IT is unusual that I would post to the ODV
upon the passing of a fellow ham. It is with deepest
regrets that I must inform my colleagues on ODV
that I have just learned of the passing of
Richard "Dick" Knadle, K2RIW of Dix Hills, New York.
Unless you are a long-time VHF/UHF enthusiast
you might not recognize the call, but going back
into the late 70's and early 80's Dick's designs
for antennas and amplifiers were well recognized
and the foundation of a rapid growth in VHF/UHF
weak signal activity.
As a young ham I was fortunate enough to have
built the 432 MHz stripline amplifier following the
details in his QST article which were published
in the early 70's. For many of us, his design
was behind much of the weak-signal and EME activity
in the 70's and 80's. Owing the the high efficiency
of his strip-line plate resonator design, I remember
getting 750 watts from a pair of 4cx250's on 432.
The use of those tubes were affordable at the time
which made UHF QRO a reality for those of us on a
budget...
His antenna design that used elements
insulated from the boom were at the time considered
revolutionary with a gain figure and clean pattern
that was easily duplicated by many home-brewers.
For decades the RIW-16's were to be found
in widespread use on 432 weak-signal.
Dick was widely recognized as and engineer's
engineer and a friendly, approachable sort who
ran a weekly technical net on the LIMARS repeater,
back in the day.
From what I have been able to learn so far,
there are no published arrangements.
73, Kermit W9XA