 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|
 Previous: Astronaut Chats with his Son, Texas Youngsters via Ham Radio |  Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
 Sporting his orange Florida Contest Group shirt, Jim White, K4OJ, addresses a contesters' gathering held last spring in conjunction with Hamvention 2003. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 13, 2004--The Amateur Radio contesting community is mourning the death of James A. "Jim" White, K4OJ, (ex-K1ZX and ex-WA1NNC), of Seffner, Florida. The well-known ham radio contesting enthusiast underwent heart valve surgery February 11, but succumbed to liver failure the following day. The J7A operation from Dominica during the ARRL International DX Contest (CW) February 21-22 will be dedicated to White.
"Jim White, K4OJ, was a dear friend and a continual inspiration to contesting," said George Wagner, K5KG, in announcing the planned on-the-air tribute. "OJ, as we affectionately called him. was always positive and ready to help, inspire, learn, tease, quip, pontificate and challenge all of us."
A member of The Florida Contest Group (FCG) which White founded, Wagner, fellow FCG member John Colyard, W4IX, and John Bednar, K3TEJ, will be the J7A operators.
Wagner says FCG members will always remember White as the father of the organization, which he founded a decade ago, serving as its first president. "When you see that sea of orange shirts at Dayton, you will remember OJ," he said, referring to the group's brightly hued signature apparel.
An ARRL Life Member and a Headquarters employee during the 1970s, White was the son of Ellen White, W1YL, and the late Bob White, W1CW, both well-known amateurs and former ARRL staff members. Not surprisingly, Jim White worked in the ARRL Contest Branch. Over the years, he also authored articles for National Contest Journal as well as for QST.
A graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, White's lifetime love of construction with his father led to a career in the wholesale building materials business.
After Bob White died in 2002, Jim White established the R. L. White Memorial Operators' Club to keep his father's W1CW call sign active during various operating events. Always sporting a big signal out of South Florida, Jim White shared a multiop contest station with his mother.
 K4OJ on the air. [Ellen White, W1YL, Photo] |
Ellen White said K4OJ was on the air during the First Class CW Operators' Club Marathon just this past weekend. "His operating abilities were manifest, and he almost always was the first one to volunteer his help, in spite of his declining physical abilities," she said. White noted that her son was extremely proud of having managed the W1AW/4 operation for International Amateur Radio Union HF World Championship from his QTH a few years ago and of the October 2003 CQ World Wide CW Contest multiop that honored his father by using the W1CW call sign.
White once said he was bitten by the contest bug after being enlisted as the Novice op for the Connecticut Wireless Association's Field Day effort. In the years since, his call sign has turned up regularly in the results of various contests--often at or near the top of the pile.
"I love contesting," he said in his call sign listing on QRZ.com. "There is something about the camaraderie, discipline and knowledge contesting demands that fits me; it doesn't fit everyone . . . but it sure fits me."
Wagner said the J7A team has not decided exactly how it will weave "OJ" into its transmissions, "but we will try to come up with something appropriate," he added. The J7A QSL card also will refer to the K4OJ Memorial Operation.
In addition to his mother, White's survivors include his wife Teresa and five stepchildren. Per his wishes, there will be no formal service.
The family invites memorial donations to the Florida Contest Group
White Memorial Fund--now honoring both W1CW and K4OJ--care of Fred Perkins,
K4LQ, 3437 Lake Josephine Dr, Lake Placid, FL 33852.
| Previous: Astronaut Chats with his Son, Texas Youngsters via Ham Radio | Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
