By Nigel Hadley, G4BSW

I first worked Dave back in March 2020 and we had many, many long ragchews and occasional informal nets including Will, GMØHKS (2176) and Francis, G4ALD. His morse was absolutely superb and he had a sparkling sense of humour. 

A couple of years ago he sent me an email with his past history: 

Dave joined the Royal Signals in 1953 and ended up as an Intercept Operator. Leaving the military in 1962 he then spent some time in military air controls and worked on the prototype electronics of the “TSR2” TACTICAL STRIKE AND RECONNAISSANCE BOMBER. This project was sadly scrapped and Dave was made redundant. He got himself a job as a welder for a few years, then managed to get a job with the Post Office overseas telegraphs working in London, 1970 to 1979. He then left to finish his boat building project!

Dave built himself a fishing boat Pamelakey in around 1977/78 in the back garden which took about 2-4 years before it was ready to launch. All the engineering conducted by himself with some help from his brother-in-law (SK) including refurbishing a 108 HP diesel plus electrics etc. This had to be craned out of the garden when completed!

Further jobs included a time as Instructor in Radio Comms with local Royal School of Military Engineering. After 16 years there, Dave retired in January 1997 just before his 60^th birthday.

In February this year I travelled up to Gillingham to meet with Dave and his lovely wife Pam, also Francis, G4ALD came along, another from our 40m Ragchewers Net. When I knocked the door, Dave looked out of his window at me and poked his tongue out with a big smile on his face! We had a great afternoon of chat with a couple of glasses of wine and a lovely buffet meal prepared by Pam.

I am really going to miss Dave, his superb CW and that wonderful sense of humour. My prayers go out to his wife Pam and his family.

RIP old friend.

Caption: G3ZYV at his superb station February 2024