Dale KG5U Wrote this about Tom K5RC, I thought it was a heartwarming story.

That’s very sad to hear.

He will be missed.

Back on October 1, 1986 I bought Tom’s house in Scarsdale Subdivision.

For those who did know about the place, it was about ¼ mile west of I-45 (southbound Exit 30) and just north of Dixie Farm Road. He rented (for $300/year) a field behind his backyard fence for his towers and antennas. Tom’s contest station was in half of the 2-car garage attached to the house. The radio half was air-conditioned (heating & cooling), courtesy of Chuch/K5LZO. It also contained the family washer and dryer. The other half of the garage was just a storage area, with the cars relegated to an outside existence.

Sadly, a hurricane-spawning tornadoes took down most of the towers. At about that time, Grady, NA5R, was setting up a station in Manvel and Tom’s remaining usable towers and antennas were relocated to Grady’s place for his contest station. The 70’ tower at the back of the house with his TH6DX beam survived.

So, in essence, I bought an expensive 70’ tower w/antenna with a house and a swimming pool attached.

Prior to moving into the house, I had a house cleaning outfit come in and clean the place.

On one trip, while stowing the boxes in the radio section of the divided garage, it occurred to me that a couple of the boxes contained my radio gear. Tom’s contest station desk was still there, as was the coax run to the TH6 and the rotator.

In ten minutes, I had my radio (I think it was the Ten-Tec Model 244 at the time), keyer, paddles and headphones in place and radio signals being heard. I dug out my logbook and made a dozen or so QSOs on 20 and 15 meters.

Time was moving on and I had some more boxes to pick up from storage. The house cleaners had just shown up and I left them hard at it while I went to pick up more boxes.

Two or three hours later, I finally got back to the house and moved more boxes in to the garage.

I found a note attached to the radio.

While I was gone, Tom had come by to pick up some of his stuff from the storage portion of the garage.

He saw the radio and the logbook with the new QSO entries.

His note said something like “There’s not a stick of furniture or dishes or clothes in the house, but there are a dozen QSOs in the log. I am happy knowing I have sold my house to a true ham.”

RIP, Tom.