Richard - W3NCC

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Many from the East Coast will remember Richard - W3NCC from Pittsburgh, PA. He usually showed up on the air in the late night/early morning hours on 75 meters.

Found this on the Web at the New York University (NYU) Radio Club Web Site. Looks like Richard was an NYU alumnis and a radio club member.

Richard Roxas (1934-37), W3NCC (ex-W2BOP)  (as told to Dan K2UL via telephone) 

Richard attended NYU at the Heights for three years and was President of the Radio Club in 1934-35.  He left in his senior year to take a job in the advertising film industry with Autovision in Manhattan.  It was an offer he couldn't refuse and never regretted.  He later moved to Pittsburgh in 1942 to work with Westinghouse Broadcasting on film production and hob-nobbed with various Hollywood stars.  Officially retired, he still does consulting jobs for the advertising film industry today at age 90.  [10-12-07]

Richard was also very interested in AM (amplitude modulation) on amateur radio.  In 1994, WB3HUZ made a tape of a QSO with W3NCC.  You can listen to it as a WAV file.

I've attached the WAV file below. I don't even remember making that recording, let alone know how it made it to the Web. Interesting none the less.

So, Richard was still alive as of two years ago. Wonder if he's still QRV.

[K1JJ]

Yep, "Dick" is a classic.  He was always tweaking his audio chain and trying new things. He axed me to make recordings of him quite a few times. That pair of 3-500Z finals was always loud into CT.   I liked his low key, understated way of speaking.

Haven't heard him on in many years now.

T

[WA3VJB]

Thanks for posting this.

I've got a hunch he now is in an assisted-living home, listing Age 92 (1917).

Latest address shows an apartment number, but no phone number.

Previous address that I once sent a DAT aircheck recording to showed a phone number that's now disconnected.

Last time I worked him his station's audio quality had deteriorated, with some hum and distortion that he was very concerned about.  We couldn't talk it through to any sort of improvement, either, and I could tell it was getting to him.

Always a strong signal, and always an excellent QSO about audio techniques. That was one of the reasons I enjoyed "rolling tape" (a term that's becoming quaint) on him and, in those pre-internet days, actually mailing him a recording.