Pat, old buddy. Rest in peace. I never found a sx88 either. I stopped using QRZ shortly after Pat did. Wasn't the same. At least I got his special event qsl card, I will treat as gold.
A true amateur radio enthusiast & eccentric. Pat was my guide as he showed me around his “museum” back in 2015 or so. Pat was ONE country/entity away from Honor Roll when he moved into the assisted living facility a number of years ago……….God now has a 1st class electronic technician to repair all of heaven’s boat anchors. Tom KHO/ KCOW
Pat was an interesting and entertaining guy. RIP OM. Having said that I hope, for the family's sake, that over the past 5 years of his incapacitation and inactivity some reputable and knowledgeable person has assisted with selling his substantial collection of ham gear---or someone will step up now to do that
So sorry to hear this; I always looked for his posts on the ZED and even after he quit posting, we sometimes exchanged message via Facebook. He was a neat guy and someone I'd really have loved to sit down and have a cup of coffee with.
That is such sad news. I enjoyed his many and frequent postings when he was active here on the 'Zed. He was an avid dx'er, had an amazing collection at the 'Crest Radio Museum' and was helpful to all. His Dayton trip reports were a fun read. He was a fixture here for many years and will be missed. He's probably up there somewhere running a 'killerwatt' working DX. RIP Pat
I'm sending a Heathkit Twoer. I think Pat already had 24 of them, so this will make 25. He deserves it.
I sure was sorry to learn about the passing of Pat, WA6MHZ. He would get under my skin sometimes, but he was a dedicated ham and a super nice guy. And talk about an institution on the Zed...I think everyone knew who Pat was and many people had stories involving him so it's easy to see that he made a mark. 73 Pat. I hope there are no antenna restrictions in heaven!
I should have posted this under an existing thread dedicated to Pat WA6MHZ. If the powers that be want to relocate it there, that's okay by me.
You can't look at all of the crazy POTA kits that people build and not wonder if Pat was on to something with the "ultimate go box" versions one and two.
I knew all about Pat, of course, from the QRZ stuff. I met him at Dayton one year when our group had a big flea market spot with lots of space, drinks, etc. This was at Hara Arena. I learned that after a 3 day drive from SD, he arrived on Wednesday. The Hamvention didn't start till Friday. So Pat volunteered for Dara all day Thursday, working at the club station I believe. Then he "did his thing" combing the flea market very early Friday morning, pulling a wagon. Within an hour or so the wagon was full and he was finished flea marketing. ("He drove all that way to shop for one hour and he is done," I thought.) Nope, as others have pointed out from this point on, 9 am Friday, he gave all his time in service to others. So that this sinks in let me summarize - Pat drove 2000 miles alone, so that he could buy a trunkload of junk radios to add to his existing collection back home, then he gave of himself for 3 days after that. And then he gave a Sunday presentation on cleaning up old radios. I have another story that Pat is deserving of. The year of the 100th ARRL anniversary he was flying to Hartford. I invited him to come for a visit. It was raining cats and dogs and his flights were delayed going through Washington. He got into CT in the morning 12 hours late, and therefore had missed a night's sleep. But he still drove 5 hours down to my QTH in central NJ. So, I had steaks to cook on the charcoal grill for us and he told me (probably wrote about it on QRZ) that it was the finest steak he had ever eaten. But that's not the story, this is. During our eyeball QSO session I told him I had a minor problem with relays in my Elecraft K3. No big deal, just something I had not gotten around to yet. See Rudy Boy in my avatar up there? Rudy and Pat got along great, but Rudy goes out at 5 am every morning. Tiptoeing out to the back door to let him go.......... there was Pat, standing by the door to the deck. Now remember, it is 2 am California time. "I can't sleep. I'm thinking all night about that defect in the K3. Let's go in the shop and take a look at it." He was dead serious. He would not drive to Hartford till he fixed it. He found a relay had bad contacts. I said, "No problem;I will get one from Elecraft." Sorry, but the story doesn't end there yet. Pat went to Newington, continuing with his helpful activities at ARRL. I got a call from him the next day. He was working with an Elecraft guy there, told him about my relay, and had them send me a new one. It just never ended. He was a one of a kind, 100% ham, 24 hours a day. He was also an outstanding writer. And I won't continue with any more of my Pat stories by telling about my visit to his home in 2013. Anyone who has never seen the real thing missed out on the 8th wonder of the world. His antenna farm on the roof of his house was a sight to behold. In fact his house could be a perfect prop for a Frankenstein movie. The rumors you may have heard about the Twoers is true. When you enter the house by the kitchen the wall is floor to ceiling for 8 feet with nothing but 2 meter transceivers and coiled mic cords and yes there are at least 24 Twoers. Absolutely amazing. I could go on for two more pages. One more factoid you may not be aware of - only one person could be in the shack at a time. There was not enough room. The other person had to stand in the hallway. And one more - the front door of the house was not usable, and by this time you certainly know why. Rick K2XT
I miss Pat. Only met him twice, even though for many years we only lived about 100 miles apart. I do remember telling him to lose some weight and eat a healthier diet...but I'm pretty sure he notched that out with his 80 dB built-in notch filter. I only met his XYL once and we just said hello and good-bye. Small woman, Vietnamese-American I think. His house, if properly maintained, would have been worth a lot of money...pretty big house, up high on a hill with a view. But...it was not maintained and worth maybe 1/2 what it could have been. Pat was not into "home maintenance," but very into "ham rig restoration." He had so many pieces of ham gear (maybe six or eight operational, and 200+ just sitting around) that it was all mind-dazzling. I think the only older ham rig he did not have was an SX-88. But he had every other piece of gear I ever owned from my Novice years until 20-30 years after that. Knight T-60? Check. Heath DX-60A? Check. Hallicrafters SX-28? Hammarlund HQ-170A? Check. Clegg 22'er? Check. Heath Apache? Check. National NC-300? Check. And on and on...literally all of it. I have no idea how much of it worked or were just shelf queens, but he had everything. I miss Pat and hope he's polishing up some old rigs even now.
I love it I remember meeting up with you and Pat during my first trip to Dayton. I was more excited to meet him than Gordon West. Pat was ham radio royalty.
I was just thinking of him the other day. Then after posting in this forum, I decided to look, and unfortunately found this thread. I was fortunate to talk to him on several TURKEY DAY NETS over the years. Was also friends with him on FB. Loved all his posts, and like everyone else will sorely miss him.
