[Elecraft] Tom Hammond, N0SS, silent key

[Wayne Burdick]

Elecraft is fortunate to have some of the best customers--and friends-- 
a small company could hope for. And then there was Tom Hammond.

Tom was there nearly from the beginning, in 1999, gently but firmly  
pushing us in the right direction. He helped us test and refine K2 and  
K3 hardware, firmware, and documentation. He wrote or edited many of  
our early application notes. Helped specify parts and tools. Spent  
countless hours volunteering in our booth, demonstrating radios. He  
celebrated our victories, and felt our pain.

Tom was relentlessly positive. He drank the Kool-Aid, but if it was  
sour, he'd spit it out, then smile and tell you how much sugar to add.

Many of us have felt Tom's pain over the past few years. He was always  
a survivor, but by the time Dayton, 2011 rolled around, he was little  
more than a friendly ghost. We knew he was suffering. Now, we're  
counting our blessings that we were able to see him one last time.

About ten years ago, Tom and I drove together to the Ft. Tuthill QRP  
gathering in Flagstaff, Arizona. We were in a small pickup truck  
without air conditioning, and when we left Phoenix, it was a  
blistering 122 degrees in the shade. But we made the best of it,  
rolling the windows down, sailing along the freeway at 75 MPH,  
cracking jokes and powering through bottled water. I never had a  
better road trip.

That's how I'll remember him: taking the heat, in style.

Here's to Tom, N0SS/M, wherever he may be.

73,
Wayne
N6KR