Dr George Brown, MW5ACN, 9 December 2014
Dr George Brown, MW5ACN (SK), seen here in 1994
Dr George Brown, MW5ACN/G1VCY, passed away peacefully on the morning of 9 December 2014. An enthusiastic amateur for many years, he served the RSGB in a number of ways including as Technical Editor of RadCom from 2000-2006.
Born in 1941 (according to his QRZ.com page), he was originally from near Bishop Auckland and he maintained his soft Durham accent even after many years of living “down South”.
He was first licensed as G1VCY but became M5ACN with the introduction of the ‘Class A/B’ 5WPM Morse licence.
He was the author or editor of a number of books, including Amateur Radio Essentials, Radio and Electronics Cookbook and Practical Projects.
A quiet, reserved, even shy personality, yet despite this a gifted teacher with the ability to put across complex issues in a way that non-technical people could understand.
He held Foundation licence classes at RSGB HQ in Potters Bar and had a 100% success rate.
George had a rare combination of talents: a thorough understanding of all technical aspects of amateur radio combined with a first-class command of the English language. He had tremendous attention to detail: no split infinitive or incorrect use of tenses would slip past George’s editorial blue pen! He was also a superb proof-reader and this combination of talents meant the job of RadCom Technical Editor could almost have been written for him.
George posing for a photo that was used in various pieces of RSGB publicity material
As well as looking after the technical columns (including Pat Hawker’s ‘Technical Topics”) and stand-alone technical articles in RadCom, George also compiled the club news in both RadCom and the weekly GB2RS news broadcasts. This meant he was well known to many members, who would often phone in last-minute changes to their club meetings right up to, and sometimes well beyond, the official publication deadline. George would do his utmost to see that these last-minute changes made it to press.
When he retired as RadCom Technical Editor in 2006 he bought himself a new top-of-the-line Yaesu FTdx9000 transceiver as his retirement present, with the intention of becoming more active on the HF bands.
George and his wife moved to Knighton in Powys soon after his retirement, where he became MW5ACN. Sadly, his wife developed a serious illness shortly after their move and George became a full-time carer until she passed away.
George was a kind, thoughtful man, a true gentleman in the old-fashioned sense of the word.
Tribute by Steve Telenius-Lowe, PJ4DX
and from other sources
Category: Silent Keys
