N8BD Silent Key

Hello all,

Although he wasn't active in Ham Radio in many years, my father, Bruce Johnston, N8BD, passed away on March 28, 2005. For those who may have known him, he will be missed. He is the reason as to why I am a ham today.

My biggest memory's of his ham experience was going down and taking ALL of nescessary tests in the 70's, from NOVICE to TECH to ADVANCED to EXTRA, and PASSING them all, all in one sitting. Another is the QSL card from Jonestown, postmarked the day before the massacure. He may have been the last friendly outsider to talk to anyone before hand. Lastly was his antenna. A 3 element tri-bander. He lived in the landing path of a local airport. He was told by the FAA that his antenna could not be higher that 50' from the ground. So he built it 49'-11.5". This upset the FAA, and they even came out and did measurements. But he was in the right and they had to live with it.

Bruce Johnston,Jr. W8BAJ