Bart Rypstra W8NWO
November 10, 1917 - August 1985

I knew Bart Rypstra quite well, and visited with him at his home in Charlotte, Michigan. Bart was an avid SSB contester, usually hosting a multi operator group, and in friendly competition with a similar group from W8NGO. The NWO group always won! Bart ran a Collins service center right next to his home. Once upon a time a Michigan utility company told him that he could have one of their 150 foot distribution towers if he took it down. He meticulously made the 150 mile round trip for a very long time and took the tower down "piece by piece", in Port Huron, transporting it to Charlotte, where he patiently put it back together. Bart didn't waste that tower, as it held a 3 element full size 40 meter beam, and also a 2 element reversible quad on 75 meters. W 8 " North West Ocean" made a whole lot of noise on all bands. I was not the only one to try and talk him into a CW operation from his QTH, but none of us were successful! In his era W8NWO was probably the best equipped station, antenna wise, in the state. This was in the 1960's.

Bart was part of the HK0HCA operation in November 1960

Tribute courtesy of K8MFO