Bill Tracey VE7QQ-SK. Bill passed away on October 9, 2019

Editor’s note… by George:
…It all started in the summer of 1987 when Bill came to our house and I can still recall him sitting in our living room while we hatched the idea of starting a North Shore-based Ham Club. Bill spoke to many other Hams of the day, some still Club members today, and later we met in the auditorium of Lions Gate Hospital to start the Club with about 50 interested Hams.

At the time, Bill was Vice-president, Engineering at a then-up-and-coming electronics manufacturing company in Vancouver. Before retirement, Bill was a radio systems and business consultant. We, and so many others, had been chatting on the air every morning going to work. It was a Net called The Morning Show and some of you may still recall it. Bill had been working in Vancouver, the Middle East and later in the Toronto area. As a Ham, he was in a leadership role providing amateur radio emergency communications following the 1979 Mississauga freight train disaster, the train carrying chemicals and explosives. As a result of the derailment, more than 200,000 people were evacuated in what was the largest peacetime evacuation in North America until that time. Amateur Radio played a key role. Bill was the first NSARC president of our Club and provided the foundation, the culture, the constitution and the on-going spirit that makes our Club a great success, even today. He was also one of the founders, first President and Chair of the Policy Committee of BCARCC, the British Columbia Amateur Radio Coordination Council. BCARCC provides a link between all BC Ham clubs and still provides reference data on all BC Ham repeaters. To many of us, Bill was a great friend, supporter, guide and mentor. We will miss him.