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George Politzi K2ZZ SK Age 65 Mr Radio Oasis

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by K2HAT, Sep 22, 2017.

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KA1VT XML Subscriber QRZ Page

Total shock! I was just talking to George at Boxboro he was looking forward to playing around with a new flex purchase. Being an avid flea market follower and organizer of our local SARA Spring Fleamarket I get to know many presenters. George was one of the best and fairest! He has helped out many newbies that I brought over to him, because I knew he'd never steer anyone one just for a buck! Sad to find out our loss in the amateur community! George was a good friend and the most wonderful person as you can find on this earth - known him for many years. K2ZZ sk REST IN PEACE BROTHER! See you down the RF road - 73 Chet KA1VT (AKA - KA1ILH)

KA1VT, Sep 28, 2017

#16

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AD4ZU Ham Member QRZ Page

George was very helpful to me when I was first licensed in Ridgefield, CT. God rest, George.

AD4ZU, Sep 28, 2017

#17

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G0ELZ Ham Member QRZ Page

Met George a couple of times on my visit to the USA in 2008.

Very nice guy indeed.

Its always hard to say goodbye to a fellow ham and even harder to say goodbye to old friends from long ago.

RIP George.

G0ELZ, Sep 28, 2017

#18

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M0NTC Ham Member QRZ Page

R.I.P. George ,, working all the DXCC was some achievement
thinking of all the family
Gez M0NTC

M0NTC, Sep 28, 2017

#19

K2HAT likes this.
W4KMH Ham Member QRZ Page

W1QJ said: ↑

I met George way back in 1967. At the time we were both just barely 13 years old. Our very first meeting on a very brief basis was at a Boy Scout Camporee. George actually lived in New York State and I lived in Connecticut on the bordering town. Our scout troops were in the same district because we were so close. Anyhow at the Camporee our paths crossed for only a few minutes and just long enough to exchange first names. The encounter was over and off we went on our way. Fast forward about two weeks. One evening I was the 80 meter novice band, my usual "rock bound" frequency of 3727 khz. We used Khz in those days. I was in QSO with another ham around dinner time. My mother called me for dinner and I made my final with the ham I was in QSO with, logged him in, and proceeded to the kitchen for dinner. As I was walking away I could hear my call sign being sent a bit off frequency. Over and over I could hear WN1GSO being sent. Many many times. Then DE WN2YSG. Hmmm, I figured, someone in NY or NJ, I already have those states confirmed. Don't need it. My mother called out LOUIS YOUR DINNER IS GETTING COLD. Once again, a frantic barrage of CW, WN1GSO being sent over and over again. Many times, and then DE WN2YSG. I was at odds, do I answer this call or go to dinner. Another barrage of CW began again. WN2YSG was relentless in his calling. My mother shouts, YOUR DINNER IS COLD. I decide to sit back down and make this QSO with WN2YSG. So I went back to the radio and hit the transmit switch on my converted ARC-5 and called WN2YSG back. Once QSO was established he went on to thank me for coming back to his call and proceeded to say NAME IS GEORGE, QTH IS LEWISBORO,NY. RST 599. I HEARD YOU TELL YOUR LAST CONTACT YOUR NAME WAS LOU IN RIDGEFIELD,CT. ARE YOU IN BOY SCOUT TROOP #49 IN RIDGEFIELD? BK TO U. I wondered, who is this guy? How does he know I am a scout in troop #49, he lives in New York, I don't know any kids from NY. So after the routine WN2YSG DE WN1GSO I proceeded to say, YES GEORGE, I AM LOU FROM RIDGEFIELD ,CT AN I AM INDEED A SCOUT IN TROOP 49. HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT? I DON'T KNOW YOU. BK TO U. George came back and said that he remembered my name and my troop # on my uniform during that brief encounter two weeks ago at the Boy Scout Camporee. He said I was the one standing to the right of "the big guy" in our group. He said I just wanted to know if you were the same LOU in RIDGEFIELD that I met at the Camporee. Well indeed I was.

How cool is this? It just so happened that back in those days a phone call over the state line to Lewisboro was a "local call", George gave me his phone number and I called him on the phone. We talked for a very long time on the phone, we were very truly "kindred spirits". We had made arraignments for that Saturday for George's dad to come and pick me up and I would go to visit George at his QTH just over the line in Lewisboro. That Saturday his dad came to get me and we went to his house for the day. I suppose you can guess what we did for the day? Yeah we "played radios". At the time I only had that 80 meter converted ARC-5 and was stuck on 80 meters. George had a Knight T-60 and he had made a 15 meter vertical out of a piece of 1/2" plumbing pipe. I never was able to get on 15 meters. He showed me his log book where he had worked stations in Europe on 15. I was so impressed I had to do something to try and get on 15 meters. Subsequently I managed to talk one of the older guys in the radio club to loan me his novice transmitter, an Eico 720. When I go that transmitter I was able to now do 15 and 40 meters.

From that day on, George and I had regular Saturday visits to each others house. These visits went on for years, along with just about daily phone calls to go over our daily ham radio contacts and the various bands. George was only 3 weeks younger than me so we both got our drivers license's around the same time. Once those days came we were together just about every day. I can probably say unequivocally that George was probably one my best friends. When George was 18 and a senior in HS he was diagnosed with polytcystic kidneys. This is a hereditary disease of the kidneys that eventually destroys them, leading to death unless you go on routine dialysis or get a kidney transplant. His doctor said you probably have about 10 years and you will be really sick and need dialysis or transplant. About 6 years later George started to get sick and by the 9th year he was so sick he could not get out of bed. He was dying. Doctor said it was time now for dialysis or transplant. George has 3 brothers and a sister and a check was made to see who would be the best matched donor for a kidney. Turns out that his brother Paul was a great match and a kidney transplant was scheduled at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut on Dec 7th circa 1978. Well that is over 38 years ago. Shortly after the kidney transplant George was like a new person, he was healthy again and leading a normal life. Thank God for his brother Paul and medical breakthrough of those days. The ironic thing to this whole story is back in 1990 I was diagnosed with kidney disease. My doctor told me my prognosis was that eventually I would lose my kidney function and I would need dialysis or kidney transplant. Over the next 20 years my health slowly declined, little by little until in 2009 I was sick like George was just before he had his kidney transplant. My day had come, I am facing the same situation as George had. I was lucky, another friend of mine had 5 boys, I am Godfather for the eldest. All his sons always and still do call me "Uncle Louie". I know each one from birth and they grew up with me being their "Uncle Louie". #2 boy Robert who was 25 in 2009 volunteered to donate a kidney to me. Robert had seen me as he was growing up, getting sicker and sicker. One day he said to me, Uncle Lou, you are really sick huh? I said yes Robert I am, and it is time I go on dialysis or have a kidney transplant. There is no other choice. That day he said he would go get checked to see if he could be a donor. Well, I am here to tell you today that he was my donor, and a good one at that. I had the transplant in June of 2009.

You see, there is a very special relationship with George and myself. I really believe God meant for he and I to become friends. Our meeting was so unusual and the slightest turn of events in our lives at the time could have been like two ships passing in the night. Every aspect was perfect. What would have happened if I went straight to the dinner table that day in 1967 when WN2YSG was calling frantically on 80 meters? I don't know? I would hate to think if it had been any other way. George is gone now and I grieve, I grieve terribly, I think back on a 50 year friendship and I reminisce of good times and bad, and in sickness and in health. And now death has parted us, but only in the flesh. George's spirit will never die in me. He will always be there. George held the following call signs during his ham career. WN2YSG, WB2THN, KC2QF, and finally K2ZZ. He had been issued a 1 call by mistake because the mail for Lewisboro,NY. was routed through New Caanan,CT, and that was part of his address. The FCC made a mistake and issued him a 1 call. He quickly got the changed. I don't recall what that call sign was. Sleep well my friend.
Click to expand...

If you live and die only having one true friend, you are truly blessed.

W4KMH, Sep 28, 2017

#20

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W2RE Ham Member QRZ Page

George ZZ will be missed. RIP OM!

73, Ray W2RE

W2RE, Sep 28, 2017

#21

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K2WO Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

I found some photos of George from the Dayton Hamvention in 2008. Smiling as always! God Bless you George.

George
K2WO

K2WO, Sep 28, 2017

#22

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N9NY XML Subscriber QRZ Page

No other hobby has brotherhood bonds like amateur radio. Hard to describe. May God hold him in peace

N9NY, Sep 30, 2017

#23

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K2HAT Premium Subscriber Volunteer Moderator Volunteer DX Helper QRZ Page

Found a couple photos from a Hamfest a few years ago, March 2014, when George had longer hair.

As most of the time he had a cup of coffee.

K2HAT, Oct 2, 2017

#24

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K2HAT Premium Subscriber Volunteer Moderator Volunteer DX Helper QRZ Page

Here is George at Dayton Hamvention HARA Arena May 2016, with W2BK Glenn Cooper at our shared Flea Market spot.

K2HAT, Oct 2, 2017

#25

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N1GNV Ham Member QRZ Page

He was a good competitor, and a great friend, for many years. We shared a lot of laughs and good times doing the Hamfest "circuit" in the Northeast, including Boxboro just a few weeks ago. 73 and RIP, my friend.
-- de John Bee, N1GNV

N1GNV, Oct 2, 2017

#26

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K2HAT Premium Subscriber Volunteer Moderator Volunteer DX Helper QRZ Page

Today the ARRL Website has an announcement that George K2ZZ is Silent Key.

http://www.arrl.org/news/radio-oasis-proprietor-george-politzi-k2zz-sk

Radio Oasis Proprietor George Politzi, K2ZZ, SK
10/03/2017
Radio Oasis proprietor George Politzi, K2ZZ, of Loudonville, New York, died unexpectedly on September 19. He was 65 and had been a radio amateur for nearly 50 years. Politzi’s was a familiar face among the vendors at various hamfests around the eastern US, marketing his company’s antenna products, and he was a regular QST advertiser. Most recently, he attended the New England Division Convention in Massachusetts.
In 2014, he was among the exhibitors at the ARRL National Centennial Convention, to which he donated some antennas. Politzi especially enjoyed DXing and was on the #1 DXCC Honor Roll.
A memorial funeral mass was held on September 28 in Albany, New York. The family has invited memorial donations to the National kidney Foundation, 30 East 33rd Str, New York, NY 10016 — Thanks to Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and Lee Hatfield Jr, K2HAT

K2HAT, Oct 3, 2017

#27
K1PN Ham Member QRZ Page

George OM, I will miss you...

K1PN, Oct 4, 2017

#28

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AI4HO Ham Member QRZ Page

W1QJ said: ↑

I met George way back in 1967. At the time we were both just barely 13 years old. Our very first meeting on a very brief basis was at a Boy Scout Camporee. George actually lived in New York State and I lived in Connecticut on the bordering town. Our scout troops were in the same district because we were so close. Anyhow at the Camporee our paths crossed for only a few minutes and just long enough to exchange first names. The encounter was over and off we went on our way. Fast forward about two weeks. One evening I was the 80 meter novice band, my usual "rock bound" frequency of 3727 khz. We used Khz in those days. I was in QSO with another ham around dinner time. My mother called me for dinner and I made my final with the ham I was in QSO with, logged him in, and proceeded to the kitchen for dinner. As I was walking away I could hear my call sign being sent a bit off frequency. Over and over I could hear WN1GSO being sent. Many many times. Then DE WN2YSG. Hmmm, I figured, someone in NY or NJ, I already have those states confirmed. Don't need it. My mother called out LOUIS YOUR DINNER IS GETTING COLD. Once again, a frantic barrage of CW, WN1GSO being sent over and over again. Many times, and then DE WN2YSG. I was at odds, do I answer this call or go to dinner. Another barrage of CW began again. WN2YSG was relentless in his calling. My mother shouts, YOUR DINNER IS COLD. I decide to sit back down and make this QSO with WN2YSG. So I went back to the radio and hit the transmit switch on my converted ARC-5 and called WN2YSG back. Once QSO was established he went on to thank me for coming back to his call and proceeded to say NAME IS GEORGE, QTH IS LEWISBORO,NY. RST 599. I HEARD YOU TELL YOUR LAST CONTACT YOUR NAME WAS LOU IN RIDGEFIELD,CT. ARE YOU IN BOY SCOUT TROOP #49 IN RIDGEFIELD? BK TO U. I wondered, who is this guy? How does he know I am a scout in troop #49, he lives in New York, I don't know any kids from NY. So after the routine WN2YSG DE WN1GSO I proceeded to say, YES GEORGE, I AM LOU FROM RIDGEFIELD ,CT AN I AM INDEED A SCOUT IN TROOP 49. HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT? I DON'T KNOW YOU. BK TO U. George came back and said that he remembered my name and my troop # on my uniform during that brief encounter two weeks ago at the Boy Scout Camporee. He said I was the one standing to the right of "the big guy" in our group. He said I just wanted to know if you were the same LOU in RIDGEFIELD that I met at the Camporee. Well indeed I was.

How cool is this? It just so happened that back in those days a phone call over the state line to Lewisboro was a "local call", George gave me his phone number and I called him on the phone. We talked for a very long time on the phone, we were very truly "kindred spirits". We had made arraignments for that Saturday for George's dad to come and pick me up and I would go to visit George at his QTH just over the line in Lewisboro. That Saturday his dad came to get me and we went to his house for the day. I suppose you can guess what we did for the day? Yeah we "played radios". At the time I only had that 80 meter converted ARC-5 and was stuck on 80 meters. George had a Knight T-60 and he had made a 15 meter vertical out of a piece of 1/2" plumbing pipe. I never was able to get on 15 meters. He showed me his log book where he had worked stations in Europe on 15. I was so impressed I had to do something to try and get on 15 meters. Subsequently I managed to talk one of the older guys in the radio club to loan me his novice transmitter, an Eico 720. When I go that transmitter I was able to now do 15 and 40 meters.

From that day on, George and I had regular Saturday visits to each others house. These visits went on for years, along with just about daily phone calls to go over our daily ham radio contacts and the various bands. George was only 3 weeks younger than me so we both got our drivers license's around the same time. Once those days came we were together just about every day. I can probably say unequivocally that George was probably one my best friends. When George was 18 and a senior in HS he was diagnosed with polytcystic kidneys. This is a hereditary disease of the kidneys that eventually destroys them, leading to death unless you go on routine dialysis or get a kidney transplant. His doctor said you probably have about 10 years and you will be really sick and need dialysis or transplant. About 6 years later George started to get sick and by the 9th year he was so sick he could not get out of bed. He was dying. Doctor said it was time now for dialysis or transplant. George has 3 brothers and a sister and a check was made to see who would be the best matched donor for a kidney. Turns out that his brother Paul was a great match and a kidney transplant was scheduled at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut on Dec 7th circa 1978. Well that is over 38 years ago. Shortly after the kidney transplant George was like a new person, he was healthy again and leading a normal life. Thank God for his brother Paul and medical breakthrough of those days. The ironic thing to this whole story is back in 1990 I was diagnosed with kidney disease. My doctor told me my prognosis was that eventually I would lose my kidney function and I would need dialysis or kidney transplant. Over the next 20 years my health slowly declined, little by little until in 2009 I was sick like George was just before he had his kidney transplant. My day had come, I am facing the same situation as George had. I was lucky, another friend of mine had 5 boys, I am Godfather for the eldest. All his sons always and still do call me "Uncle Louie". I know each one from birth and they grew up with me being their "Uncle Louie". #2 boy Robert who was 25 in 2009 volunteered to donate a kidney to me. Robert had seen me as he was growing up, getting sicker and sicker. One day he said to me, Uncle Lou, you are really sick huh? I said yes Robert I am, and it is time I go on dialysis or have a kidney transplant. There is no other choice. That day he said he would go get checked to see if he could be a donor. Well, I am here to tell you today that he was my donor, and a good one at that. I had the transplant in June of 2009.

You see, there is a very special relationship with George and myself. I really believe God meant for he and I to become friends. Our meeting was so unusual and the slightest turn of events in our lives at the time could have been like two ships passing in the night. Every aspect was perfect. What would have happened if I went straight to the dinner table that day in 1967 when WN2YSG was calling frantically on 80 meters? I don't know? I would hate to think if it had been any other way. George is gone now and I grieve, I grieve terribly, I think back on a 50 year friendship and I reminisce of good times and bad, and in sickness and in health. And now death has parted us, but only in the flesh. George's spirit will never die in me. He will always be there. George held the following call signs during his ham career. WN2YSG, WB2THN, KC2QF, and finally K2ZZ. He had been issued a 1 call by mistake because the mail for Lewisboro,NY. was routed through New Caanan,CT, and that was part of his address. The FCC made a mistake and issued him a 1 call. He quickly got the changed. I don't recall what that call sign was. Sleep well my friend.
Click to expand...

What a great tribute to your friend, may he rest well. I too have a friend from my Army Days, we have been friends for almost 40 years....wow I just realized doing the math we have been friends for almost 40 years. My friend is a recovering alcoholic, had a quintuple by pass a few years ago, plus other serious health concerns. i haven't been spared either 2 diagnosed pin diseases, that have come about during my career in law enforcement, finally getting really messed up in a prison riot which ultimately led to my subsequent, medical retirement. was born in 57 a great year to be sure, not too much younger than y'all 5 years when your a kid is a lot, after about age 50 it's not. Sorry for your loss, I pray that your new kidney gives you a long and happy life, be well, stay safe, God bless.

AI4HO, Oct 7, 2017

#29
KZ3H Ham Member QRZ Page

Brothers and Sisters take care of yourselves and one and other. Cherish the moments we can QSO.

de KZ3H

KZ3H, Oct 9, 2017

#30

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