Irb is not doing well...

[kc2ifr]

Irb has prostate cancer and apparently it is untreatable. He also has complications of anemia. Friends are now caring for him.
I know some of us have had differences with Irb in the past......but I wish this man all the best.

[W1RKW]

Irb W2VJZ is a 75m icon.  This is not happy news. I wondered why I haven't heard him.  Hopefully he's in good care and we hear him on the air again.

[W1UJR]

Irb has prostate cancer and apparently it is untreatable. He also has complications of anemia. Friends are now caring for him.
I know some of us have had differences with Irb in the past......but I wish this man all the best.

Bill, I am so very sorry to hear that.

Irb, as you gracefully pointed out, has not always been an easy person to deal with, but I have always found him a man of integrity and conviction, who cared deeply about his country, and was most troubled by that path he saw it taking. He remains a true Patriot and Christian in my book.

Yes, he added a definite favor to the air, with his wind-chimes, "God Bless Mel Gibson" and "Jesus and Jefferson" CQs.
And I think, there is a little bit of Irb in all of us who chose to operate AM.

Funny you should post this, for he has been on my mind for the last few weeks, now I know why.
I recall my last QSO with Irb, perhaps in September of this year.
He told me he was not feeling well, and had been missing his morning sked.
The thought occurred to me that this might indeed be my last QSO with the man, and thankfully I was able to record a good part of it, now glad that I did.

In any case, I am sure that even those who had the greatest differences with Irb wish him nothing but the best, thanks for sharing with the group.

73 Bruce W1UJR

[WBear2GCR]

I don't know if anyone who actually does or can communicate directly with Irb will read this - I hope so - while it is not my personal business what he does or does not do, I sincerely hope that he has taken appropriate legal steps to get his land (and all that is on it) into appropriate hands if and when that time comes.

Besides the obvious passing it to relatives who may or may not appreciate his homestead as being of real historical value, there is the option of a Trust or Land Trust...

Perhaps someone who is skilled in these matters or who knows Irb personally might convey this to him, in the event that he has not already taken such steps??

        _-_-WBear2GCR

[W2VW]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17467583&BRD=1918&PAG=461&dept_id=506414&rfi=

[Carl WA1KPD]

Thank you for and interesting article about an independent individual.
He is part of the diversity that makes up this hobby. If someone is in touch with him he should know that there are hams thinking of him on the AMBB

[n3lrx]

OK, (not so) Fine.

All kidding aside I'm sorry to hear about Irb, Although I don't agree with allot of his rants I mst admit as other have said Irb is an Icon on AM. I've never met Irb but I must admit he is one of the radio legends I'd like to meet.

I certainly do hope that he's got his kinfolk or a benefactor of his choice set up as mentioned, He's fought hard to keep his farm I'd hate to see it go to the Soviet of New Jersey.

Well, that changes the tune stuck in my head.. For the past few day's I've had Meat Loaf - Paradise by The Dashboard Lights, and the opening piano riff playing over and over, now I can hear Irb whistling while he vacuums the shack!

If anyone does communicate with him directly or by a third party please give him my best wishes.

I'll be listening on the outside speaker..

[Herb K2VH]

I have printed out the piece from The Bernardsville News, supplied above on the link from W2VW.  It is very interesting, and worth printing and saving.

I talked regularly with Irb for about 20 years, until about ten years ago, when he finally offended me to the point where I would no longer associate with him.  I nonetheless find no joy in this news, and can only hope for good things for him. 

In German he would be called an Unikum--roughly translated a unique person.  He is indeed an Unikum.  God bless him during this holiday season and through this ordeal.

K2VHerb

[Tom WA3KLR]

Below is my photo of Irb operating on 75 AM when I visited him March 18 of this year.  This was the last time he was on the air as far as I know.  He had been off of the air for a while at that point and when I visited him I goaded him to get on.

In front of him is a rack with the famous DX-100 with Apache below, and the ultra-famous Hallicrafters S20R Sky Champion receiver above the DX-100.  There is another S20R above the hot on-line one.  The receive audio quality was very good.

Whiie I was there, yes, I was able to avail to listening on the outdoor speaker!

At the very upper left edge of the photo is a tear-drop shaped dark maroon piece which is at the bottom of the string from the famous wind chimes.  At the very left top edge of the photo is the bottom of one of the wind chime tubes, in-line with the window frame.

[W1UJR]

A lasting legacy of the man, and his beliefs can be viewed at http://libertycornerfilm.com/images/liberty_corner.mov

I think anyone would be hard pressed to disagree with Irb's views after viewing the film.
His kindness and concern is so apparent when he is interacting with the children, many of us did not see this side of Irb on the air.

God Bless Irb, and let's hope that the "Sons of Liberty" farm does not fall into the hands of evil developers or the "black robed gangsters".

-Bruce

[n3lrx]

I read the article as well, until now I had no idea that Irb was such an icon in his community as well as in ours. I'm quite impressed seems like allot of townsfolk really respect Irb.

Irb is indeed very unique and a man steadfast on his beliefs which anyone can and should appreciate.

[Ed KB1HVS]

This is sad news to hear about Irb.  The QSOs I have had with him were enjoyable ....but. Thats how he is and you take him as he is.  Independent to the end one has to respect that. May God bless him and comfort him. 

[John Holotko]

I met Irb twice up at his Adirondack home. It's a beautiful place he has up there, set in the Adirondack wilderness and surrounded by forests and  sort of on a mountain where you can see well offf into the distance with a picturesque view from the rear yard behind the house. (at  least that's how I remember it).   Both times that I met Irb he was very friendly, kind, well mannered, polite and in all ways a gentleman. Yeah, some of the stuff he said over the air (particularly after 911) was rather hard to tolerate but, he is a man who is rigidly implanted in his convictions and calls it as he see's it.

[WU2D]

Bill,

All of us have Irb stories. It was 1975, I was 18 and I had my first car, a 1966 Chevy and a big old radio under the dash, a National NCX-3 with a Hustler vertical on the rear bumper. Calling my first CQ on 75M SSB mobile, a big old carrier plops on frequency, and it is Irb. Irb had a BFO apparently. Irb was gentle with me, helping me adjust the radio rather than preaching - he was always there- always listening. I worked him many times in northern NY because he had a camp in the Adirondacks which was not too far from where I grew up. We worked mobile to mobile many times. He had a Gonset setup in the car I think.

Golly: if Irb had been influenced by all of the negative wishes sent his way from the ether, he would have spontaniously combusted years ago! But over the years he kept saying the same thing, I will admit, he got more and more obsessed with his struggle to save the country from just about everything. But he also came up with more interesting and hillarious anecdotes. Who can forget the "kilocycle cops" or "CQ America"?   

he reminded me of Castro preaching to the exiled Cubans in Miami - certainly it will end soon, they thought  - but he seemed to feed on the negatives! Wow, comparing Irb to Castro - that just does not feel right.

I am almost 3 years into remission from leukemia and I know what it means to joke about your own mortality.

I'm also sure that the almighty has a special clear channel frequency reserved for Irb when he gets to heaven, and it is right smack in the middle of the band - so if you don't like the message, you best tune away.   

Mike 

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

I never heard Irb on 75 or even 40 meters back in the late 60s or early 70s.  When I reappeared on the airwaves in the late 80s, he was one of my first on-air contacts.  I quickly learned that some people had issues with him.  Yeah, I could see some reasons for that, but I didn't have a problem with him.

I don't know what he used for an antenna, but he always had a big signal on Long Island.  It was funny how when he made a point and paused, his signal always went through a dramatic fade, as though the ionosphere wanted to underscore what he had said.

I have many bemused memories of 'OK, Fine!' and 'Black-Robed Gangsters' and 'Hanged for Treason' and 'Mafias' and 'Corporate Mafias' and 'Satanic' and Jesus and Jefferson and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and 'Fine Print' and 'Equally Fine Print' and 'Casting Abroad' and 'Liberty Or' and such.  Say what you will, there's nobody like Irb.

[n3lrx]

OK Fine, and trIEd for trEAson. Caps to pseudo simulate the way he'd say it. . I was always amazed at how he could put up with all the crap he got. It seems like the band could be dead quite until Irb got on there and started talking or calling CQ then out of nowhere came the jammers.. 'Irb is Gay', usually in very slow CW but sometimes on slopbucket in voice, or slide tuners trying to jam him with a carrier and the VFO yet Irb kept going usually not giving them a second of fame because it was HIS 15 Minutes! lol

I know I'd be going ballistic! I had allot of fun years back with jammers on the good buddy bands and on 2M CB. In my CB days a pair of line mans pliers and a DF loop were standard equipment in my car.. I didn't care if they were in the middle of dropping a maul or yacking their brains out.. SNIP! Ahhh peace and quite..Dead Air at least until the socially acceptable occupants of the frequency returned to operation.

Oh well, Irb is a saint in his own right for not going off the deep end from all the jammers.. I hate jammers, locally we had an individual (WA3ZMY/SK) who annoyed practically everyone while he held repeaters hostage for hours on end talking about politics and selling code tapes, errr providing them free of charge for a worthy donation. Although I didn't particularly care for the topic of choice I would never stoop so low to jam him although often many did. I don't see any point in it at all.   In fact I often had fun DFing those who did!

[Don, W2DL]

Just some additional information to help understand where Irb has come from. When I first began listening to "ham" radio right after it was permitted following WW II one day I heard this loud, clear signal on 10 meters, it was Irb's father, John I believe. At that time Irb was maybe 14 or so, and his brother, Hammie (John) who I think is two years older were being raised by their father, a single parent - and, incidentally, blind. I can't for the life of me remember Irb's father's call, W2 (of course) something, but no matter (maybe W2GZJ ??). Almost every day I would listen to him, and the straight talk he always produced. If you wonder where Irb got his sense of morality, it was clearly from his father. When I got my own license in 1949 I actually talked with this man, and was impressed - as most any 17 year old kid would have been - to hear Irb's father tell how he, blind, built the house Irb now lives in when the two boys were around 9 and 11 years old. They helped their dad, but since apparently no one ever bothered to tell a blind person he couldn't build a house he went ahead and built it. I think Irb's father's occupation was his involvement in radio repair, and perhaps in running the farm where Irb now resides, I am not completely sure about this. I do know that Irb earned his license first, maybe in 1946 or so, followed probably two years later by his brother Hammie, who was assigned W2WIY. Hammie is a very different person than Irb, but both of them have a solid sense of what is right, no matter what the consequences. Of course, at times what is right for Irb is not necessarily right for everyone else, but at least he has a set of convictions, and isn't afraid to let anyone else know what they are. I very much admired his father, and it is easy to see where Irb gets his values from and why Irb would never consider selling the family homestead, because his blind father built it and by inheritance he became it's keeper.   

[John Holotko]

Just some additional information to help understand where Irb has come from. When I first began listening to "ham" radio right after it was permitted following WW II one day I heard this loud, clear signal on 10 meters, it was Irb's father, John I believe. At that time Irb was maybe 14 or so, and his brother, Hammie (John) who I think is two years older were being raised by their father, a single parent - and, incidentally, blind. I can't for the life of me remember Irb's father's call, W2 (of course) something, but no matter (maybe W2GZJ ??). Almost every day I would listen to him, and the straight talk he always produced. If you wonder where Irb got his sense of morality, it was clearly from his father. When I got my own license in 1949 I actually talked with this man, and was impressed - as most any 17 year old kid would have been - to hear Irb's father tell how he, blind, built the house Irb now lives in when the two boys were around 9 and 11 years old. They helped their dad, but since apparently no one ever bothered to tell a blind person he couldn't build a house he went ahead and built it. I think Irb's father's occupation was his involvement in radio repair, and perhaps in running the farm where Irb now resides, I am not completely sure about this. I do know that Irb earned his license first, maybe in 1946 or so, followed probably two years later by his brother Hammie, who was assigned W2WIY. Hammie is a very different person than Irb, but both of them have a solid sense of what is right, no matter what the consequences. Of course, at times what is right for Irb is not necessarily right for everyone else, but at least he has a set of convictions, and isn't afraid to let anyone else know what they are. I very much admired his father, and it is easy to see where Irb gets his values from and why Irb would never consider selling the family homestead, because his blind father built it and by inheritance he became it's keeper.   

In the early 1990's I remember working Irb's brother Hammie on 2 meters via a  local repeater as he passed  through the area. I remember Hammie sounding very different from Irb as far as opinions on things. I also remember a woman being present with Hammie who was also licensed with her own call. If  my  memory serves me correct she might be as sister to Irb, but I am not sure, perhaps she was a sister  in law. Nonetheless, she was licensed and she knew quite a bit about Irb. Both Hammie and this woman seemed quite different than Irb but nonetheless claimed relation to the Man from Liberty Or...

[Don, W2DL]

The girl with Hammie, W2WIY, in the early 90's  was most likely his daughter, Sharon, N2KGW

[Tom WA3KLR]

Hi Don,

Yes, when you know more of the whole story you begin to understand the man.  Irb’s mother died when he was 3 1/2 years old.  The middle brother Bob, 3 years older than Irb, was killed in World War II November, 1944 when Irb was 16.  “Hammy”, actually John, Jr., who I talked to on air years ago, is 6 years older than Irb.  So there were just the 3 sons as far as I know.  His father was blinded at age 10 due to a fireworks accident.

Irb’s father’s call was originally W3GZJ in NJ, then got W2GZJ when the call districts were realigned, late 1940’s?  

My understanding is that they acquired the abondoned farm in the depression.  The original part of the house existed.  The boys built an addition to the house for the ham shack, under their father’s direction.  The ham shack room was cluttered with additional furniture and Irb’s bike when I visited this past March making it essentially impossible to take photos in there.  I regret not photographing some of the front panels of their home-brew equipment.  Even the racks and panels were home-brew.  It’s a shame the room was not kept in its original conditions, but the gear was probably sitting in their original arrangement I believe.

Irb’s father must have been quite a man.  His father did piano tuning, so he would have worked as a team with one of the sons.  Irb said that his father talked religion and politics on the air.  So, like father, like son.  You can see that Irb worships his earthly father, as well as his Heavenly Father.  Irb’s father died in 1971.

There is a garage/shop building.  They may have built some or all of that.  Irb’s father probably manned the phone line in the house in the t.v. repair business, while Irb worked in the shop and went on calls.  There was a phone line between the house and shop.  The second floor is a giant shop with many tables around the perimeter and one or two tables in the middle.
 
Old t.v.s still sit in the second floor shop.  There was one or two t.v. chasses which must have been an experiment in modeling.  They had turned the chassis on it’s side and had the neck of the CRT pass through a hole in the chassis.   I don’t remember now if this was the same t.v. that had a home-brew wooden cabinet with a wicker speaker grill!  Imagine how the audiophools might go ape over a t.v like this today.  Again, I regret not having taken a photo of this creative venture.

One of Hammy's daughters is a ham, Sharon K2KGW as I recall.

Below are photos of the house with the ham shack addition on the right side, and the garage/shop building.

[The Slab Bacon]

As much as Irb could often be a pain in the ass, and forever spouting his political rhetoric, he was always part of the family of amers. He was so often the "voice in the wilderness" that enabled you to find the "am window" when working on or using some crappy piss-beat receiver. "Oh, there is Irb, so it must be working", how many times have we all said that!

He has done much ( whether we want to admit it or not) to shape the form and function of AM operating. "Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery" How many of us are still using "Irbisms" on the air, like "now, thats quite a message" and "are you on narcotics?" I am quite sure that many of the "Irbisms" will live on long after he is no longer with us. He is much a fixture of the 75m am scene.

Even though I do not agree with many of the things that he has said, and his general political rhetoric. I still wish him a speedy recovery and Godspeed!!

                                                                           the Slab Bacon

 

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

The last time I spoke with Irb was July or August, and I recall him saying something about his dad having built the 'barn' as he called it. Would that be the workshop/garage?

Irb has a lot of pride in that place. I really hope it ends up in good hands, not sold off to developers. Wonder what will become of his place in the Adirondacks? Isn't that where he kept his Johnson KW?

Like most others, I had my moments of being annoyed and rolling my eyes at some of Irb's antics. Partly because he'd be making so much sense, then all at once make some crazy statement that was based only in his opinion and clearly not fact. But in all the years I listened, I never once heard him get angry on the air. Even when someone was trying their best to annoy him, he'd respond very nonchalantly with something like 'oh, really?' or 'are you taking narcotics?'.

My favorite (sometimes used for effect) is 'listening for that little voice in the wilderness'. It still makes me chuckle as I hear it in my head. A close second is his whistling the letter 'K' in Morse when he turns it over.

Thanks for sharing the pictures, Tom. At first glance it seems rather sad, but remembering it all is less so. Irb is no fool, despite what some might want to believe. I think he's had a lot of fun bringing his message to us over the decades. Best of all, he's lived life on his terms and nobody else's. Few of us will ever be able to claim that (despite what we might want to believe).

[Tom WA3KLR]

Hi Todd,

You said "The last time I spoke with Irb was July or August, and I recall him saying something about his dad having built the 'barn' as he called it. Would that be the workshop/garage?"

I didn't know that Irb had been on at all since March because I hadn't heard him.  That's interesting.

I would say that what they call the barn is the garage/shop building as I call it.  It can't house animals or store hay or corn from what I saw, so it's not a barn in my book.  I didn't see the remnants of any barn on the property.  There is an open shed out back where Irb rendered the maple surple.

You usually park your tractor in the barn, and Irb does have a farm tractor parked in the garage.  There is a second set of doors on the back side of the garage and a pick-up truck is parked in that spot.  There is a small shop room on the ground floor at the right end of the building (as seen in the photo).

Below is a photo of the maple surple shed:

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Looking at those pictures is like looking into history. One day, that's all we'll have left to remember our Irb-era by. Sounds like there is a lot of history out there with Irb and ham radio for decades before.

I'll check my logbook tonight, Tom. It might have been June, but it was definitely in that timeframe. Irb was on the air the day Bruce headed back to Maine after coming down to help me with the 75m dipole. And that was the end of April.

One thing I did notice recently, when looking back into the last entries in my logbook before going off the air ten years ago: Irb was one of my final AM contacts. Seems like he was on the air 24/7 back then.

It certainly makes you realize your own mortality. I hate when that happens!

[W1RKW]

I had heard Irb sometime during the summer as well though it was for a brief period.