When I first started in amateur radio in 2015, I connected with a fellow Navy veteran in Seligman, Arizona by the name of Theodore “Ted” Shelly KF7QPG. I learned tonight that he is a silent key.

He used to rag me about my Baofeng UV-5r that I started with, as most new Technician licensees do. I was happy when he finally gave me a good report on the UV-82. I got my Technician license in October of 2015 after a serious Internet/phone outage occurred in February in northern Arizona. Ted was always there to talk to on the Bill Williams 146.780 repeater. I daresay we hogged the repeater at times because we were both studying to upgrade our licenses. I was working on the General and he the Amateur Extra.

In December of 2015, I rode with him to the Coconino Amateur Radio Club exam in Flagstaff. We both left as Amateur Extras. While he was able to use the “Stroke AG” on HF, I was still relegated to the Technician spectrum because of income. That was okay because I mainly was interested in emergency communications and getting into the Amateur Radio Emergency Service system with the CARC.

Ted and I also became volunteer examiners and had a little competition on how many exams we could do. He was way ahead at one time, but I blame ARRL because they did not give me credit for a couple.

Ted also gave me some of his old equipment, some of which I still use.

He moved to Georgia a couple of years after we met, as I understand it, but I learned today that he passed away on May 20 of this year due to cancer. He was one of my first amateur radio friends and I morn his passing, but he did live a good long life. He had many years as a Ham and I am sure he continued to touch lives as he did mine.