Jim K9JWV was a friend of mine to be remembered from a couple of reasons.
Firstly, his love for QRP. Almost all of us have started ham radio with small set ups, whatever the size might be. In my case, as told before, 5 tubes superheterodyne with a single 6AQ5 transmitter. The output must have been ower than 5 watts. The antenna was a dipole fed with ladder line with chop sticks for the separator. Undescribable joy when I could work with Walt W6ASH for the 1st ever US with this set up. Ever since, I have tried to improve them in order to work far away with better signal. In that process, howevr, I was apt to forget what excitement and joy I had had in the beginning. Possibly, most of us have gone through the same milestone. But, as you know, there are few exceptions. That is a QRP operator or QRPer. Such a ham sometimes should go in that style due to his limited circumstances. There are real rare exceptions who enjoy that minimum way of ham radio.
Jim has seemingly been adherent to QRP and simple antennas throughout his life. From '00s to 2016, while we knew each other and enjoyed a lot of conversation, so far as I know, he has used 5 to 35watts at max with different verticals. I didn't dare to ask why he loved such small set up. In every QSO, however, I always felt he had enjoyed his own style. We often met on 40m in our early evening when it was getting dark here. Without that damn woodpecker, his signal was always good enough to converse for a while. I was surprised to find myself enjoying talking to him with such a QRP on his side. After putting up a tower and beams on it in the end of '80s, I had forgotten that thrilling joy. His style has reminded me of that. QRP operation always requires us much skill and expertise. Such a ham operating QRP should imagine how his signal goes to the partner or he could not carry on a fine QSO. Jim was one of such great QRP operators.
He had used a GAP vertical before putting up this vertical, 42 feet radiator with 40 floating radials and 3 top hat wires, shown in the photo below. I was sure his location on a height amid a flat desert might have helped him a lot. But this antenna seemed to have played the key. He always used a Ten Tec argonaut with a small amplifiler with the output 35 watts at max. Twenty five watts was his navigation power. He sometimes operated with the tiny KX3 in barefoot. What a thrill I have felt to enjoy conversation with him running that tiny radio.
He seemed to be a teacher at certain college. But I haven't asked much about such a thing or even his history. However, I sure have shared passion for radio with him.
The other point is how we should parted. In 2014 or 2015, all after a lot of enjoyable ragchewing, I heard him saying he had suffered from lung cancer. In 2016, he told me the cancer had invaded spine and he would have chemotherapy. It meant he would spend hard time with the treatment, I knew. After an interval for several months, I have abruptly received an e mail telling me the treatment was not successful and he decided to go into a hospice. His doctor told him the remaining life should be around 2 months. It was the summer of 2017.
It was a big shock for me. It is a tough and difficult question what I should say to a dying friend. I believed I could say almost nothing to him. Any words sound meaningless before death. I could not recall what I exactly had answered to him. Possibly, I have told my helplessness to him and would be beside him so far as I could, even though we were physically far apart of course. In the end of that mail, I told him, if he was interested in classic music, to listen for Matthew's Passion by J.S.Bach. I knew it could be a meddlesome advice for him. Or could it be any meaningful advice? It is a fact, however, when I should go through his situation in my life, I had thought I would listen to that piece as Toru Takemitsu used to do in his dying bed.
In a few days, a short reply has come back from him. It said he would look for the piece. It was the very last mail from him. I still wonder if it was a right advice or if there was anything else I could do. Was it what he had expected from me?
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