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Great Writing - Home > Non-Fiction > Billy JOM, Silent Key
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Non-Fiction
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| Billy JOM, Silent Key | |
| By Talisker | ||||
| 08 November 2006 | ||||
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Silent Key is Ham Radio euphemism for "dead". Billy JOM was a gentleman. Humble, self-effacing, generous and well mannered. I can tell you as much and more, though I never had the pleasure of meeting Billy JOM in the flesh. I spoke to him on perhaps a dozen occasions. JOM was not Billy’s surname, it was the last part of his ham radio call sign, the suffix as we say. I don’t know what Billy’s second name was, I didn’t need to. From the first part of his call sign, I could tell that Billy had been licensed a lot longer than me. Often this is seen as a reason for the more experienced operator to lord it over the novice. Not in Billy JOM’s case. He was as polite and accommodating to complete newcomers as he was to the elder statesmen. From our conversations, and from hearing him talk to others, I know that Billy lived with his aged mother. The devotion shone through in his voice when he talked about his old mum. I also know that Billy made his living as a private hire car driver. He was usually to be found somewhere between the Falkirk area and either Glasgow or Prestwick airports, a trip of some fifty or so miles. These journeys gave him the opportunity, when he was on the way to pick up (he would never operate with a passenger in the car) to indulge his love of amateur radio. He had a great radio setup in his Skoda Octavia, and could be heard throughout the region. On such occasions he would sign JOM/MOBILE. In addition to his mobile operating though, Billy also operated from his home QTH (home station), where he had a bewildering array of equipment. Not for Billy the jack-of-all-trades radio, oh no, Billy had a dedicated transceiver for every band above the HF range – 6 metres, 4 metres, 2 metres, 70 centimetres, the lot. He also had a range of antennas – which his unsympathetic neighbours gave him jip about. He was in his element when summer weather brought “openings” in the 6 metre band (the magic band), then I would hear Billy working stations across Europe and the Balkans. The 6 metre band is known as the magic band because it is only workable (open) when the summer weather ionises the upper atmosphere in a certain manner. Billy JOM was always poised and ready, with an almost uncanny level of anticipation to take advantage. Billy was fifty-one years old – he was found dead on Monday morning in his bed. Last night the participants in the weekly quiz on the 2m band held an emotional two-minute silence in his honour. I heard Billy talking enthusiastically about being due a new car soon. He had tried out Jaguars and BMWs, but was going for another Skoda Octavia “because I can’t fault it”. No pretensions, no arrogance, plenty of humanity. Billy JOM, silent-key 07/11/06 – 73s Billy, indeed the pleasure was all ours.
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