[VHFcontesting] K8MMM - Silent Key

[David Olean]

I first ran into Tom, K8MMM on six meter scatter back in 1964 or 1965. Not sure of the date exactly, but I lived in Connecticut, was a young kid, and put up a big  yagi on six meters (courtesy of W1RJA) with a 500 watt HB 4E27A amp, soon followed by a bigger push pull 4-400A amp along with a homebrew filter type SSB exciter. I immediately was working SSB ionospheric scatter and K8MMM was one of the guys my brother and I worked every night after 11:30 when the nightly news was over! I always felt a close association with that early group. Besides K8MMM, there was W3KWH, WA9OUU, K9DZK, and some other experimenters spread across Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. K8MMM was always 100% readable no matter what. He had his act together then. I always enjoyed working him over the years, remembering those early days of VHF ssb.
    I will miss Tom's signal. This is a sad day.

73 Dave K1WHS 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Vic 
  To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; 
  Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 1:13 AM
  Subject: K8MMM - Silent Key



  For you regulars on the weekend 6 meter scatter circuit -- some of you may have heard by now -- Very Sad News today.. Just received this from Lee.. KZ4RR & John WZ8D -- de Vic // 


  I am very saddened to report that my good friend, Tom Baker, passed away early today. I met Tom @ 1963 (when I was 11), and he has been a friend and mentor ever since. He inspired me to many achievements starting with ham radio....building antennas and amplifiers, but also including a wide range of activities from golf and tennis to drag racing, and watching the Cleveland Browns with large antennas pointed at Erie for the home games. I spent many days and nights at Tom's house in Novelty, and was treated like family by his Mom and Dad...including many home cooked meals. Tom was generally the first person I talked to with a new radio or antenna or mobile. Tom & I operated in many, many VHF and HF contests over the years and generally finished number 1 or 2. Tom, achieved the top single op score in the U.S. operating from my station in the 1972 CQ WW  DX contest with over 1600 contacts in over 200 countries in a 24 hour period! After moving to Florida, I remember the first time I put up a tower in 1984...... I called Tom on the phone to tell him that the tower was up and ready for a test. He said, I have been listening to you tune up for the last 20 minutes! We then had our first scatter 6M qso...with S3-5 solid residual signals over 700 miles...since then we have had thousands of similar qso's to the amazement of locals trying to work across town. Tom still holds at least one 6 meter worldwide DX record, and is regarded as one of the top 6 meter operators of all time. I am still using one of Tom's 6 meter amplifiers that he built in the 1960's.

  Darren Humphreys, KB3MHX, has been Tom's close friend and business partner in recent years, and has helped Tom build a very nice company called Neotek Engineering. My sincere thanks to Darren, who has always been there to help Tom....especially during his recent illness.

  K8MMM. and his great signal, genuine friendship, and quirky sense of humor will be greatly missed. Please forward any correspondence or communication regarding Tom to me, and feel free to forward this to interested parties.

  Thanks & 73, Lee
  WA8LRE/KZ4RR