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Author Topic: Astabula Bill (W8VYZ) SK  (Read 87010 times)
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K5UJ
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« on: September 24, 2011, 01:18:10 PM »

Many of you probably saw the email from Dave W6PSS reporting Bill's situation.  For those who didn't, Bill is in hospice at Erie VA hospital.  His XYL reports he may not come home.  She asks for prayers and good thoughts for him.  He is comfortable she says.

 
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Todd, KA1KAQ
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« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2011, 01:41:18 PM »

Here's the actual email Rob is making reverence to, posted to the AMRadio list by Geoff, W5OMR:

From: sylviad
To: W6PSS
Sent: 9/24/2011 10:03:20 A.M. Central Daylight Time Subj: sad news

Dear Dave, it's my sad job to tell you that Ashtabula Bill is not doing well. He entered Hospice care at Erie VA hospital yesterday. I took him in Tues and there was nothing they could do for him . I wanted to bring him home to care for him but they transferred him to the Hospice Unit there til that can be worked out. Will see the Dr Mon and see where we go from here but not sure if we will have the time to move him home. They are taking good care of him there. Thought you could get the word out to the Ham community and ask for prayers and good thoughts for him. He is comfortable the problem is his lungs just not getting enough O2 Luv Sylvia


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« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2011, 01:51:04 PM »

I am very sorry to hear about Astabula Bill, but at the same time I am not surprised to get that report.  I worked him on 40 meter a month or so ago and he did not sound well.  We had a great QSO as always and somehow I felt it would probably be the last time I would talk to him.  I believe I did record the QSO.
Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. 
Bill is a radio legend for sure!

Joe, W3GMS   
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« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2011, 02:38:57 PM »

Sorry to hear about Bill! I must have talked to him on 40 meters more than 50 times and also on 20 meters many times as well. I remember one round table with Doug the well driller up in Canada now a SK in a FB QSO. Bill has a brother John who I have not heard in many years but, I would often get in a round table with the brothers from time to time.

Sad day to hear this but it's waiting for all of us.

He will be missed!

Terry
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Tom WA3KLR
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« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2011, 02:57:52 PM »

I'm sorry to hear this.  Bill was a mainstay on 40 meters AM.

I've QSO'd with one of his younger brothers on 1885 AM many times, John KC8LII.  John told me that there are 5 Dolvin brothers, 3 are hams.  Besides John and Bill, the third is James K4OA of Florida.  I never worked him.
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k4kyv
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« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2011, 04:37:16 PM »

Sorry to hear that.  I have talked to Bill for many years, but never met him in person.  Last time I talked with him was a few months ago, and he didn't sound well, but considering his age and the fact that he had recently undergone a very serious surgery, I thought he was probably doing better than expected.  Most of us can only hope to make it as far as Bill has.

I remember, probably about 10 years ago, a rumour was circulating in the slopbucket community, and I overheard someone make a remark, "you mean Ashtabula Bill hasn't died yet?"  I told Bill about it, and we both got a good chuckle.  From then on, I would occasionally hear him say, "I haven't died yet".

As I recall, Bill is a WWII vet.



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Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

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flintstone mop
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« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2011, 05:27:00 PM »

IF the hospice is any good they will help Bill through his journey.

I had to deal with my parents and the hospice thing. I was surprised on their timing of events.

Fred..........I worked Bill many times on 40M.
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Fred KC4MOP
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« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2011, 05:31:27 PM »

I talked with his wife on the phone yesterday.  While she said she didnt think Bill would be coming home again, she sounded at peace and happy with the level of care Bill was receiving and the fact that Bill was comfortable.
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Ed/KB1HYS
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« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2011, 05:46:33 PM »

So sad to hear this. Only worked him one time on 40 meters.


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« Reply #9 on: September 24, 2011, 07:06:02 PM »

Ed, like you I only got to work him once on 40 meters and once on 20 meters.  I knew him by reputation from this site.  It was an honor to work him and we should be grateful we had the opportunity.  I had only worked Derb once and feel the same.
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« Reply #10 on: September 24, 2011, 08:55:26 PM »

"ain't no slopbuckets gonna get" Bill.
-my thoughts and prayers now ranging through the aether his way.
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« Reply #11 on: September 24, 2011, 09:59:09 PM »


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« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2011, 10:19:26 PM »

One of the Legends of AM.
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« Reply #13 on: September 25, 2011, 12:28:15 AM »

Very sad, indeed! ! !
I have many fond memories of our late night (wee hours) QSOs. I can still hear him saying: "Just came down from 20 meters, we had a big group up there"  He would hang out with me and Gary (AA3WH) for a while and slide down the band and rag chew with his brother John.

What a charactor! !  Truely a gentleman and one who will be missed. One of the true legends of the AM community! !
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Jeff W9GY
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« Reply #14 on: September 25, 2011, 07:21:25 AM »

Bill is in my thoughts and prayers.
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Jeff  W9GY Calumet, Michigan
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« Reply #15 on: September 25, 2011, 07:24:34 AM »

Very sad, indeed! ! !
I have many fond memories of our late night (wee hours) QSOs. I can still hear him saying: "Just came down from 20 meters, we had a big group up there"  He would hang out with me and Gary (AA3WH) for a while and slide down the band and rag chew with his brother John.

Same deal on 40, as many here can testify.

He would be the ringleader of a bunch of stations concentrated in the western Penna.& Ohio area on 40m daytime.  When I was working a night shift it was great to come home and hear this large group in there, with him being head-and-shoulders above most of them for signal (and talk time).

I was in his area, just west of him at Mentor, seeing somebody about 20 years ago, and had called him a couple times trying to meet up at his place or maybe Headlands State Park on Lake Erie, but it just didn't happen.  My loss, for sure.
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Tom WA3KLR
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« Reply #16 on: September 25, 2011, 08:32:58 AM »

I looked through my AM'ers photo folder and came up with a couple W8VYZ photos. 

One is a real nice photo of him in his shack.

The other photo shows off the W8VYZ t-shirt.  Bill always put out a big signal.


* 99_dayton_w8vyz.jpg (159.26 KB, 886x605 - viewed 1864 times.)

* w8vyzshirt[1].JPG (212.05 KB, 534x592 - viewed 1771 times.)
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73 de Tom WA3KLR  AMI # 77   Amplitude Modulation - a force Now and for the Future!
N2udf
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« Reply #17 on: September 25, 2011, 08:56:02 AM »

Bill was an electrician in his younger years ,as I was so we gotalong well.Godspeed Bill......Lee
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« Reply #18 on: September 25, 2011, 12:38:16 PM »

His shack is something to be admired.
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« Reply #19 on: September 25, 2011, 06:44:06 PM »



There is a 19 minute 1988 movie about Bill at his QTH taken by Rick K8MLV (SK) and Dave WSPSS . Shows Bill back then (he was old then), his XYL, and the dungeon of a ham shack. Worth the trip:

At AMFOREVER, members only though..

Portal » Board index ‹ MEDIA FORUM ‹ VIDEO ‹ AMATEUR COLLECTION < W8VYZ - A Visit To (1988)

Jim
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K5UJ
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« Reply #20 on: September 25, 2011, 11:26:26 PM »

His shack is something to be admired.

Indeed, and it looks like he operated a BC348.  I had one years ago during my loose affilation with Army MARS but I didn't know enough at the time as to how to put it to good use.  Shacks like Bill's are to me the most interesting and look like real radio.  These tidy shacks with little black boxes and hardly a wire in sight or the peculiar mania for console panel cutouts making only front panels visible--booooring.

Another thing if the photo Tom put up is anything to go by, it seems Bill did not get hung up on how his gear looked.  I can identify with that.

I only worked Bill once and briefly but my thoughts and prayers are with him.
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« Reply #21 on: September 26, 2011, 08:09:19 AM »

Bill loved his BC-348 and his "Outboard Slicer"

He will be severely missed when the time comes.
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« Reply #22 on: September 26, 2011, 08:46:46 AM »



There is a 19 minute 1988 movie about Bill at his QTH taken by Rick K8MLV (SK) and Dave WSPSS . Shows Bill back then (he was old then), his XYL, and the dungeon of a ham shack.
Jim
WD5JKO

Jim I was wondering if that's his XYL in the movie modeling the T-shirt ...

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WD5JKO
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« Reply #23 on: September 26, 2011, 10:59:06 AM »

Jim I was wondering if that's his XYL in the movie modeling the T-shirt ...

  Paul, I don't think so, but maybe Bill's secret to longevity is in marrying a younger women. So your a member over there..watch the move, and you decide!

Jim
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k4kyv
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« Reply #24 on: September 26, 2011, 11:54:43 AM »

Loved the video, and successfully downloaded a copy. An AM classic if ever there was one. That's the first and only picture of Rick, K8MLV (SK) I have seen. I talked with Rick on the air many, many times but, as with Bill, I never met him in person either. His death was tragic, but that's a whole other story. Dave is still on the air, now from Kansas City, close enough that I can usually hear him on 75 without any problem.

After Rick left 8-land, his signal was piss weak whenever I worked him from my station in Houston or from here, but he always said he would get the Johnson KW on the air "in the near future".  That near future never came. I understand he lived in a tiny mobile home in a trailer park and had limited antenna space, RFI issues, etc, which may explain why he never got round to firing up the KW.

Rick was famous for his "I hate slopbuckets" tee-shirts.  I still have mine. I recall Bill telling me once of his plan to attend a hamfest somewhere in northern Ohio, wearing that tee-shirt under his jacket, and "flashing" certain people with it at the hamfest.  Grin
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Don, K4KYV                                       AMI#5
Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM...    Never got off AM in the first place.

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