Dick Knadle, K2RIW, SK

[KD1SH]

  Just heard of his passing on this morning's AM Carrier net. I don't know if he was ever involved in AM, but this is yet another huge loss to the amateur world. I never had the pleasure of meeting him or even working him on the air, but I've got a couple of his amplifier designs over here.  A true radio genius and luminary, like other famous SK's such as Steve Powlishen, K1FO, and Bill Orr, W6SAI.
  People such as these have always kept me humble, not just because they're smarter than me, but because they contribute so much through a deep passion for educating and illuminating the rest of us, whereas people like me just plod along, doing our thing and enjoying life, but contributing little in the grand scheme of things and ultimately passing largely unnoticed.
 

[Tom WA3KLR]

That call did seem familiar to me and I was thinking of someone I thought was active with the VHF Packrats and their hamfests of past, so I went to QRZ for a biography and indeed he was active on the VHF/UHF/microwave bands so I believe I am thinking of the correct person.  Unfortunately  I did not know him personally but may have seen him at the hamfest or one of the Packrats technical conventions.  Yes Bill, he had quite a lot of accomplishments!

Here is his biography I pulled from QRZ :

"K2RIW operates on 10.368 GHz with 200 milliwatts to a 2 foot dish at the 105' level of a Rohn-55 tower. 1 watt or higher power is in process. Dick used to do roving with N2LIV(sk). He has 10 states on that band (from home) with a best DX of 380 miles, SSB. He tries to act like a technical maven for "The 10-X Group", a Long Island based microwave group with 13 active members that had Bruce, N2LIV as the president. Other members are: NY2US, WB2GLW, K2JJ, N2NKJ, N2OBH, N1RDK, WA2SAY, K1UHF, N2UZM, K2VCV, KK4YY, KB2SNW.

K2RIW has been the moderator for 33 years of "The Technical Net" on 146.85 MHz, the LIMARC Repeater in New York City. The founders of The Technical Net are W2KPQ(sk) and N2FDJ. The net meets at 8 pm local on Sundays.

Dick does a small amount of 2 meter and 432 SSB QSOing. During the 10 GHz Contest (third week end of August and September) you will hear activity on 144.260 +/- 10 or 20 kHz, SSB, which is the "talk-back" frequency used on the East Coast for setting up 10 GHz QSO's.

K2RIW designed "A Stripline Kilowatt Amplifier for 432 MHz" (QST April/May 1972), "A 12 Foot Stressed Parabolic Dish Antenna" (QST August 1972), "Antenna Ratiometry an Outdoor Range Improvement Technique" (QST February 1976), the "Dual Band Stripline Amplifier/Tripler for 144 and 432 MHz" (Ham Radio, February 1970), Apollo reception: "Houston this is Apollo" (QST June 1972), and the "19 Element Insulated Yagi for 432 MHz" (unpublished) that was used in a 304 element array of 16 Yagis with a "zoom control" of gain and pattern from 16 to 29 dB and 24 to 5.5 degrees in three steps. That antenna provided 480 mile 432 MHz SSB QSO's with K4CAW for 4 years.

Presently K2RIW is developing a 10 GHz Articulated Periscope Antenna System that uses Beam Wave Guide as the low loss transmission line. This antenna will have the capability for long range Troposhheric propagation as well a hemispheric coverage during EME and Radio Astronomy operations.

73 es Good VHF/UHF/SHF/EHF DX, Dick, K2RIW, FN30HT84EE23."

[KD1SH]

  Yes indeed, that's the guy.  Very well known - famous even - among the VHF/UHF weak signal crowd.  I've got the 432 MHZ and 144 MHZ versions of his stripline amp; the ones manufactured by Fred, W2GN (also SK, I believe), under his "Arcos" name.  I always wanted to listen in on his tech-net, but I've never been able to copy the LIMARC repeater all that well.

[Opcom]

That microwave stuff is always like magic to me.