Topband: VE1ZZ has passed on - Very Very Sad news! (Long)

Fri Oct 19 13:13:19 EDT 2018

Very sad news.  The passing of a legend.  I remember hearing "zulu zulu"
from A73A back in 2012.  My only NA on 160 in the CQ WW SSB.

Tree N6TR

On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 10:10 AM k1zm--- via Topband <topband at 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 at gmail.comHide
>
> To
> k1zm k1zm at 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 at 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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> _________________
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