It is a sad day in radio...Today we learned that Lonnie Keller, WA2AOG / W2RR passed from this life. Lonnie was a great guy, a friend and a great ham. He will be missed by all. Details on services to follow.
From Lonnie's QRZ Page...
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| WA2AOG |
After years of short-wave listening and QSL collecting (as WDX2RPJ, courtesy of Popular Electronics) with a Heathkit GR-91 (had about 1/4" of bandspread on any particular band), was first licensed in 1971 at age 15 as WN2AOG using a Globe Scout Deluxe (remember crystals?) and a Knight Kit Star Roamer along with an 80/40 dipole and one of the infamous 15m rotatable dipoles (arm-strong rotor!),fabricated from the ARRL Handbook plan using 2x2's and galvanized water pipe - that sucker must have weighed 20 pounds!
Thought I was in heaven graduating to a Tempo One (Yaesu FT200) transceiver upon upgrading to General in 1972.
Over the years settled on Kenwood as "brand of choice", owning virtually every one of their "top" HF rigs from the original TS520 to a TS950SDX before getting the Yaesu bug again and going through various FT1000-FT2000 setups. Went back to Kenwood to try a TS990 but settled back to Yaesu. Currently using a FTDX5000 with an Alpha 9500 st the W2RR contest QTH (albeit with a Kenwood TS590 & Alpha 87A for backup) at the W2RR contest QTH, along with a tried and true Ten-Tec Omni-VI+ and Titan at the home QTH.
Active DXer - DXCC Honor Roll (current 354/338 - have a "Yuri" card but still need a good P5); #1 Honor Roll 1994; 5BDXCC 1993) and have also always been an avid contester.
Life member of ARRL, a charter member of WNYDXA (W2DXA), co-founder of WNYCC (W2RR - also trustee), member NFR (NF2RS) and will always be a BADXC'er.
My brother is ex-WN2BMW and my late Dad was a WWII electonics and code instructor in the Army Air Corp, hob-nobbing to almost every air base in the USA with fellow Captain Joe Hardy (founder of national chain 84 Lumber) installing radio co-location landing systems and blind landing systems in B-17 bombers. Lots of stories there! He never got the ham bug, but never forgot the code. I remember him coming to my room after listening to me copying code practice and asking "is this what they sent?" Good memories.
Long-suffering wife of 40 years is KB2DFO and she knew what she was getting into right off the bat way back in High School, where my first "new car" was a 1973 Gremlin, some half of whose rear cargo area was consumed by a Penn Central Railroad Bendix VHF rig converted to 2m, complete with the speaker console under the dash.
