YB Land DX Club DX-ing Is Our Life
News has been received that Dave Edmunds VK4FUY went Silent Key in Cooktown Hospital Wednesday morning 1st January.
Dave had a very interesting life as a draftsman for the building of Royal Navy Patrol Boats at Portsmouth, England. He had memories of the V2 buzz bombs flying and of the Battle of Britain during World War 2.
Dave and Pat come to Australia and settled for a while in South Australia where Dave worked, and, along with Pat, were volunteer Ambulance Officers.
They then moved to Townsville and had many years as members of the TARCinc, with Dave being a past President of the club.
Dave and Pat also participated in many of the TARC field operations.
Dave, along with David/VK4BDJ (sk) were among the Packet Radio pioneers in North Queensland, with the two Daves being the gurus for TSTHOST and TPK setup and operating with Baycom modems. Dave was also very active with the local SES, at one stage becoming Comms Leader for the Townsville division.
Dave and Pat also attended many Far North and North Queensland Amateur Radio Gatherings at South Mission Beach and Cardwell and were part of the team that made up the famous portable musical group ‘Electrical Caution’ that played at those events.
They later moved to Cooktown to be nearer to family and once again were involved in SES and community organisations. They become involved with the Tableland Radio Group and enjoyed the International Lighthouse Weekends – which they had done for 2 years before the TRG started annual operations on Grassy Hill. They enjoyed the TRG activities and moved to Atherton and enjoyed the field trips exploring to the west, south and north where radio’s were regularly set up and nets were worked plus dinners and many fun times.
A few years ago they moved back to Cooktown to enjoy the closeness of family once again.
In recent times Dave had health issues but the Cooktown Hospital was excellent in their assistance to Dave
Dave’s celebration of Life will take place on Saturday 18th January from 9am Cooktown Time (172300UTC) at Grassy Hill, with a Wake happening after end of services at the Cooktown RSL.
Family and Friends are invited to attend and send Dave off well.
Vale Dave Edmonds VK4FUY
QNews
