Simon Freeman, G3LQR – 28 March 2023
Simon, G3LQR, passed away peacefully on March 28th at the age of 88. He was one of the best known microwave and UHF call-signs on both sides of the North Sea. Simon was a pioneer in many fields of microwave radio and inspired many others to follow his lead. He had 30 firsts on the bands above 70cm and in 2009 was awarded the G3EEZ trophy.
He was licenced in 1957 as G6LQR/T transmitting TV on 70cm. He later became G3LQR and by about 1975 he was operating on all the microwave bands up to 10GHz, later adding 24 and 47GHz. His favourite band for dx was 70cm and he made some amazing tropo contacts out to 2000km.
He started in EME on 432MHz in March 1975 building a 20ft dish from chicken wire which was destroyed in the 1987 hurricane and replaced by a succession of large, home brew, yagi arrays. In March 1992 he erected a 14ft dish and started on 23cm EME with 100W. He then progressed to 13cm and finally to 9 and 6cm. There have been many tributes to him from the world wide EME community.
His radio interests included 3cm rain scatter and 70cm aurora, where in both of these he was an early pioneer, 4m Es was also a favourite.
He was a serious home brewer of his equipment, often modified from something he had found at a scrap yard or a rally and was very good at getting the stuff to work. Sometimes the enclosures were not that extensive and so it was safest to keep hands in pockets when in his shack!
Simon was a kind, generous and gentle man; he loved nature and was a keen photographer in his last years of the butterflies on the farm where he lived.
RIP old friend.
Peter Blair, G3LTF
Category: Silent Keys
