The program at our first in-person DFMA meeting was a summary of the history of our repeaters. I presented this program as I was one of the charter members of DFMA. I mentioned that when I moved to Durham in 1970, there was a repeater on 146.34–146.94. It was owned and operated by Bill Sims, K4RUQ. The 146.34 receiver was at his house in Parkwood. He used a 440 MHz radio link to the 146.94 transmitter on TV Hill in north Durham. This “split-site” repeater did not require a duplexer — which was very expensive even in 1970. Bill used tube-type radios made by Motorola, General Electric, Dumont, and others. These were retired from commercial two-way radio service and were relatively cheap.

Bill was a bit “cantankerous” with the users of his repeater. It seemed as if he monitored it 24 hours a day. He would frequently interject his comments into conversations. Annoyingly, one could “kerchunk” the repeater at midnight or 3 a.m. and he would instantly say “you got it, talk on it.” In the early 70s, most converted Motorola or GE radios had only one or two channels. Most radios were on 34–94 for repeaters and 146.52 for simplex. To minimize key-ups from nearby 34–94 users, Bill implemented a system called “whistle-up” for access to his repeater. To use his repeater, one had to whistle into the mike — increasing the frequency like trying to call the dog — hoping to hit the frequency of the decoder. When his repeater was whistled up, it stayed available for a conversation.

After a while I decided that Durham needed a ham club with its own repeater. Thirteen hams attended the first meeting and the DFMA was formed. Bill did not attend. A repeater on 449.1–444.1 was DFMA’s first repeater. After 50 years, DFMA has 100 members and 7 repeaters at 3 sites: Hillsborough, the Durham VA Hospital, and TV Hill. Our current TV Hill tower is on land adjacent to Bill’s original 146.94 transmitter site.

The week following our DFMA meeting, I saw the obituary for Bill. He died on October 4, 2021 at the age of 89.

W4AK (formerly K4RUQ) — SK. 73 Bill.

— de Charlie, NC4CD
December 1, 2021