Hi Jeff,
I'm a 50 MHz aficionado and recently decided to try 160 meters.
A while back, there was a writeup about Jack in one of the
magazines. The article included some photos of Jack's station,
one of which was of his giant 6-meter quagi - the one he used
to work Turkey on that band. I liked the way Jack hooked things
up! I was impressed and I called him up on the landline. I
wanted to find out more about him and what he did to be as
successful as he was. We had a long enjoyable conversation.
I hoped someday to be able to travel all the way to Nova Scotia
to see Jack's station. Maybe I still will be able to do that.
Jack called and worked me on 160 in January of 2013 - and I
got his QSL card. In addition to the usual QSO data, Jack also
hand wrote:
160m WAZ - 40
160m DXCC+ 333
#1 in Canada #2 in World
What an accomplishment!
Old age is unfriendly to us all, but I hope Jack hangs in there for a lot
longer.
73,
Paul, K7CW / VE7IB
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 11/10/17, k1zm--- via Topband <topband@contesting.com> wrote:
Subject: Topband: VE1ZZ Jack Leahy
To: topband@contesting.com
Date: Friday, November 10, 2017, 1:57 AM
Hi All
A few friends have asked about VE1ZZ
since he has not been on Topband much lately.
I gave him a call yesterday on the
phone and he said he is nearing his 82nd birthday but has
been slowed down by age and other things.
He said he has COPD and cannot get
around very well these days - antenna work in his woods is
no longer possible.
His main AMP is down as is a backup amp
and he hopes to get on a little now and then if he can fix
one or both.
Hi great wife - OPAL - fell down the
cellar stairs not long ago and is slowly recovering at home
after a long hospital stay.
I was saddened to hear these things but
expected something was amiss over there.
Jack has long been the BEACON here in
Canada on the lowbands and his absence has been
missed. He lives about 120 miles to the SE of me here
in CANADA.
He was largely responsible for my
emigrating to Canada in 2000 and creating VY2ZM here on
Prince Edward Island. Jack once told me "Jeff, Cape
Cod is a pretty good location..... but IT IS NOT AS GOOD AS
HERE!! You should come up here and see for yourself."
..And boy was he ever right!
BTW - I noted Opal his wife.
We ALL might wish for a wife like
Opal.
When I first met her in 2002, we talked
about HAM RADIO and Dx'ing and about how much Jack has been
a fixture on the lowbands since the mid 1950's.
What she said I will never forget - as
it was memorable:
She said:
"JEFF - WHEN I MARRIED JACK, I KNEW HOW
MUCH HE LOVED DX'ING AND HAM RADIO AND I REALIZED THAT THE
***BIGGEST*** MISTAKE I COULD EVER MAKE WOULD BE TO HAVE
TRIED TO GET BETWEEN HIM AND HIS LOVE FOR RADIO!!
IT IS A BIG PART OF OUR
LIVES!!!"
Anyway, I thought I might pass on what
I knew - sure hope to hear Jack on now and then again soon.
73 JEFF VY2ZM
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