ad: M2Ant-1

My elmer - james a. Miller (w8ekf)

Discussion in 'Silent Keys / Friends Remembered' started by AA4WA, Jul 28, 2008.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
ad: L-HROutlet
ad: l-rl
ad: abrind-2
ad: Left-3
ad: Left-2
ad: Radclub22-2
ad: L-MFJ
  1. AA4WA

    AA4WA Ham Member QRZ Page

    W8ekf jimmy miller was my elmer. He was a locomotive engeneer for the norfolk southern railway in williamson, wv. He died a number of years ago and i sure miss him.

    When i became interested in amateur radio during high school, my dad told me he works with a ham on the railroad. He set up a meeting with jimmy miller and i was hooked. He had built a seperate room attached to his house and it was such a magical place. There were teletype machines, r-390 and other military receivers and transmitters, many rackmounted. Others were on his operation bench. He had national xcievers, kenwood, johnson 1kw tuner, hallicrafters and many others. He was always homebrewing stuff and had a whole room full of cigar boxes full of parts.

    He gave me a arrl study manual and we went through it and practiced cw. For novice i needed 5 wpm. He was able to give me the test back then and he tricked me. He said ok lets practice cw befor i give you the test and after practice he said "you just passed!" the 25 question test was easy after our many weeks of study.

    A few weeks later i got my ticket in the mail. Wn8rod. Jimmy sold me a hallicrafters sx-100 receiver and he had a homebrew transmitter he had built from a tv set that he game me. It was a 6146 crystal controlled power oscillator. He helped me set it up at my home using a dipole antenna. I had ordered 4 crystals on 40 novice and was ready to go. That was the most exciting moment in my ham radio history.

    After i graduating i went into the navy and my amateur radio background greatly helped me in the electronics field.

    Jimmy told the stories of how he started in ham radio. He actualy started as a pirate in the 30's before he got a real ticket.
    He was at pearl harbor during the attack. He was on a destroyer that was not hit. He told of seeing the japanese pilots in their planes going over.

    He passed away a number of years ago and i sadly miss him.

    Johnny zornes aa4wa
     
  2. KC4UMO

    KC4UMO Ham Member QRZ Page

    Johnny,
    He may have passed away but from what I see here he still lives with in your heart.
    And it is great that after a few years later you still reoconize and miss him.

    I just lost my best friend and Elmer today. So I only begun to know what you may be feeling.

    73
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

ad: chuckmartin