Skip to main content
AARS top banner

Silent Keys

The Society regrets to record the passing of the following members.

 

GM3PIP

Peter Park GM3PIP

Peter Park GM3PIP passed away on the 22nd May 2014

Peter will be greatly missed as he had been associated with the Society for many years. He was also involved with other radio clubs in the local area, being a founder member of the Buchan Amateur Radio Club and a member of the Banff and Buchan Club. He had been a member of the Radio Society of Great Britain for 55 years at the time of his death, which included a period from 1963 to 1974 when he was the RSGB area representative. As a keen CW (Morse) enthusiast he passed on his skills through the RSGB Morse practice service (GB2CW) as a volunteer operator on both HF and VHF for many years.

Peter was a life member of the Royal Signals ARS and was very interested in historic ex-military wireless equipment and had a working T1154/R1155 station, which he used on-air from time to time. He also carried out duties as a judge for Miltary Vehicle entries at the annual Fraserburgh Vintage Car Rally.

GM4BKV

Stan Sutherland GM4BKV

Stan Sutherland GM4BKV passed away on the 3rd April 2013 aged 90 years, following a short illness.

Stan was an enthusiastic member of both the Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society and the Grampian Repeater Group and both organisations, together with the wider amateur radio community, will always remember his contribution to the hobby.

GM3HAT

Maurice C Hately GM3HAT

Maurice Hately GM3HAT passed away on the 31st March 2012 aged 84 years.

Maurice was a very popular member of the Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society and was also well known throughout the amateur radio community both in the UK and globally for his work in antenna design. Many will remember seeing reviews of his designs, such as the Cross Field Antenna (CFA) and the Dipole of Delight, which appeared in the technical sections of amateur radio publications in the 1980s.

Photo credit: WACRAL

GM3ZBE

Alex McKenzie Allan GM3ZBE

Alex Allan GM3ZBE passed away at his home on Monday 23 January 2012 aged 69 years, after a long period of poor health.

He was a much respected member of both the Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society and the UK Six Metre Group and members of both organisations will miss his enthusiasm. Between 1988 and 2005, he lived in Coventry, England and operated as G3ZBE before returning to NE Scotland after he retired. Alex was originally licensed as GM8BYG in the late 1960s.

Photo and details courtesy of the UK Six Metre Group

GM3UU

Stuart McNicol GM3UU

Stuart McNicol GM3UU passed away on the 11th August 2005 in his 99th year.

Stuart will be sadly missed by many of our club members. He was an active radio amateur until shortly before he passed away and participated in many of our club activities over a period of half a century. In the February 1998 edition of RadCom, Stuart was listed in the Honour Roll as having been an RSGB member for sixty years. He was very helpful to newcomers to the hobby and always a real gentleman.

During WW2 Stuart had secretly carried out duties as a volunteer interceptor (VI) using his CW skills to listen for German Abwehr communications, which he passed on to the UK security services for evaluation.  In his working life he pursued a legal career, during which he became Procurator Fiscal for the Aberdeen area.

GM3ALZ

Bertie McK Davidson GM3ALZ

Bertie McK Davidson GM3ALZ passed away suddenly on Thursday, 28th January 1999.

Bertie had been a sergeant in the Royal Corps of Signals and after returning to civilian life, was one of the earliest members of the Society. He was elected as President on several occasions during the 1950s and in 1960.  His contributions during this period and in subsequent years were acknowledged in 1968 when he was appointed to the office of Honorary Vice-President.  He will be remembered as well for keeping proceedings in order at our monthly Members' Junk Sales where he acted as the auctioneer for about thirty years.  Bertie was also very enthusiastic about field events and took every opportunity to champion the Society's participation in these.  He presented the Society with the Davidson Cup for Construction, which is awarded periodically by the committee to encourage members to build their own equipment.

The call sign GM3ALZ is still active on the bands. It is now held by Bertie's son-in-law, Fred Gordon.

Picture of a single lilly

Other Silent Keys

If you can supply any further information about these SKs (dates, achievements etc), please get in touch.  They will be added individually to the main SK listings in due course.

Sandy Anderson GM3BCL (passed away in January 2004)

Adam Davidson MM0KZV (passed away in 2015)

Peter Elliott GM3GQH (passed away in 1994)

Bernie Esslemont GM3FRZ (passed away around 1996/97)

Ian Gall GM8BNH (passed away 20 May 2019)

Len Hardie GM2FHH

Dave Lindsay GM4HQF

Ron McLennan GM8BQY

Bill Mitchell GM3FRI (passed away 29 September 2006)

John Rooney GM1TDU

Ramsey Smith GM4RGS (passed away in 2022)

Sandy Smith GM3AEL (passed away in October 1976)

Bill Wilson SWL (passed away in 1995)