[MAMS] [VHFcontesting] W0PW SK

[The Libbys]

Good morning.

I reacted with deep sadness when I heard of Don Hilliard’s (W0PW/W0EYE) passing. I can’t tell you the number of times he and I had lunch when I was starting in the world of VHF/UHF operating.  His advice and hearing stories of what he and others had done encouraged me to get active and do things people never thought possible!

Don lived on a mountaintop near Boulder, Colorado in an A frame house with towers..many towers.  It was a location we all dream of having.  I used to go up to visit and just dream what it would be like to have a QTH like that.  He would fire up on 2 meters and work Iowa anytime night or day. What a motivation!  His stories of accomplishing the first meteor scatter contacts on 144 and 220 Mhz. When he lived in California, he traveled the midwest operating portable MS back to his friends near LA. Stories of early EME contacts, exploits by W0UN and himself in the Collins tube rig days operating VHF portable at huge distances. Don was always pushing the boundaries!

Don and his wife would just stop by our home in Colorado Springs when our son was a toddler just to say hi.  That meant so much to June and me.  

Don was an organizer.  He helped start the CSVHF Society and single-handedly started Microwave Update.  He  loved bluegrass music and played a good guitar.  Many late nights at the early MUD conferences in Estes Park, Colorado were blue grass jams.

Don helped me get on the microwave bands and encouraged me to do things that had not been done before. Like operating 1.2 Ghz., 3.4 Ghz. and 2.3 Ghz. from the top of Pikes Peak. 

Don loved the Ozarks and would drive from Boulder to southwest Missouri for weekends.  I could never figure out how he could drive all weekend and still work at the NBS labs in Boulder, Colorado. 

I’ll sure miss Don.  He was a gentleman’s ham!  An experimenter. An encourager and a pioneer. Someone should write a book on his ham radio life, it is a story of excitement and challenges.  His good friend Bill McCaa, K0RZ tells “Don Stories” that are very intriguing about the early days of VHF/UHF operating. Perhaps we could lobby Bill to write out the many stories associated with W0EYE/W0PW.

With warm remembrances,

Lauren Libby, W0LD

!
> On Mar 31, 2017, at 3:02 PM, Mark Thompson via VHFcontesting <vhfcontesting at contesting.com> wrote:
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> From: Roger Cox <rgcox2 at gmail.com>
> Date: Friday, March 31, 2017
> Subject: [Mich VHF UHF Society] W0PW SK
> To: MiVUS <MiVUS at mivus.org>
> 
> A pioneer on VHF, UHF, and microwave bands, and the designer of a popular Yagi model, Don Hilliard, W0PW (ex-W0EYE), of Clayton, Oklahoma, died on March 25 following a lengthy period of ill health. An ARRL member, he was 81.
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> “Over the decades, Don made numerous contributions to the hobby and specifically in the VHF, UHF and microwave arena of Amateur Radio,” said Bill Mc Caa, K0RZ. “He was a pioneer in developing the first amateur equipment for the 900 MHz band in 1983 in anticipation of the band becoming available for amateurs. Don was a founding member of the Central States VHF Society in 1967, as well as of the Microwave Update in 1985.” 
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> Hilliard’s Yagi design, based on unpublished work by Peter Biezbicke at the National Bureau of Standards, was legendary in the VHF/UHF community. The antenna was described in “The World Above 50 MHz” (“15-Element Yagi by W0EYE”) in the January 1972 edition of QST. 
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> Hilliard also authored articles for QST and QEX.
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> http://www.arrl.org/news/vhf-uhf-microwave-pioneer-don-hilliard-w0pw-sk
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