NADXA's Silent Keys

NADXA has had some very distinguished members who have moved on to that QTH where everyplace is line-of-sight. We fondly remember these former members whose keys turned silent in recent years.

 

W7TB, Lew Wilhelm

(a.k.a. ZK1TB, 3D2TB, FOØWLW, ZK1XU)
Lew's experiences as an aviator in WWII led him to enjoy many return visits to exotic locales such as Rarotonga, Fiji, and Russia later in life. He was a professional radio technician who loved designing and building top-quality homebrew gear. In honor of Lew's accomplishments and dedication to DXing, NADXA adopted his W7TB call sign for the club station. Before joining the ranks of silent keys, Lew had worked well over 300 DXCC entities.

W7EYG, Bill Webster

Bill spent many hours chasing DX on SSB, earning quite an impressive total before he passed away just before Field Day 2000. He was always ready to take the mike for hours through the night when everyone else was sleeping, racking up points for the club. At last count, Bill had worked 320 DXCC entities (with 316 confirmed).

KD7XO, Frank Berberich

Frank was a founding member of NADXA and an avid DXer.

W7GYX, Miles Shepard

The call W7GYX first appeared in my log on 6 feb 1975 (LSB on 75 meters) when I was living in Sierra Vista, AZ. That was the first time I ran into Shep. I gave him a 599 + 20 over and he gave me a 55. On 14 November, 1976, when I had moved to Flagstaff, I again worked him, this time on 10m SSB. I gave him a 58, and he gave me a 56. I soon began to notice that he always gave the other guy a lower report than he received. There followed some 10 years of association with Shep. Some of it was calm and some stormy. He probably had his license before WW2, and he was a builder and experimenter. We spent hours talking HAM radio, scrounging parts and tubes from each others junk box, and walking around surveying offerings at the Ft. Tuthill ham fest. Shep was the chief engineer of the local radio station. At home however, his ham shack was a maze of wires. His biggest problem was BCI (broadcast interference, tvi (televison interference) with his neighbors, and his voice coming out of the electronic organ when his wife was playing. His neighbors used to reward him by sprinkling roofing nails over his driveway at night. He became a charter member of the NADXA- he couldn't find 100 cards to qualify, and made a motion that WAC should be a qualifying requirement but was shot down on that. Our president KR7Y finally went to Shep's house and after rooting through a ton of QSLs found 100 cards! It was a proud Shep who brought his DXCC to a club meeting shortly after. Shep relocated to Window Rock, AZ when he took a job as director of engineering at the 50KW Navajo broadcast station. On 5 March 1987, I had a phone call from his good friend Carl Rieck KD7UN who informed me that Shep had suddenly become a Silent Key that morning due to an aorta aneurism. Shep had a lifetime fascination with radio both amateur and professional and we miss his presence both on and off the air. (by Bill Schuchman W7YS)

WX7E, Emerson M. Hoyt

"Em" was licensed as W2LLH in 1937 . He joined the NADXA in sepember of 1988, and was a very active member. As a radio engineer, he did extensive work during WW2 in the field of radar with the government. Prior to coming to Flagstaff, he was employed at Space Technology Labs in Los Angeles from 1958. As you can see in the photo, Em had an excellent station and a tri bander on the roof of his home in Cheshire Estates . An active DXer and experimenter, he relocated to Oregon and was a member of the local radio club that was involved in activating a radio station aboard a retired submarine. Em became a silent key on 16 july 2005 following a stroke and heart failure.

KE7JVZ, Marvin Mansfield

Marv Mansfield, KE7JVZ, passed away at home with his family at his side on October 28, 2011. Marv, a teacher, coach, Rv'er, and boat enthusiast, loved to be outdoors. One of his favorite things to do was listen to DX and work the various races for the CARC club. Growing up in Yuma he began working in the melon fields helping with his family farming. Graduating from Yuma High School, he went on to Arizona Western to play football and eventually graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in education. He started his teaching career at Camp Verde High School as a business teacher then went to Coconino High School and finally retired form Flagstaff High School in 2002. He became interest in Ham radio after one of the many RV trips listening to one of the other RV'ers contacting and logging DX stations while camping in Yuma. After contacting one of the NADXA members and asking him to be an elmer , Marv studied and received his ticket. He will be greatly missed. -Dave, W7FYW

W7YS, Bill Schuchman

William George Schuchman (1922-2011) passed away on December 23, 2011 at the age of 89. Bill was always into radio…. He repaired radios for the Army in 1942 and worked in the Pentagon doing communications for 30 years. He built communications centers all over the World. He retired from Ft. Huachuca in 1974 and moved to Flagstaff in 1976. Bill had a passion for amateur radio for over 75 years. He constantly taught others and encouraged new operators. Contesting and chasing DX were his favorite parts of the hobby.

Bill was a founding, Charter Member of NADXA and an Elmer to many hams who crossed his path. He was also a Charter Member of the Potomac Valley Radio Club (1947). The call W7YS was assigned to Bill in 1972. It was previously held by Father Sebastian Ruth of St. Martins College in Lacey, WA. (Y calls were originally reserved for schools and experimental stations).

A tribute from Craig Anderson, W9GLT: Bill lived and breathed radio, the frequencies in his brain were all band frequencies, from the bottom of 160 to the top of the top band he had them flowing through his synapses. CW – continuous wave – was his second, actually I think, his first language. His skill at sending and receiving are legendary amongst his friends and cohorts. DX was his passion; meeting, getting to know and being able to talk to one another, on a regular basis, was his goal. Not just a quick 599, exchange of location, name and equipment but; what do you do, what is your area like, do you have family, do you know anyone here or might you know so and so from this or that country? It's not easy to wrap up a life like Bill had and the impact his life had on others, in a couple paragraphs, but those of us that had contact with this man, have been touched by a special person, one unlike many that we will come across in life.

K7PAP, Jack Paplow

John "Jack" Paplow, K7PAP, passed away peacefully on September 3, 2012 in his home in Flagstaff. Jack was originally born in Minnesota and grew up in San Diego. He was married to Tulla for 49 years.  He liked to hunt, fish, woodwork, and ham.  He served as the Vice President of NADXA, and operated Field Day and Route 66  with the club. 

N7VF, Norm Vandiver

One of our exceptional NADXA members, Norman Vandiver (N7VF) became a Silent Key on April 30th, 2021.

Norman was such a great person to know, and contributed so much to our club! His operating ethics were the best and he built up quite a following with his annual partiipation as W6T (Rover 2) during Route 66 on The Air and during the NPOTA event when he set up at Montezuma Castle National Monument (operating from inside the the cab of his truck) almost every day during the year long event. He made 1000's of contacts then and thousands more contesting.

It was common for him to work well over 500 QSOs during the many, many weekend contests he entered as a NADXA member. He earned his DXCC years ago and also earned the club's Million Point award where you have to have a total of million contest points total earned during one calendar contest year.

We can not say enough good things about Norman and will miss him tremendously! Rest in peace old friend.