KC2OBG

Lew, W2BIE and Elaine his XYL

Lew, W2BIE, was my very first contact when I got my technician license. I had purchased a 2-meter rig, Icom V8000, and my auto mechanic helped me to install it. I was fumbling with such things as PL tones and power output and didn’t understand why I didn’t make a contact. And then…a miracle occurred. I had just come out of an evening business meeting, got in the car and fired up the rig. I keyed the mike a few times and, suddenly, someone responded. It was Lew. He welcomed me to the repeater and to the hobby. He spoke about the wonderful contacts he had made on HF and the many friends he had because of amateur radio. And he invited me to LIMARC, the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club.

Lew was the type of ham that was always glad to see new faces in the hobby and hear new voices on the radio. He himself had been active for at least 50 years and he shared his enthusiasm for the hobby with anyone and everyone. He would tell stories about the television interference he had inflicted on his neighbors during the 1960s. He would tell about mobile rigs in the 1950s (a boatanchor in a boat of a car…one might say). He would tell about friendships that came about because of ham radio and he would always talk about the local club, the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club (LIMARC). There are probably quite a few hams who are part of the local club because of Lew.

While Lew’s key may be silent, his enthusiasm for the hobby is not silent at all. It lives on among his family members (his son Steven took over his call sign) and among all those who came to know him.

Filed under: Miscellaneous by Jeff