W8VYZ 1987 Ashtabula, Ohio
A 40 Meter AM QSO with William
C. Dolvin "Ashtabula Bill"!
Bill was an AM legend and one of the most well known AMers in
North America!
This is the famous AMer "Ashtabula Bill". In 1941 he lived in Youngstown and later moved to Hubbard, and then to Ashtabula, Ohio.
Here is Bill at his vintage AM station. Bill had a black list
under the Viking 2 transmitter. Most oldtimers had a black list,
stations they had a feud with, didn't want to work, didn't think
much of.
Bill in his earlier years! He was always active on the AM
frequencies of the bands. I went to Antigua in 1999 to operate
the 10M contest as V26X. During the week I was there, I decided
to go up on 7.290 Mhz and make a few AM contacts. Ashtabula Bill
was my 1st AM contact! K8CX
"Ashtabula Bill" W8VYZ in his vintage hamshack.
Yikes! Only Bill knows how to tune this one! Ohio Folk Lore tells
that different stages of his transmitter were located in
different parts of his basement. Walk at your own risk...
Bill was a die hard AMer. He has been immortalized with
collectable items. His famous saying has brought him recognition;
"There ain't a slop bucket in North America can bother
me". A slop bucket is a SSB station.
There were pin back buttons, coffee mugs, t-shirts and even a
lunch bucket with his picture and famous saying. I believe the
only item available now is the coffee mug.
Life towards the end of the run! He kept going...
Email from K8MFO:
While I never met Bill, I can relate to him 100%. My ham radio
beginnings were at the time of the initial "AM vs. SSB"
battles! The Upper Peninsula (of Michigan) had a lot more hams in
1958 than they do right now, and well over 90% of the activity
was on 75 meters AM PHONE. My Dad and I knew virtually every ham
in the U.P., as they were a very close knit group -- 3920 was the
gathering points for folks -- they had daily nets -- actually
they still do, with the frequency now 3922.
I knew of only two hams with SSB capability -- one was Doc
Bertucci - W8FHY, from Ishpeming, using the Collins "Gold
Dust Twins" -- he was on the "social fringe" and
made only occasional appearances in the "Land of the
AMer". The other "Quacker" was Bill - W8FCT in
Palmer, using home brew gear. Man how he could splatter -- he was
commonly known as W 8 Foo Chung Tau, but he could take it all in
good humor. There were some very rigid stands taken about
"SSB Never, AM Forever", probably similar to the
"SPARK vs. CW" battles of 4 decades earlier.
My first exposure to SSB was at the Munising, Michigan hamfest --
must have been 1959. Terry Sternam - W9DIA had just founded
Amateur Electronic Supply within the past year or two, and he
enjoyed the U P Hamfests. Interestingly enough, Terry was about
19 when he had the ambition to establish something as risky as a
national company. At any rate, he drove up to the hamfest in his
big black Cadillac, fully equipped with one of the very first
Collins KWM-1 transceivers. Think he had a Webster Bandspanner
antenna mounted on the bumper. He sat there and worked DX on a
lousy band. Very impressive! Many years later at Dayton we talked
about that.
My Dad was tutored into ham radio by two hams with whom he worked
in a copper mine -- when they learned he had been a combat CW
operator in WWII, he had to get a license in self defense, and I
followed a year later. When Dad bought his first SSB rig, a
National NCX-3 from AES, one of his ham partners in the mine
would put a clothes pin on his nose when he talked to Dad! A
couple of years later, though, when he went to SSB, he never told
anyone! That guy, W8DCD, holds USACA #25, which would have been a
lot harder in those days than it is now. He also gave me my
Conditional license exam. The original DCD is now a silent key,
but his grandson holds the call -- in grandpa's memory, he too
worked all USA counties.
This is a long and windy way to say ....
"Rest in Peace, Ashtabula Bill. I never knew you, but I know
I would have liked you."
73, Don K8MFO
Ashtabula Bill born April 8, 1925, became a SK on Tuesday,
September 27, 2011. He was 86.
I'm not sure what to say about this, there lies the ashes of W8VYZ placed into two 833's tubes.
The 833's sitting atop an old surplus tuner, the BC375 tuning unit. I heard a local on top band mention the 833's were placed inside the chassis along with his station microphone prior to burial. W8SU
One of Bill's last 40M AM Phone QSO's
QSL from the estate of W8WFB
Courtesy of K8MFO
Photos courtesy of W8SU
SK announcement courtesy of W8SHR
Email courtesy of K8MFO
Ashes photo courtesy of AM.com