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Please stand by. Good evening, everyone. This
is HamTalk Live, episode number 73 and a half,
a tribute to dad WB9UKG recorded on Thursday,
July 20th, 2017. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of HamTalk
Live. Tonight, we're taking a little different
turn on things. We're going to suspend our usual
format for the show I'm pre recording this show
Because it's it's an emotional show and so I'm
pre recording this one and Won't be taking calls
and we will be a lot shorter tonight the reason
for the change for Just this week is the same
reason for The other show that was pre -recorded,
and that's the death of a parent. A year ago,
in a few months, my mother, WD9HE, passed away
due to a variety of health issues. One o 'clock
Monday morning, my father, Delbert Rapp, WD9UKG,
became a silent key. For the last three months
he's been battling a fight with leukemia and
things happen pretty quick. Leukemia moves pretty
fast and we thought we had more time together
but we didn't and once he went into hospice it
wasn't even 12 hours later that he passed away
and so Things have been a little crazy around
here. I didn't get a guest together and didn't
feel like a live show was probably the thing
to do this week. So I hope you'll indulge me
in just remembering dad tonight. My dad started
out with Ham Radio in high school. He went to
Mount Vernon Township High School in Mount Vernon,
Illinois. and took vocational electronics there.
And the teacher, Max Pemberton, K4HAX, which
I met and talked to several times on the air,
taught him about electronics and taught him about
ham radio. And dad never did get around to taking
the test to get his license, but he always thought
that was something that he wanted to do at some
point. So after he graduated and worked at the
dime store for a little bit, he took a job with
Thordison Meisner in Mount Carmel, Illinois,
and they manufactured radios. They'd made some
electronic parts and transformers and circuit
boards and those kinds of things. So he worked
in the manufacturing business for a while, and
that's where he met Mom. And they got married
and lived in Allendale, Illinois. for several
years. And then dad saw an opportunity at an
appliance store in Vincennes, Indiana called
Westerns and they needed a repairman and they
needed somebody who did television repair especially
so he went to work for them fixed washers and
dryers and fixed televisions. And they tried
to have kids, and after a few miscarriages, all
of a sudden, I came along. And so dad decided
he probably needed a more stable job to provide
for his family. So he took a job at Good Samaritan
Hospital. They needed a biomedical electronic
technician, so he took a job there. Fixed everything
from heart monitors to telephones to televisions,
of course. Cut keys, made signs, fixed paging
systems, nurse calls, and anything electronic,
he fixed it. And that's where he retired from
29 years later. But as he worked there, he made
some friends, and one of them was... doctor,
his doctor actually, Dr. Jackman. And I gave
him a box of some old electronic stuff that he
was getting rid of and in that box there was
a code oscillator. So one day when I was five
years old dad got the box of stuff out of the
closet and started trying to see if any of it
worked and he started trying out the code oscillator.
And it made beeps. And so I had to know what
was going on. In fact, we had kind of started
getting into the CB craze, which was big back
in the 70s. And so my CB handle was a little
shadow because everywhere dad went, I followed.
Everything that dad did, I had to do. So if dad's
making beeps with this box thing, then that's
what I was going to do. So I had to know about
it. So he showed me how to use a straight key.
And so I just sent in a bunch of dits and does,
you know, and had no idea what I was doing. But
hey, it was fun. I could make noise with it.
It wasn't much later, Dad read in the paper that
there was a non -credit course at Vincennes University.
And if you've listened to the demo, you've probably
heard this story before on this show. There was
a 13 -year -old age limit on the course, but
it was a 13 -week course designed to help you
get your ham radio license and teach the theory
and the code to all the people who attended.
So he signed up for the course. And he went on
the first night, and there was a girl there that
was just a little bit under the age limit, and
it was Carol Smith. And so he said, well, you
know, my five year old son likes to tag along.
Can my five year old son come along and he'll
just sit next to me and he'll be quiet. He won't
disrupt anything. He won't cause any problems.
And they said, well, we're not real sure, you
know, about a five year old, but sure, you know,
we'll give it a try. Bring him along and we'll.
We'll see how it goes. So he brings me along.
And so again, you know, I had to do what dad
did. So he had his notebook and his pen to copy
code. So I had my notebook and my pen and I started
copying code. And a lot of people looked around
and were amazed that a five year old could copy
Morse code. So dad had the faith in me that I
could do it because I already knew my alphabet,
which was a little early for that. So he said,
yeah, I think he can do it. And I did. And in
fact, because they were sure no one would believe
it, they passed around my code test afterwards
and had everybody in the room sign it to witness
that I'd actually passed the Morse code exam.
So then I took my written exam and got my license
and on July 17th 1976 I got my novice license
in the mail and dad was working overtime at the
hospital and I decided that I wasn't going to
wait so I turned on the radio and started looking
around and mom was having a nervous wreck because
she didn't know how to use the radio and there
was her five -year -old just you know, cruising
the band. So I went ahead and made my first contact,
got a hold of K3DIF in the DC area. And he was
a writer for the Associated Press. And so word
got out, come to find out I was the world's youngest
ham radio operator. And I know dad didn't ever
have that in mind. when he took me to the class,
but that's the way it went. And it was because
of his encouragement and his dedication to me
that I accomplished that. And 41 years later,
here I am still doing ham radio and many of my
friends are ham radio operators and have met
some fabulous people in this hobby and service
that we're in. It's been a big, big part of all
of our lives. You know, growing up, a lot of
our vacations were just getting ready for a test
and traveling to Louisville or Indianapolis to
go take a ham test. Those were our vacations.
Dad made the sacrifice to buy me a computer.
He bought me a TRS -80 Model 3, if you remember
those things. because he knew computers were
going to be a big thing and he learned from my
experience with ham radio that I can do that
and I can do those kinds of things and so he
thought it was good that his son learned about
computers and so he bought me a computer to use
and he used it and I used it and I learned how
to program and do things with it and that was
one of my first jobs was computer programming.
was one of the only kids in the school who even
used a computer let alone had one and so I was
well prepared to use them in college and in my
job and know what's going on with it and so his
legacy continues as I'm teaching kids how to
use ham radio how to use computers, how to do
chemistry. Those are things that I learned because
of dad's commitment. He didn't know that that's
the kind of ham that I was going to turn out
to be. But he had faith in his son. And he sacrificed
for his son and made sure that I had learning
opportunities. And yeah, I might fail. But we
can fix those things we can fix the mistakes
he gave me a chance to do it and I can't be more
grateful for that because It helped so much in
school learning science and leading me into chemistry
and thinking about medical school and and you
know, I ended up teaching chemistry, but I've
also always taught ham radio to young people
and we've talked on this show back on previous
episodes about how to recruit kids into ham radio
and set up school clubs back on episode 25 and
so I won't rehash all of that but one of the
big things that we talk about is getting kids
interested in radio. instead of getting them
interested in taking a license test. Once they
get into it, then they want to take the license
test so that they can do it on their own, like
I did, and like many of my students have. I don't
push the test. I push radio. And the ones that
want to go on, they go on. The ones that don't,
at least they know about it. They know what it
is. They know how it's useful. But many of them
have gone on and made it a hobby and a service
for themselves. And so his legacy continues on
through me and through my students, and as they
pass it on to more. So in remembering Dad, I
want to remember his sacrifice, his commitment.
encourage you to be more like dad, to give young
people a chance and let them experience the joys
of ham radio and electronics. This week has been
tough. I was telling my girlfriend Julie that
midnight on Monday that, well, we made it to
July 17th and he can't die today. We've got 24
hours to go. He can't. Do it today because this
is the day that I got my ham license 41 years
ago. It can't be on this day And an hour later
we got the phone call He'd been hospitalized
for about a week we got him into hospice and
12 hours later or actually a little less than
that That was it We had to say 73 much earlier
than we thought, and definitely much, much earlier
than I wanted. I know many of you have similar
stories that your parents were the reason that
you got into ham radio. And we've had some of
those people on the show. We've talked about
the Young Ham of the Year Award with Don Wilbanks
and how that inspires young people to participate
in ham radio. strive to reach new heights. We've
talked to Sam Rose, KC2LRC, and Sterling Coffey
in Zero SSC about youngsters on the air and trying
to get a camp together like they have over in
Europe for young people. We've talked to Michael
Coulter, WHCI, about the Dave Coulter Memorial
DX trips. in memory of his brother who passed
away. We've talked to young hams like Marty Salloway,
KC1CWF, like Schuyler Fennel, KD0, WHB, Bryant
Rascal, KG5HVO, Hannah Veal, W0ANT. We've talked
to people that lead young people like Jim Wilson,
K5ND, and Carol Perry, one of my mentors, WB2MGP.
And so a lot of the shows here on Am Talk Live
have been about young people and that's why.
Because my dad had the faith and the responsibility
to make sure I was educated and had a chance
to make a few mistakes and had a chance to learn
about all of these things that created lifetime
friends that gave me the experience to help students
find ways to give back to the community, to learn
about science, to learn about technology. As
I go over the obituary we've been working on
for the funeral on Saturday, there's a lot of
call signs here. Took the obituary for the story
over on Newsline. I put all the call signs in,
so let me just kind of skim. This for you. So
dad was WB9UKG, mom was WD9HE, survivors include
WB9VPG, his sister Wilma KA9JJX, who by the way
was married to Ed AA9EE, and his sister Violet,
and his stepbrother James Lewis WB9ZBJ. Officiating
the funeral, Ken Wells. It's been a ham radio
family from the time I was five years old. I
can't thank him enough for the insight to let
me do that. 41 years later, I'm doing a show
about ham radio. I'm working with a great bunch
of people over at Amateur Radio Newsline, which
they've been very supportive this week, and I
can't thank them enough. And I'm teaching young
people about ham radio. So tonight's show is
dedicated to Dad. We say 73 to Delbert rap WB9
UKG now a silent key So next week we'll be back
on our usual routine Sam Rose KC to LRC will
be here. They'll be talking about the solar eclipse
Q. So party and We've got a bunch of great guests
coming up. You can see that list ham talk live
comm as those are scheduled in. So I hope you
can join us for those. And that's where we're
going to leave it tonight. So thanks for tuning
in, for listening. Hope I've encouraged you to
help our young people. So this is Neil Rapp,
WB9VPG, saying 7 -3, 7 -5. And as always, may
the good DX be yours.