Thomas McDaniel Obituary

I was shocked and saddened, and I had many other emotions, when I learned of Tom's passing. Although I did not know much of Tom's personal life, I had known him through his longtime and consistent involvement with the Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association and ham radio in general, for the past 12 years that I have also been a "ham". His callsign, NØNTX, is known to most every local ham.

I knew that he had been in the USAF, and I thought that he was retired from the Air Force, however, I always thought that he had been an officer. Now I find out that he was a retired Chief Master Sergeant. Well, from the 12 years that I have known Tom, he was certainly a gentleman - perhaps that was why I suspected he had been an officer.

Tom had been the vice president for the ham radio club (PPRAA) the year prior to my serving in the same position, a few years ago. To underscore Tom's active involvement in ham radio, and the PPRAA, I would like to mention that Tom was always there - at meetings, at public service events, at planning sessions and setup parties for the club's annual swapfest, at Field Day, etc. I could go on. EVERY year, a couple of months prior to Field Day, Tom enthusiastically solicited orders for Field Day T-shirts and pins (never expecting payment until the merchandise arrived).

Tom's attendance at the club meetings was so extremely consistent, and he always sat in the same general vicinity each month (as so many of us do), that when there was an occasion when he didn't make it to a meeting, it was very obvious and someone would always remark about his absence. We have a club meeting this Wednesday night (7/11/07), and it will be a very sad and somber meeting.

I always presumed that Tom was just a little older than myself (turns out to be 5 years), but I had wanted to find out. After I heard about Tom's death, I looked up his callsign on one of the databases. Now, I had always assumed, from Tom's heavy involvement in ham radio and the club, that he was probably a General, Advanced or Amateur Extra (license classes) ham radio operator. I was surprised to find out that he was a Technician class ham, and he probably was originally licensed in the early 90's. Please note that I did not say "only" or "just" when referring to the Technician class of license. For Tom's avid interest in satellites, that class of license afforded him practically everything he needed, to do what he wanted.

Tom, you will certainly be missed! I don't know how to put a very large "73" ("best regards") in here, but consider it done.

Dennis Major
NØABC