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So What is a Virtual Elmer Page then? When I first put this page on my website back in the late nineties it was purely for my own benefit, but over the following years I was very touched at just how many visitors to the site took the trouble to contact me to tell me about their own 'Elmers', and that they were pleased to see that I had created a virtual memorial to mine. I hope that many other enthusiasts decide to remember their own Elmers in this way, and the Internet provides us with a unique way of allowing us to do this I'm pleased to say. Encouraged by the positive response to this section, I have now re-scanned all of the old photographs, so that they are now presented in far better quality and size than previously, and also added a few new ones to the page. I hope you enjoy seeing them and reading about Ray, my late good friend and 'Elmer'. Ray Trippear - My Elmer: Like many other Dxers I was helped into the hobby by an 'Elmer', someone who is perhaps better known as an 'old timer', or experienced Dxer, the sort of person who takes a raw beginner under their wing and teaches them a great deal about the radio hobby. In my case my own Elmer was called Ray Trippear, and I first got to know him after I had joined the ISWL (International Short Wave League) back in 1974. Ray had seen my name and location mentioned in the list of new members, and since I only lived a few miles from his QTH he decided to get my address from the club, and wrote to me and asked if I would like to come along for a visit to his shack if I wanted to. Being quite young and still fairly new to the hobby (up to that time my main interest had been pirate radio and short wave broadcasting), this was most welcome, and I was only too happy to take up his offer. Ray was the first person I'd ever met who regularly listened in to Amateur Radio, Utility Stations, NDBs, Aircraft and Maritime stations, and meeting him turned out to be a real blessing. During my first visit to his QTH I was given a demonstration of all the various modes, and shown Ray's collection of Amateur and Broadcast QSL cards, and was of course instantly impressed and went home thorougly hooked on this side of the hobby. Ray, being the kind of person he was, immediately offered to loan me his spare receiver - a Trio 9R59D - so that I could continue to listen to the SSB modes when I returned home. This was quite typical of Ray, and though he'd never met me before that day, he was always willing to go out of his way to help a newcomer to the hobby - even one who was a complete stranger. Ray was quite a character, and as well as being a keen radio enthusiast was also a very good artist too (I still have a number of his paintings decorating the walls of my home). Like many of his generation, he had served throughout World War II with the RAF, for which he had always retained a great fondness, and membership of the RAFARS (Royal Air Force Amateur Radio Society). Over the next 24 years we became great friends, and I was always a regular visitor to his shack (shown below), and always enjoyed spending an pleasant afternoon there at Ray's own version of "Mission Control" in Rochdale, where we regularly had fun trying to hear the Marine Beacons and Aircraft on his old AR88LF receiver. |
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I was always given a warm welcome during my visits to Ray's QTH, and we were always well catered for by his lovely wife Elsie, who always made sure that we were well supplied with a nice selection of her home made cakes. I always enjoyed a pleasant chat about the hobby with Ray and his son Philip, also a keen Radio Amateur (who sadly also went silent key in 2005). No one was more delighted than Ray when I eventually passed my Radio Amateur's Exam and received my 'Class B' licence in 1981, and then later passed the Morse Test (he taught me the code when he introduced me to NDB Dxing) and eventually earned my full 'Class A' Amateur callsign of G4TMV in 1983. I'm sure that I'm not the only NDB enthusiast who found that listening to beacons was a great way to learn and improve my morse reading abilities, and judging by the number of beacons enthusiasts with callsigns, I'm certainly not the only one that became thoroughly addicted after spending a few hours listening to them. |
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We always think that people will go on forever, and Ray, who always seemed very fit and healthy and so much younger than his 86 years, could often be found up a ladder, or in the loft experimenting with some new aerial he'd built, or sitting out in the back garden watching the planes fly over and listening to them on his scanner. Sadly though, during Christmas 1996, Elsie, his beloved wife of 56 years, was to die suddenly after suffering a terrible and unexpected accident in the home, and sadly this just took all the heart out of Ray, who was devastated by the loss. He still continued to listen to his radios and occasionally talk to his friends on the 934 MHz CB Band, but the accident had taken all of the heart out of him, and he just seemed to lose interest in life and sadly passed away in January 1998, exactly one year to the day after his wife. Ray's death was a great loss to all his many friends and family, and whilst we all miss him, we'll never forget someone who gave so much to the hobby, and would always go out of his way to offer help to anyone that needed it. Such people are the true spirit of our wonderful radio hobby, and deserve to be honoured in some small way. |
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They say that as long as you remember someone they're not really gone, and I thought a fitting tribute to someone who was such a nice person and great friend, and who ultimately was responsible for my introduction to beacons, and for the creation of the Beaconworld site, would be to devote a little bit of my web space to the memory of this kind, friendly and lovely man, whose company I still miss very much. I think it's very important for our hobby that we remember the people who are prepared to give so much to make it what it is, and who are only too happy to pass on their knowledge. My virtual Elmer page is a little like having a virtual copy of Ray's Radio Shack, and it's nice to know that whenever anyone visits this page it will feel a little like they're visiting him too. |
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No cybercakes (yet!) I'm afraid, but I know that Ray would have seen the funny side of things and been amused to know that he now has a presence out there in cyberspace. The photographs shown above are my favourite ones, and are how I'll always remember a great friend who gave so much to a inexperienced SWL and to the radio hobby in general. Thanks Ray, may you grace that great shack in the sky with the same enthusiasm that you graced the ones down here! |
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Above are two more images that I recently unearthed, the one on the left shows Ray and Elsie together in happier times, and the one on the right shows Ray in his beloved garden, during one of my many visits to his home: |
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