bill was a doer.
He took on
the biggest contesting challenges that I know of, and he was
fantastically
successful in every one.  
 
Twice in the 1990's he won the WW CW from Georgia, the last one from the

incredible mountain top station that he poured his life into.  Ask
anyone
in W4-land how easy that is.  He pushed himself to learn 2-radio
contesting
better than anyone else and established a dominance in the CW Sprint
that left the rest of us in the dust.
 
In his own, terse way, Bill was a mentor to many of us.  He said what he
felt
needed to be said, rough edges or not.  His words of praise were
genuine,
and if you were lucky enough to earn one or two of them, it made you
feel very special.  I wish I would have said so then, instead of typing
these
words now.
 
Through his example, his innovation and generosity in supplying us with
contesting.com, and his fierce competitive spirit, his footprint in our
sport
of radio contesting was huge.  There is a hole in our hobby now, and I
don't
know how we're going to fill it.
 
I know I speak for a lot of people when I say that I would give up a
lifetime of
contesting.com mailing lists just to hear the W4AN signal on the bands
right now.
 
RIP, Bill Fisher.
 
  - Pat
    N9RV