Silent Keys

Alfred Donald Fraser MM0DFZ

Don Fraser MM0DFZ passed away peacefully on Monday, 16th March 2020 aged 83 years.

Don was a valued and respected member of the Society and for several years served as Treasurer, which included acting as the cashier at the monthly junk sales.  He will also be remembered by his previous call sign of 2M0AVL.  In his working life, Don had a varied career and having attended the Aberdeen Wireless College, he qualified as a Radio Officer and went to sea.  Upon returning to 'dry land', he joined Grampian Police eventually becoming a sergeant in Aberdeen city.

Due to Covid restrictions in place at the time, attendance at Don's funeral was limited to close family members only.

Lewis Donaldson GM4AJR

Lewis Donaldson GM4AJR passed away peacefully on Wednesday 30th November 2019 aged 86 years.

Lewis was a well respected member of the Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society for many years and will be very much missed within the Society's membership.  Lewis' funeral service was held at St. Mark's Church, Rosemount on Tuesday, December 10th 2019 at 11am. Donations were received at the church door for Guide Dogs Scotland and the RNLI.

George Burt GM3OXX

George Burt, GM3OXX passed away on Wednesday 20th September 2017.

George was a member of the Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society for many years and was famous for his dedication to QRP. He contacted hundreds of countries all over the world using only one watt output power from his own homemade radio equipment. George also found time to design numerous radio circuits and had most of them published in SPRAT (the journal of the G-QRP Club), including circuits such as the OXO transmitter, the ONER, the FOXX transceiver and many others for us all to enjoy.

George’s Funeral service was held at Warriston Crematorium, Edinburgh at 12:30pm on Friday 6th October 2017.

Photo courtesy of Alan GM3PSP - Lothians Radio Society

Ian Fraser GM8MHU

Ian Fraser GM8MHU (also held MM0CJQ) passed away on Wednesday 2nd August 2017 aged 86 years, following a long illness.

Ian was the longest serving President in the history of the Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society and was very well respected by the membership. He was a long serving local news reader for the RSGB News Service GB2RS and members will remember his wit and patience as auctioneer at the Society's monthly junk sales.

Ian was also heavily involved with the Grampian Repeater Group and a regular participant in the Aberdeen 2m skeds. He will be sorely missed in amateur radio circles and our thoughts and condolences go out to his wife Margaret and his family.

Ian's funeral ceremony took place at Aberdeen Crematorium, Hazlehead (West Chapel) on Wednesday, August 16 2017 at 11.00am.

Norman Albert Hendry GM8CBQ

Norman Albert Hendry GM8CBQ passed away suddenly, but peacefully in the ARI on Friday 7th October 2016 aged 75 years.

Norman was a keen member of both the Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society and the Grampian Repeater Group. A quiet, reserved member of both radio groups he was always busy in the background and was instrumental in assisting many members attain their amateur radio qualifications. Norman had also been a long-time member of RSGB.

Norman's funeral service was held at Aberdeen Crematorium, East Chapel on Tuesday, October 18th 2016 at 10.45am. Donations for the Coronary Care Unit at ARI were received at the chapel exit door.

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.

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. As a retired Physics teacher, Stan was well suited to teaching newcomers and helping them pass the radio amateurs examination,. A task he did on behalf of Aberdeen A R S for many years. He also carried out the role of club treasurer for many years.  

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

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

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.

Whilst at school, at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen, he built his first radio receiver in 1921. As this was before the formation of the British Broadcasting Company, it was some weeks before he heard his first signal - a test transmission from the Eiffel Tower in Paris! 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.