In Remembrance

The Kansas City DX Club will always remember those members who have passed on and become “silent keys”. Friends and fellow lovers of amateur radio, we remember their contributions to the Amateur Radio Service, to their families, and to their communities.

K0ZM Tom Rose

Tom Rose K0ZM
Tom K0ZM

It is with deep regret that we report the passing of Tom RoseK0ZM, on Monday morning, September 8, 2008. Tom passed away while on vacation with his wife, Sandy. Tom, a past president of our club, had been an active member for many years. He was a great DXer and a good friend. We will all miss him very much.

W0AR – Lee Bergren

Lee W0AR
Lee W0AR

Albert L. “Lee” Bergren, 93, Engineer- Businessman & Mentor, passed away May 1, 2009 at St. Joseph Medical Center after a brief illness. The family will receive friends from 10:00-10:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 9100 Mission Rd., Leawood, KS. A memorial service will follow at 10:30 a.m. Private inurnment will be at Forest Hill Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association. Lee was an accomplished electronics engineer, author, designer and advisor with special accomplishments in the field of antenna and radio amplifier design. He was co-founder of Radio Industries of Kansas City. Lee was a graduate of the University of Kansas and worked during World War II as a designer in the tube division of General Electric Company. During the war he returned to Kansas City as Chief Engineer of Aireon Manufacturing later was appointed Chief of research and development for Great Lakes Pipeline Company. Lee was a life-long amateur radio operator and led or participated in many of the first radio-operating expeditions to areas of the world where there was little or no short-wave activity. He encouraged other ham radio operators to develop the practice called “DX-ing,” and was inducted into the National DX Hall of Fame in 2002. Lee developed the multi-element cubical quad antenna and published his results in a seminal article in QST Magazine in 1963. That same year, Radio Industries brought out the “Loudenboomer” amplifier which established a paradigm in the high-frequency amplifier field. Lee was an advisor and mentor to young engineers and radio enthusiasts and was co-founding member of the Kansas City DX Club, the Mid-Continent Chapter 35 of QCWA, and was a Life Member of the American Radio Relay League. Lee married Betty Franks in 1979 who survives of the home. He also leaves behind hundreds of friends, worldwide and a large group of acquaintances in the Kansas City area, many of whom he met every Monday and Thursday for lunch, a tradition he maintained for more than forty years. A deeply committed Christian, Lee was a member of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection and generously supported Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas, a Lutheran organization.

We have all lost a good friend, and the world has lost a fine, fine gentleman.

John Marshall, W0JM

John W0JM

It is with deep regret that we report the passing of our good friend and long-time Kansas City DX Club member Johnny Marshall W0JM, on Sunday evening, September 20, 2009.

Johnny, 96, passed away due to injuries sustained in a fall on his way to a QCWA luncheon with his friends in Kansas City this past summer. He was an extremely active DXer, having first achieved DXCC in 1938. He call is currently listed near the top of the DXCC Honor Roll, having worked 345 countries. He was a member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association, the American Radio Relay League, the Kansas City DX Club, and was a founding member of the Heart of America Radio Club. During World War II he taught Morse code to hundreds of young servicemen, and later he authored several comprehensive QST articles on the topic of antenna matching circuitry. He was a great friend to us all, and we will miss him very much. “Goodbye, please!” to you this time, Johnny.

Tom Hammond, N0SS

Tom Hammond at his desk
Tom N0SS

It is with deep regret that I must report the death of Tom Hammond, N0SS. Tom passed away Thursday evening, August 4, 2011, after a valiant 15-year struggle with several types of cancer. Tom, the first and only Life Member of the Kansas City DX Club, was a good friend and a wonderful human being. He played an invaluable role in our club for more than three decades, creating his world famous CW pileup files each year for our annual CW Pileup Competition at the Dayton Hamvention. His illnesses never deterred him from this labor of love, and he even had the selfless foresight to invite Russ, K0VXU, and me to his home last year so that he could pass that skill on to us “just in case anything happened.”

Tom was a dedicated all-around amateur radio operator, mentoring both those new to the hobby as well as many of us old-timers. He was a vast storehouse of practical electronic knowledge, perhaps most recently exhibited in his passion as a beta tester for Elecraft. But as his website demonstrates, his interest and expertise covered many, many facets of our hobby.

He was also a great family man and an all-around good guy. He always bore his health issues with dignity, grace, optimism and with his great sense of humor – a fine example for all of us.

These few words don’t begin to do justice to you, Tom. 73 and Rest In Peace, old friend.
Bill, K0VBU