SILENT KEY

[IK0ZCW]

John Devoldere, ON4UN passed away peacefully on 9 November, after being in declining health over the past few months. Licensed at twenty years of age in 1961, he soon developed a strong interest in contesting and DXing on the low bands. In 1979 he was the first operator to earn the 5-Band WAZ award, and his 80m DXCC overall score (364) still places him in first position worlwide. The impressive list of John's accomplishments is detailed in his profile on qrz.com.
He was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame (1997) and the CQ DX Hall of Fame (2008); in 2013 he received the YASME Excellence Award, whose justification says it all: "Along with building one of the premier amateur stations in the world, John's contributions to the DXing community have been extensive. Beginning with '80 Meter Dxing', published in 1978, his book expanded to 'Low-Band DXing', which in its fifth edition [published in 2010, Ed.] has become the most widely used handbook for operating and building antenna systems on the bands at 7 MHz and lower frequencies. The book contains important advances in HF amateur technology and encourages operation on these bands".
A former President of the Union Royale Belge des Amateurs-emetteurs (1998-2007), in 2008 John co-authored with Mark, ON4WW a comprehensive document entitled "Ethics and Operating Procedures for the Radio Amateur", whose principles represent the point of view of the IARU on the subject: see
https://www.iaru-r1.org/on-the-air/code-of-conduct/.
Condolences can be sent to ON4UN.SK[@]gmail.com. A digital farewell ceremony is being planned for 21 November.