Australian Ham Radio Discussion Forum ( AHRDF )

Its with great sadness that I have to advise that John Bisgrove VK4ZJB (ex VK4KK) passed away earlier this week. John will be known as one of the really keen 6 meter operators over the past few decades. He is only one of a few VK hams that achieved 6 meter DXCC and I believe at last count John had confirmed about 115 countries on 6 meters. This is an achievment that very few of us will ever see.
John was a great homebrewer specialising in valve amplifiers and there wasnt a question on amplifiers he didnt know the answer to.
I become friends with John over the past few years and had great times dropping into his house at Gympie and listening to his stories of 6 meter DX. John had a wicked sense of humour and was always emailing funny stories that he had come across.
John took me and Chris VK4HJ under his wing the last few years and tried to pass on to us as much of his knowledge as he could.We would all spend hours on the phone reinventing the world.
John will be cremated at the Gympie Crematorium this Thursday at 10.30am and is survived by his wife Wendy.
We will miss you old mate
Wayne VK4WTN

I think I will miss hearing ZJB on 6. He has been around for much of my on-air lifetime (nearly 50 years) and I have spoken to him virtually every year since the beginning. I don't think I will miss his run-together morse of recent years though.

Good DXing John, hope there is lots of sporadic E for you to utilise - you certainly won't miss much with this low in the solar cyle.

Sad to hear we've lost another.

I worked him from VK3 on a number of occasions, when I lived there in the 1960s, and also when I was portable on the south side of Brisbane, one year.

He always had a LOUD, clean signal and when the band opened, he was generally first in and last out.

Back in the 1970s, when I worked at IPS (now Space Weather Services) and pursued anecdotes and logs from radio amateurs who'd worked transequatorial propagation, I did a whistle-stop tour of Queensland coastal cities, meeting and talking to those who'd contacted IPS. Naturally, John was one of them. I visited his QTH in Brisbane (at the time) and spent a few hours discussing his rigs, his logs and his experiences. Amazing !

In recent years I bought some bits and pieces from him he'd advertised and we exchanged a few emails.

Vale John. It was sure good to know you.