[VHFcontesting] Jimmy Long, W4ZRZ Silent Key

[Zack Widup]

This is very sad news. I heard Jimmy was in a nursing home a while back.

One of my most memorable sets of QSO's was during the August UHF contest in
2008, when on Sunday morning there was a fantastic opening to the Alabama
area. I worked W4ZRZ and K4XR on every band from 222 MHz through 10 GHz
with signals pinning my s-meter all the way to 5760 and a good S9 on 10368.
That was a path of about 500 miles.

RIP, OM.

73, Zack W9SZ

On Thu, Aug 4, 2022 at 9:19 AM Les Rayburn <les at highnoonfilm.com> wrote:

> Very sad news this morning. Dale Benton, W4OP of the Boatanchors list
> wrote to inform us of the passing of Jimmy Long, W4ZRZ. Jimmy was the
> former owner of Long’s Electronics in Birmingham, as well as many other
> business ventures.
>
> Jimmy was also an Honor Roll DXer, EME pioneer, avid VHF contester, and
> experimenter. From his hilltop home in Springville, AL, W4ZRZ was one of
> the loudest stations in the Southeast on as many as 12 bands.
>
> On a personal note, Jim was one of my VHF mentors, and my 2nd ever contact
> on 2 Meter SSB. He encouraged me, taught me with great patience, and
> prodded me when I struggled in my quest to earn VUCC on 2 meters using
> indoor antennas. An effort that he thought was complete folly, BTW.
>
> More than once, as he struggled to hear me on 1.2 Ghz, he’d shout— “Les,
> why don’t you just move to someplace that allows you to have antennas!”
>
> Jimmy loaned out more gear than most of us will ever own. He loaned me
> gear for 5 Ghz, 10 Ghz, and more when I was roving during contests—and
> would stay up half the night during contest weekends to work me from a new
> grid. He drove 35 miles to my house once in the middle of the night to loan
> me a Belko 432 amplifier. It was at my shack for so long he seemed
> surprised when I returned it. He had honestly forgotten the loan. That’s
> the kind of guy he was.
>
> He will really be missed. Can’t imagine a VHF contest without hearing
> “Radio Zebra Radio.”
>
>
> 73,
>
> Les Rayburn, N1LF
> les at highnoonfilm.com <mailto:les at highnoonfilm.com>
> 121 Mayfair Park
> Maylene, AL 35114
> EM63nf
>
> NRC & IRCA Courtesy Program Committee Chairman
> Member WTFDA, MWC
>
> Perseus SDR,  AirSpy + Discovery, SDRPlay RSP Duo, Sony XDR-F1HD [XDR Guy
> Modified], Korner 9.2 Antenna, FM-6 Antenna, Kitz Technologies KT-501
> Pre-amps, Quantum Phaser, Wellbrook ALA1530 Loop, Wellbrook Flag, Clifton
> Labs Active Whip.
>
> “Nothing but blues and Elvis, and somebody else’s favorite song…”
>
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