The amateur radio community lost four well-known members in May. Hollywood producer Dave Bell, W6AQ, who also produced several amateur radio promotional videos in the 1970s and '80s, passed away on May 14. He was a member of the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame and was Dayton's Ham of the Year in 1984, according to the ARRL Letter. Dave was 84.
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| SATERN founder Maj. Pat McPherson, WW9E, is one of four well-known hams who became Silent Keys in May. (Photo courtesy satern.org) |
Pat McPherson, WW9E, became a Silent Key on May
13 at age 70. A Major in the Salvation Army, Pat founded SATERN – the Salvation
Army Team Emergency Radio Network – in 1988 and served as its coordinator for
more than 25 years, overseeing its growth into an international organization
with several thousand members worldwide.
John Brosnahan, W0UN, passed away on May 4 at age
71 after suffering an apparent stroke. He was best-known as president of Alpha
Power but was also a research physicist who worked for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), according to the ARRL Letter, and was instrumental in designing and building the
High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility in Alaska.
Former Communications
Quarterly columnist, CQ contributor
and educator Pete Kemp, KZ1Z, also became a Silent Key in May. He was 67. Kemp
was a high school teacher directly responsible for licensing over 700 hams and was
very active in the ARRL Field Organization in Connecticut and Florida.
