By Bob Ackx, PA5V

It is with sadness that we report that our friend Din, PAØDIN, (FOC 1446) passed away on 30^th September 2023 at the age of 86 years.

Din was born on 3^rd April 1937 in Echt (province of Zuid Limburg). At about the age of 14 he started tinkering with radios. At first he made a crystal receiver, later using tubes a 0-V-1, followed by a 1-V-1. The circuit descriptions he found in the radio magazines of those days. With his 1-V-1 he received AM ham stations in the 80 meter band and that certainly did catch his interest.

He wanted to know more about ham radio. A local radio shop, which he often visited, happened to sell copies of the VERON magazine Electron. In 1954 he became member of VERON. When the secretary of the local section of VERON invited him to his shack and Din had seen all his impressive radio equipment, Din was hooked!

Soon he got his VERON SWL call: NL-557 and he began sending copies of his reception logs of amateur AM stations to the VERON traffic manager for publication in Electron. The traffic manager encouraged him to broaden his reception capabilities by learning CW and that is what Din did.

In 1957 he passed the PTT exam for a full radio amateur licence, which included a Morse Code test of 12 wpm and he obtained his official call sign PAØDIN.

From 1962 to 1967 he lived in Switzerland and soon he was active as HB9ADH. After his return to PA he wrote several technical articles for Electron. He was a passionate CW operator, loved to participate in contests and to collect scores of awards. In December 1982 he became member of FOC. He was also member of HSC, AGCW, NTC and DIG and an Honorary Member of VHSC.

He was not just operating on the ham bands. In the early 70’s Din was Secretary and President of the Nijmegen section of VERON and thereafter he was very active for VERON in various functions.

In 1975 Louis, PAØLOU (SK) stepped down as VERON HF Contest Manager and Din took over.

He succeeded the VERON Traffic Manager in 1980 and was appointed member of the VERON main board and in 1983 followed his appointment of 2^nd Vice President.

When in 1981 the initiator and one of the founding fathers of VHSC Leo, PAØLXL who was the Secretary and Treasurer, stepped down Din took over and held that position until his death.

Din held the position of 2^nd Vice President of the VERON main board from 1983 till 2006. He was very active in many committees and working groups both national and international. For his work he was appointed VERON Member of Merit in 2002 and Honorary Member in 2006.

At Din’s well attended cremation ceremony at Nijmegen on 7^th October 2023, Remy PAØAGF, President of VERON characterised Din as follows: “He was a very engaging and amiable person. Din always offered a listening ear and often had valid advice.” and: “he was a fascinating and inspiring person to work with”. Remy recalled and praised Din’s long active involvement in radio amateur affairs, also mentioning his long standing activities for VHSC.

Bob, PA5V, VHSC President, offered condolences to Din’s family and flowers to place near the coffin as a thank you and farewell.

Rest in peace Din, your fb CW sigs will be sorely missed on the bands.