19 May 2021

On the BC Public Service net last night, Roly, VA7RA advised that Ed Calderwood, VE7BQM had passed away earlier this week.  Ed started our club back in 1990 and was responsible for securing the space we currently have at Riverview in 1992. Ed ran the club until about 2003 when he decided it was time to step back and hand things over to Wayne ,VE7ZNU. It was at that time that the name of the club was also changed, dropping the word Senior from our original name which was Coquitlam Senior Amateur Radio Emergency Service Society to reflect the importance of connecting with those of all age groups.  For those not aware, SCC originally stood for Senior Citizens Club, reflecting Ed's idea of founding a club to provide radios and a place to learn for those who were retired/retiring and those who may not have a station at home.   I have attached the silent key announcement from last night, transmitted from the club station and recorded off-air from VE7AV's SDR in Prince George.

 My story about Ed:

I started coming to the club in the summer of 1996.  I'll never forget my first trip after seeing a presentation about ham radio that Ed was giving at Coquitlam Center Mall.  I rode my bike down to Riverview the next Sunday to find the club and figure out how I could learn more about radio and getting a license...  When I arrived, Ed was in the middle of running the RNARS HF Navy Net on 20m and there was no interrupting that - so I sat there, next to FT-1000D with Ed at the helm and listened to stations from across the Canada and into England coming through the speaker, needless to say it was a mind blowing experience. A few hours passed, the net closed down and Ed got up to show me around the club and what he was working on.  In the old workshop area (now our radio room) he pointed to 10 shoeboxes full of resistors he needed sorting and said "no better way to learn the color code".  He wrote up the code on a piece of paper (colorful mnemonics included) and told me to call him if I had any questions.  I sat there going through what had to be thousands of resistors until it was time to ride home for dinner.  Ed stayed back to check-in to the BC Public service net on 80m a few hours later, something he made sure to do every time he was at the station.  On-air advertisement was the primary way of soliciting interest and building membership back then.  I went on to spend the next 6 years of Wednesday/Thursday nights & Sundays hanging out with Ed learning all about the way things used to be, the Navy and everything wrong with the world...  To say that Ed was an uncompromising mentor would be an understatement.  I owe much of my career to the thousands of hours I spent with Ed as a teenager.  Coming out of school I had a solid 10 years of hands-on practical experience nobody else did.

VA7RA NET ANNOUNCEMENT