[CQ-Contest] W7RM SK

[David Pruett]

At 10:17 PM 3/11/2005, Charles  Margelli wrote:
>I am very saddened to report that Contest Hall of Fame member Rush Drake, 
>W7RM, passed away peacefully this afternoon at 3 PM, with his son Bruce at 
>his side.

I sometimes feel as if I was born 10-20 years too late.  Perhaps if I was 
born earlier I would have gone to work on the US Space Program rather than 
designing cars.  Perhaps if I was born earlier into a family in the Pacific 
northwest I could have been a part of the W7RM experience on Foul Weather 
Bluff.

As a young ham in the early 70s, I marveled at the big W7RM signal in many 
a contest.  However, it was pictures of the W7RM station in the ham 
magazines which really stirred my imagination.  The 1971 SS results in the 
May 1972 QST (which I just *had* to pull out now to reminiscence) was chock 
full of W7RM images - the 3L 40M sharing it's boom with an 8L 10M, 6/6 on 
20M, 6/3/3/3 on 15M, plus a rotatable aluminum and wire 80M yagi - not to 
mention a photo of a (much younger) K7JA (then K7VPF) grinning in front of 
an S-line.  For someone 2000 miles away, these images portrayed a station 
where amateur radio was an adventure.

Over the years, I followed the W7RM story from a distance, but in those 
pre-Internet, pre-e-mail days it was all word-of-mouth or what got printed 
in the magazines.  Of course, the storm of 1979 which blew the towers over 
the bluff was the big news.  The fact that W7RM *had* towers/antennas big 
enough to blow over, in a location where these could be blown over a cliff, 
only added to the legend.  Then came word that we was going to re-build at 
another location, the news of which was greeted with the same enthusiasm as 
your favorite baseball player coming out of retirement.

Over the years, I met Rush occasionally during the Dayton Hamvention.  He 
was always very cordial to me but with all the hustle and bustle I never 
really got the chance to talk to him about his station and experiences.  In 
September 1998, the word went out (thank goodness for Internet and e-mail) 
that there was going to be an open house at W7RM to celebrate Rush's 82nd 
birthday.  I figured that this was my chance, so I grabbed an airline 
ticket and flew out to Portland.

I'll never forget driving along this two-lane county road that was climbing 
higher and higher as the GPS said we were approaching W7RM.  On the way, I 
remember passing a house with a tribander on a tower not far from Rush's, 
thinking "Boy, that guy must get a lot of QRM on a contest 
weekend!"  Shortly thereafter, we crested a rise in the road and hound 
radio nirvana for the hardware addict - five acres stuffed full of towers 
and antennas like only an "old school" station builder like Rush could do.

As the open house, there were probably 20-30 people milling around the 
station and antenna farm, all there to wish Rush happy birthday.  As I 
sought out Rush to give my greetings, I wasn't sure if he'd remember me as 
it had been several years since I'd seen him.  No problem - when I 
approached him he recognized me, beamed and seemed genuinely touched that I 
would come all the way from Michigan for his birthday.  As I asked him 
questions about the station layout, he took me into the living room and 
showed me that master blueprint that clearly showed the logic of the tower 
arrangement.  Then he pulled out his pictures of the damage from the 1979 
storm and relived the details we me.  It all became clear.

In honor of Rush, I put together a collection of pictures from his 1998 
birthday party.  Check these out at http://home.comcast.net/~k8cc under 
"Stories", then "1998 W7RM Trip".

Rush Drake contributed a tremendous amount to amateur radio, and contesting 
as we know it today.  RIP OM.

73,

Dave/K8CC