Topband: VE1ZZ has passed on - Very Very Sad news! (Long)
Gary Smith
Gary at ka1j.com
Fri Oct 19 15:23:01 EDT 2018
Sad news indeed.
Our first QSO was in 92 when I was using
an octagon copper tube short loop for 160
in northern Illinois. The next few were
when I was using a 30' random wire in
Indiana. 5W would get into the telephone
so I was pretty much QRP all that time.
The next were when I moved back to CT. All
our contacts were on 160
73, old friend, thank you for the fun. Say
hi to my Dad, W1BML for me.
Gary
KA1J
> 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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> _________________
> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
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