January 25, 2025

This Week in Amateur Radio

North America's Premiere Amateur Radio News Magazine

North Carolina

Via Southgate: 104-year-old radio ham is on the air

ARRL report one of their members, Oscar Norris W4OXH, of Gastonia, North Carolina, will turn 105 on September 25, 2022, and he is still on the air

ARRL say:

Norris lost his sight when he was 24 in 1942, and it was his blindness that led him to amateur radio. He earned his license in 1949, and has been on the air for 73 years.

Tony Jones, N4ATJ, has known Norris since he was 14 and remembers the first time he met Norris. It was at a bicycle shop and Norris, blind, was still able to tear down a wheel, replace the spokes, and spin the wheel until it was balanced. Several years later, Norris gave Jones a book on how to earn an amateur radio license.

“Over the years, the book got misplaced,” said Jones. “I would give anything to find that book today.” Jones continued, “Oscar has the personality of one of the kindest people you would ever want to meet, and he never has an unkind word for anyone.”

Read more – Southgate Amateur Radio News RSS Feed http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2022/september/104-year-old-radio-ham-is-on-the-air.htm
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