It is with much sadness that I report the passing of Den Connors, KD2S at 2AM this morning. Den passed on after a year+ fight to conquer lymphoma. This morning, Ralph (KD1SM) reported "Den checked-in to our weekly Club information net on 70cm Monday evening. As usual, he sounded pretty chipper."
"Very shortly after that he developed a serious infection and his non-existent immune system could do nothing."
Den was TAPR's first president, overseeing the transition from a local Tucson club into the multi-national TAPR. He was a major sponsor of the adoption of AX.25 as the amateur packet standard. Under his lead, TAPR introduced the TNC-1 and then later the TNC-2. Den worked with me to define an amateur store-and-forward packet radio satellite; this morphed into the Microsats (AO16-16, IO-26. AO-27 & MO-30).
Den moved to Massachusetts about 25 years ago to work at Wang Computers, and lived in Pepperell, Massachusetts.
73, Den -- you will be missed by all your friends!
Tom Clark, K3IO
Den brings back fond memories of the beginnings of packet and AX.25.Those were fun days. I enjoyed the TAPR meetings in Tuscon and came away in awe of the knowledge and enthusiasm that he had. I lost contact with him when he moved east and am saddened at this news. My prayers and thoughts are for him and his family. He is one of those persons that are very hard to replace. We were better with him.
Be in peace Den. 73 Don WB5EKU
On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 10:20 AM, Tom Clark, K3IO tom.k3io@gmail.com wrote:
It is with much sadness that I report the passing of Den Connors, KD2S at 2AM this morning. Den passed on after a year+ fight to conquer lymphoma. This morning, Ralph (KD1SM) reported "Den checked-in to our weekly Club information net on 70cm Monday evening. As usual, he sounded pretty chipper."
"Very shortly after that he developed a serious infection and his non-existent immune system could do nothing."
Den was TAPR's first president, overseeing the transition from a local Tucson club into the multi-national TAPR. He was a major sponsor of the adoption of AX.25 as the amateur packet standard. Under his lead, TAPR introduced the TNC-1 and then later the TNC-2. Den worked with me to define an amateur store-and-forward packet radio satellite; this morphed into the Microsats (AO16-16, IO-26. AO-27 & MO-30).
Den moved to Massachusetts about 25 years ago to work at Wang Computers, and lived in Pepperell, Massachusetts.
73, Den -- you will be missed by all your friends!
Tom Clark, K3IO _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Tom Clark, K3IO wrote:
It is with much sadness that I report the passing of Den Connors, KD2S at 2AM this morning.
Den seemed to pretty much disappear from amateur packet radio right after he did all that intensive early work at TAPR and just before it really took off.
It probably had to do with his location and job change, but I always felt that deprived him of much of the credit he was due. Success always has many fathers, but relatively few people are actually present right at the birth of an entirely new communication mode. Den was one of them. I got involved after he did, and we talked quite a bit during our brief overlap, but I never got to know him as well as I would have liked.
participants (3)
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Donald Jacob -
Phil Karn -
Tom Clark, K3IO