Terrible news. Like Ian, I could always rely on Jack being the first NA station
to call me in a contest. The record being 3 minutes in on one CQWW160.
RIP OM.
73 Chris, G3SVL (currently @ VK9XG- and will be on for SP)
> On 20 Oct 2018, at 00:32, Ian Fugler <zen90387@zen.co.uk> wrote:
>
> That is very sad news, but thank you for a such a personal insight into
> Jack's station and his life, Jeff. I'm sure the tributes to Jack will be
> almost endless, such was his status. His signal was awesome and he was
> nearly always the first station in north America to call me on topband in
> each and every contest, often well before any other NA signals appeared on
> the band. I last worked Jack on 160m in 2014 and I recall the contact to
> this day. It was early evening UK time and I was listening to the east on a
> very directional beverage. It was Jack's signal that alerted me it was time
> to listen to the north west. I switched rx aerials and there were several
> (weak) north American stations calling me. But Jack's was the only signal
> from that direction that I could hear off the back of the east beverage. My
> log tells me that I had dozens of QSOs with him over the years.
>
> RIP, Jack.
>
> 73,
>
> Ian G4IIY
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tree
> Sent: 19 October 2018 18:13
> To: Jeffrey Briggs
> Cc: 160
> Subject: Re: Topband: VE1ZZ has passed on - Very Very Sad news! (Long)
>
> Very sad news. The passing of a legend. I remember hearing "zulu zulu"
> from A73A back in 2012. My only NA on 160 in the CQ WW SSB.
>
> Tree N6TR
>
> On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 10:10 AM k1zm--- via Topband <topband@contesting.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello Gang
>>
>>
>> I am truly saddened to have to pass along the contents of an email I just
>> received from Carl Leahy who was one of Jack Leahy, VE1ZZ's sons.
>>
>>
>> It is short and sweet - but I will add some personal comments after
>> sharing his note to me.
>>
>>
>> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Carl Leahy carl.leahy1@gmail.comHide
>>
>> To
>> k1zm k1zm@aol.com
>>
>>
>>
>> Jeff, our family wanted you to know that dad passed away last evening. If
>> you could let the people in the ham world know we would really appreciate
>> it. It was a very big part of his life . He had just been talking about you
>> and the book you gave him a few years ago..
>>
>>
>> Carl Leahy
>> Signing off for VE1ZZ 😞
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>
>>
>> A few comments from my memory now follow - as best I recall them:
>>
>>
>> VE1ZZ was not only a personal friend to many of us - he was probably one
>> of the finest Topband Dx'ers ever to have lived. He goes back to not long
>> after W1BB came back on the band at the end of WW!! - and was one of the
>> strongest signals I have ever witnessed on Topband. His signal was almost
>> LEGENDARY all over the world. EU stations used to say - "He is almost as
>> loud when he calls in Asian pileups as the EU callers are over here"...and
>> that says it all!
>>
>>
>> Jack Leahy was personally responsible for my migrating to VY2ZM and was
>> here at my home twice - once is 2002 and once in 2012. I last visited him
>> and Opal (his XYL) in August of 2014 with Mike OE6MBG who wanted to meet
>> Jack and see his QTH .
>>
>>
>> When I finally had the time after building my house here on PEI to visit
>> Jack which was probably in July of 2003 or 2004, at first blush his place
>> did not make a huge impression on me because it had only a short triangular
>> portion of land at the road in the Head of Jeddore NE of Halifax - and the
>> land rose rapidly behind his home. One initially wondered "How does he get
>> out so well from here down at the road?"
>>
>>
>> The answer came shortly thereafter - Jack took me out behind the house -
>> and we climbed that hill - up and up and up for something like a MILE - it
>> was a pizza slice in shape and very wide at the top of the hill in the
>> woods - with only about 100 feet (if that) at the road front side of the
>> parcel.
>>
>>
>> Some distance up the hill was Jack's 160m 4sq array - which was made of
>> ROHN 6 tower - that was sitting on 18 wheeler truck tires as base
>> insulators. The towers were not tall - perhaps 55 feet or so and the rest
>> of each radiator was wire - so it was really a WIRE inverted L 4sq. Jack
>> was the "ultimate scavenger" and his radials were all 1-2" diameter pieces
>> of HARDLINE!!! Hundreds of them all over the hillside I think he had a
>> friend in CATV or at his local dump - but he got most of it for next to
>> nothing he said.
>>
>>
>> From that point of his land, he could reach around the HILLTOP on 160m to
>> acquire a clear shot to EU and the South was wide open and to the SW was
>> also clear looking over the water. Looking straight up the hill was
>> probably blocked to some degree - but often this does not matter all that
>> much on Topband.
>>
>>
>> The day I was there was shortly after Jack had managed to communicate
>> across the pond on what I think was 600m - I may be wrong about the
>> frequency - but the antenna he used to make the SLOW SLOW SPEED CW contact
>> was something out of this world!
>>
>>
>> It started about 1/3 of the way up the hill - and ran all the way to the
>> rear of the property to near the furthest reaches of his land - and this
>> was a LONG LONG LONG walk to get there - through some land that I recall
>> was swampy. It had to have been at least 3000 feet long.
>>
>>
>> Part way up the hill, Jack had built a small shelter in which he placed
>> the BIGGEST homebrew loading coil I have ever seen. It was about 4 feet
>> tall and about 8 feet in diameter and wrapped around some kind of coil form
>> he had created.
>>
>>
>> Jack explained that it took him awhile to resonate the system to his
>> desired operating QRG - and this was done by taking a pair of alligator
>> clips and through trial and error he tapped the coil he made - trying to
>> use a DC ammeter to find the point of peak current into the system - which
>> he explained seemed to indicate the system was reasonably matched.
>>
>>
>> His was among the first to work across the pond with that antenna - just
>> one of his many achievements.
>>
>>
>> When I was in the US Navy stationed at Bremerhaven, Germany I used to
>> listen to Jack and W1BB on 160m. W1BB would sit around 1801, KV4FZ often
>> was around 1803 and Jack was down at the low end as well - calling CQ
>> listening QSX up at around 1825-1830 in what was then known as the "DX
>> Window".
>>
>>
>> Jack had a huge signal even then - using equipment that was popular in
>> that era. I recall a Hammarlund HQ 160 Rx or something close to that model
>> - there is a photo of that station from the late 1950's in my book "Dx'ing
>> on the Edge."
>>
>>
>> Jack's More Recent Station - Inside
>>
>>
>> When I first visited Jack in 2003/2004, it was in his old house - not the
>> newer one he built further up the hill some years later. The station was
>> vintage (much like my own on Cape Cod) - and Jack used a TS830 driving a HB
>> amp to something around a KW DC input. Jack's operating table gave me a
>> chuckle because there was only about 4 inches of space between the front
>> panel of the radio and the edge of the table. Jack was a "leftie" and
>> placed his paddle parallel to the front of the TS830 and did his best to
>> keep his forearm on the table while he sent.
>>
>>
>> Jack's keying system triggered a bunch of interconnected relays as he
>> operated and he had quite a number of vintage antenna switches which
>> selected his many Rx antennas.
>>
>>
>> After visiting his shack, Jack later showed me around other parts of the
>> rest of the house - and I recall several rooms CHOCK FULL of stuff most of
>> us would die for. One room was full of EIMAC xmitting tubes - 4-400's,
>> some 304TL's, some 4-1000A's etc
>>
>>
>> Another room had shelves loaded with vacuum relays and vacuum variables he
>> had collected over the years. Not one or two - but something like a 100 of
>> them. There were also rotary inductors for HB design and many other things
>> that made me drool.
>>
>> I think I remember a third room full of vintage ham radio gear as well.
>> Older stuff he had used previously over the years I guess.
>>
>>
>> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>
>>
>> I will relate one story about Jack when I was operating at 7O6T over in
>> Yemen in 2012 I think it was. I was calling CQ arond 1823kHz waiting for
>> SS to occur in NA - and this bone crushing signal came at me that almost
>> blew me out of my chair. You can listen to this clip on my VY2ZM website -
>> and you will see what I mean.
>>
>>
>> I told Jack that I was operating in the snippet - and later asked him to
>> please tell me when OTHER NA stations were calling. I said, please do NOT
>> tell me the calls - just tell me that USA stations are now hearing me and
>> calling me. Jack did as I asked and about 15 mins later a very weak in the
>> noise caller was Dave Patten, NN1N who was probably 3-4 S units down from
>> Jack's signal. Dave's station is first rate - but there is something truly
>> magical about operating from the Maritimes along oceanfront property. It
>> is just how things work - Jack had what I call the "front door" to the NE
>> path and it often shows up as it did that evening at 7O6T.
>>
>>
>> Here's how to listen to what I heard:
>>
>>
>> 1) Go to http://www,vy2zm.com
>> 2) Select the sound bites tab
>> 3) Click on Sound Bite #4 and play VE1ZZ - Booming.
>> 4) If you also wish to hear NN1N's piece look further down the list to
>> hear the difference in signal levels.
>>
>>
>> JACK's last years
>>
>>
>> I last spoke with Jack in the summer of 2016. He told me he then had COPD
>> and that his amp needed repairs and that his antennas were largely broken.
>> I had heard him sparingly in 2015 and probably not at all in 2016 - and
>> that explained why.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> JACK's 160m DXCC Achievements:
>>
>>
>> For many years JACK held the #2 position WORLD in the Topband DXCC
>> rankings. He finished his legendary Topband career at 334 countries
>> confirmed at position #6 in the current rankings. This is only a HANDFUL
>> of entities below that necessary to have qualified for DXCC HONOR ROLL -
>> single band 160M. His mild, unassuming manner was also the measure of the
>> man. He would stop DX'ing and work ANYONE who called him - which says alot
>> as well. His was a special person and I have always admired him and what
>> he managed to do in HAM RADIO.
>>
>>
>> Not only did he make DXCC on 160m - in the summers he got me hooked on 6M
>> and he had a 6M DXCC as well - just to keep himself occupied during the
>> summer doldrums on 160M.
>>
>>
>> I will close now and stop reminiscing about Jack - but I think it is
>> altogether fitting that we stop and pause a moment to remember this fine
>> 160M operator and gentleman and what he achieved on the band we all love to
>> operate. He will always occupy a special place in our memories of Topband!
>>
>>
>> 73 and thanks for the bandwidth.
>>
>>
>> JEFF K1ZM/VY2ZM
>>
>>
>> Email: K1ZM@aol.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jeff Briggs
>> DXing on the Edge: The Thrill of 160 Meters
>> Available worldwide through BookBaby, Array Solutions, DX Engineering,
>> Royal Society of Great Britain, & Amazon
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _________________
>> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
>>
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