W4BQF and W4WJ

For the past several days, I have received sad news on a couple of my friends' passing. 

Tom W4BQF used to be active on 40m in our late afternoon to early night hours. Using a key board, he sounded an excellent CW operator. His signal was outstanding from Florida even with a dipole. It was from '80s through '90s when we often talked. His proficiency on CW and pretty good signal from a wire antenna have been impressive to me. 

The other person was Don W4WJ. I have known him rather recently. From '16 through '18, we have had a number of great chats. We have shared the same friend, Dale W4QM, who used to be one of his sponsors for FOC back in '70s. Don used to be a broadcasting engineer and has moved, after retirement, to Texas in 2006. I might have met him long before but it was the first time for us to have a long chat in '16. It was turned out that we knew Dale W4QM well each other as written above. As soon as we finished that long ragchew, Don gave a land line call to Dale. Dale used to be an active FOC member but has moved to be an Associate member several years before. Dale told him he had had shingles on the hand running a keyer and could not operate radio. Dale went SK a couple of years ago. And so did Don this year.

This photo shows Don standing and Dale sitting on the operation position taken when Don visited Dale in 1974. Young enthusiastic ham radio operators. Don's t shirt has the logo of FOC, which, as Don told me, had been drawn by a painter girl friend. It means how CW as well as FOC was important for Don in his young days. 

 When I uploaded this photo in Facebook a few years ago, a lot of friends gave comments to it saying they had known them also. I have talked to Dale often when he was in VQ9 as VQ9QM in late '80s, I believe. In the height of the solar cycle those days, when I told him I had needed VQ9 for 80m DXCC, he kindly moved there for a QSO and almost on the same day, from 40m to 10m all opening at the same time. Crazy conditions and a really nerd DX chaser those days. 

Too sad to have lost such an operator as well as a good friend. But they have run through their travels on the earth. Now they are resting in another good place, i believe, without anxiety or worries. Wishing them RIP from the bottom of my mind.