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https://smallandpietrasfuneralhome.com/book-of-memories/3806876/Koepke-Alan/index.php (https://smallandpietrasfuneralhome.com/book-of-memories/3806876/Koepke-Alan/index.php)

Really will miss him.
Larry

  I grew up in the town where Al lived, and I remember him running around to the local police and fire departments, working on their radio gear, decades before I was a licensed ham.  Then, many years later, as a ham, I'd see him at ham-fests, and speak to him occasionally on various frequencies, but through all that, I never actually had a face-to-face "QSO" with him.  Now I regret that.  He was a regular on our local six-meter AM net, and I always enjoyed listening to him talk about all the rigs he'd owned, worked on, and built.  It may sound like a well worn cliche, but radio wasn't a hobby for Al, it was a way of life.

http://www.amwindow.org/pix/htm/k1jcl/fd971.htm (http://www.amwindow.org/pix/htm/k1jcl/fd971.htm)

Sorry to hear Big Al is gone.

That is bad news.
I drove up to Connecticut back in 2012 to pick up his 4-1000 modded by 3-500z Homebrew AM Rig.
It will be operated with honor as a Legacy Rig for sure.
Sad days.

Big Al - *another*   REAL radio man gone.

Al has helped countless people during his stay on Earth.

He belongs in the "Ham Hall of Fame."

RIP Al.

T

Did Al work for Pioneer Comunications (E.F.Johnson shop) in the 80s?

No, not that I know of, Carl....

I first met him in 1975 at his one and only shop, in his home.  He did commercial 2-way business from there up until about five years ago.  Towards the end, he was doing sophisticated digital systems for the towns. He was an excellent tower man as well. Was a super VHF/UHF enthusiast/contester known by the ham community. There's nothing he couldn't do when it came to electronics, installations, etc.   He enjoyed creating, building and helping others more than anything else.

His very large garage had two floors dedicated to parts, machine shop, etc.  Many times I've stopped by for something to get a rig running.

He's buried in Storrs, CT on the UCONN campus in a beautiful cemetery country setting, on a hill, about 4 miles from his home. As a fitting epitaph, not far from his grave stands a set of large cellular towers as a monument to his life.

T

Tom, do you remember the vintage field day that we did at your place? Al was a part of that. I may have photos of that somewhere. I don't think that you ever used his famous 6M AM repeater. 51.0 output 50.4 input. It was mostly tube components, some of it was mil surplus. He gave me one of the 2 halo style antennas that were on it. That repeater had quite a few users, it was a blast for a long time until somebody complained about it and the FCC shut him down.
Larry

God bless him and his household.

Hi Larry,


Yes, I remember that Field Day like it was yesterday. It was about year 2001 I think?  Craig was there with his station, you had your portable mil CW rig, Al was holding court....   I had just put up the 2el 75M rotary Yagi and Craig was calling CQ on 75M CW with it into EU thruout the night.

Why did the FCC shut down the 6M repeater?  I got on 6M AM direct in the early 00's but don't think I ever did the split..

T

That is a VERY nice homebrew rig.  I know Steve / K4HX was thinking about it years ago.  Al built it in the late 80's. Al built rigs, socked a few Yallos and then went on to the next project. I remember spending a few hours at his QTH setting up the audio chain and running tone tests to proof it out. In the end it was flawless.  Very compact and built like a commercial rig.... broadcash iron.  You might add some NFB and the GFZ audio driver to trick it out.  He was using an 8 ohm audio xfmr and stereo amp as an audio driver.  Other than that, it's good to go!

T

I remember being there and you were doing some audio checks, microphone asymmetry, modulation etc. That was a nice rig-in-a-rack. He built a class E rig too, I don't know what happened to that one. I don't think the repeater was shut down because it was AM. There were a couple of problems if I remember right. It was not in the part of the band allocated for repeaters, and it was not co-ordinated by the local repeater mafia. Remember the pneumatic mast that he mounted on his milcomm trailer? That was cool.
Larry

It was 2000. You can see that mast in the last picture. I have several more pics.

Thanks for the 2000 Field Day pics, Larry.

That's me in the foreground with Big Al in the back, with Eric /N1WRG's girlfriend on the left and Yaz II Springer Spaniel at 12 years old.

T

I remember that well, along with the ART-13 & dynamotor he had in the back. In fact, it was Al who I credit with my fascination of and interest in getting one on the air. It was the late 90s (97 mebbe?) at Rainchester just as it was getting dark outside. I was attending with a little coed from UNH and Al invited us in to see the transmitter in operation. I can still hear the dyno spooling up each time he keyed the mic, and also recall the slow, lazy dance-of-the-dials when he switched channels and the auto tune kicked in. I was hooked, and I recall my GF saying "he certainly was a very polite fellow". Al was one of those guys who was big in stature and could've done a lot of damage if he'd had a bad disposition. Never heard hard a single utterance in anger from him.

IIRC, didn't someone squawk about the repeater being too close to the band edge or something like that? I remember it was off the air a couple times for problems, but thought it was a complaint that caused him to shut it down. No idea, really.

One of the treasured radio possessions in my care if none other than Al's beautiful chrome Utica 650 & VFO. He sent it my way at Hosstraders in Hopkinton, might've been the last time I saw him. Told him it would be well taken care of, to which he replied "I know it will". That meant a lot.

Two of our AM giants - Big Al and Vortex Joe - gone from us too soon.

Great! I wondered what happened to the Utica. Tom that is not Craig in the photo. It is Eric, N1WRG's girlfriend. She is a ham and was on 6 AM for a time. Cant remember her call. I did not see Craig in any of the pictures from that day. There are a couple of your shack in the house and your towers etc.
L