By Fabian Kurz, DJ5CW

On 18^th May 2023, Bernhard “Ben” Büttner, DL6RAI (FOC 2163) died in a tragic tower accident at his contest station in Aruba (P44X) during the preparation of the CQ WPX CW Contest. He was only 59 years old.

Although Ben was a relatively new member of our club, having joined in March 2021, there was hardly an active CW operator, much less a contester who didn’t know Ben. Since obtaining his license in 1980 at the age of 16, he was involved in dozens of contest and DX operations from more or less exotic places all over the world.

Notable activities included the first DXpedition of the now world famous Bavarian Contest Club (which – you guessed it – he co-founded) to Turkoman (UH8EA, now N8OO) in 1991, the record breaking efforts of the BCC team in Morocco as CN8WW in 2000, the BCC DXpedition to Nepal (9N7BCC) in 2004 and of course his regular activities from DQ4W in Germany and his Aruba QTH since 2014. And inbetween that, Ben took part in dozens of smaller operations from nearly every corner of Europe and the world.

Ben was a legendary operator with many awe inspiring contest achievements under his belt, and he could do it all. From the well-equipped contest station DQ4W his team would regularly produce top scores in the major contests; from his humble home station he consistently pulverized his competition in the fierce battle of the annual DARC Xmas Contest and the Field Day crew of DLØLA/p, which he headed, brought home countless victories. While CW was always his favorite mode, he was not shy to touch a microphone or to operate digital modes – mostly RTTY but he was open minded enough to also give FT8 a try.

Despite his high activity on the air, Ben was someone who never hesitated to step up and volunteer for the hobby he loved so much. In the 1990s he was instrumental in the development of the first Linux Packet Cluster software called “CLX”, he was the “network guy” responsible for a smooth multi-multi operation at CN8WW, devoted hundreds of hours into the adjudication of the WAE DX Contest (needless to say, he was also a master at copying QTCs), served on the CQWW Committee, put enormous energy into the documentation and improvement of the WinTest software, headed the Bavarian Contest Club as a president for many years, and he was a central figure in the organization of the WRTC 2014 in Germany. He was posthumously inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame at the 2023 Dayton Hamvention.

With his deep involvement into so many things that must have kept him busy much beyond what most amateurs can ever imagine doing themselves, “stress” seemed to be a foreign concept to Ben. Anyone who ever meet him in person can testify that he always seemed to be relaxed, celebrating “Bayerische Gemütlichkeit” (Bavarian Coziness), with a smile on his lips and always full of enthusiasm and positive energy.

We lost a great fried, a superb operator, a force of nature, much too early and so sudden. He will continue to serve as a role model for many of us, and we will keep his memory and legacy alive. R.I.P. Ben.