From AnnArbor.Com

James Eller, K8ELR, born May 25, 1951 in Detroit, Michigan, passed away suddenly at home on October 8, 2011. Jim was the epitome of a good man. He was deeply loved and will be missed beyond words by family and friends.

Jim grew up in Detroit with his brother David and later moved to Milford Michigan where he worked for Williams International for over a decade as a Quality Assurance Engineer and took additional college classes. During that time he met his wife, Patrice, when he taught dog training classes on the side and she brought her puppy for his help. They married in 1988 and brought up two cherished and beautiful sons, James Kenneth Eller and Benjamin Matthew Eller.

Jim left engineering and started his own business in computer support and continued that expertise by working for others including Ford and the Ann Arbor District Library. He retired from the paid workforce in 2006 when he had a stroke but never let that stop him from living life to the fullest, making him a role model for all of us.

He took advantage of the opportunity and volunteered to share his time and energy with multiple organizations that he cared about including the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living, the Cancer Support Community, the Hands On Museum where he helped visitors learn about Ham Radio and the Huron Valley Humane Society where he comforted the cats.

Jim was curious about many things which led to a wide range of passionate interests over his lifetime including becoming a hot air balloon pilot, scuba diving, showing and training dogs, breeding Killifish, Ham Radio, fishing and making sure the neighborhood hummingbirds were well taken care of. He loved reading including anything about history and he enjoyed just about any kind of music.

In addition to his brother, David and sister-in-law Sheila Fox; wife, Patrice and sons, Jim and Benjamin; Jim is survived by his beloved nieces, Sydney, Stacey and Stephanie and dear nephew, Spenser. He was predeceased by his father, James and mother, Norma Eller.

If desired, donations in Jim’s memory should be to the AACIL, 3941 Research Park Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, Cancer Support Community, 2010 Hogback Road, Suite 3, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 or Huron Valley Humane Society, 3100 Cherry Hill Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

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Jim really was a great guy.. He was always willing to help out in any way he could with WA2HOM, and he was great with the kids. We owe a great deal of our success to Jim’s efforts.

I used to joke that he was our “digital specialist,” because he enjoyed operating the digital modes, including PSK31, Olivia, and anything else that our software would do. He got that part of the station all set up and running for us.

Another joke that we used to share was how he came to get his Extra Class license. He used to claim that he just memorized all the answers to the questions and didn’t really know all that much. He knew a lot more than he claimed, though, and was always learning new things, and in the process, becoming a better amateur radio operator.

We’ll all miss you, Jim.

AnnArbor.Com has published a nice interview with Mel Drumm, the executive director of the Hands-On Museum. Did you know that his biggest pet peeve are people that don’t use their turn signals when driving?

Yesterday, down at the museum, we got a whole pack of Cub Scouts on the air, thanks to Ovide, K8EV, my ever-ambitious “kid wrangler.” No sooner had I managed to make a decent contact than he lassoed a group of five Cub Scouts from Detroit. Fortunately, conditions held out so that I could give them all a turn at the mike.

They must have liked it and told their buddies. About a half hour later, another group showed up. Fortunately, I was already in another QSO (with W3BEE), and he was gracious enough to talk to everyone in the second group.

W3BEE is a very interesting guy. As his vanity call implies, he’s a beekeeper as well as a ham. I’ve often thought about trying beekeeping—especially because of the bee crisis. He encouraged me to look into it further, noting that now is the time to start preparing for next year.

Yesterday, I was joined by Quentin, KD8IPF, just back from one of his many business trips, and Jim, K8ELR. Unfortunately, the bands were really in bad shape. 20m was all but useless, and 40m was very up and down. While I went to get a cup of coffee, however, Quentin managed a contact with HR1FAC on 40m SSB.

At one point, Quentin was calling CQ to no avail on 7.220 MHz, our favorite frequency. He had called a couple of times with no answer, and then we started talking about something or another. All of a sudden, we heard a call from Neil, K8IT.

I hadn’t talked to Neil for years. Back in 2005, Neil and I ran (unsuccessfully) for Director and Vice Director of the Great Lakes Division. Since then, he’s moved away from the Detroit area (he worked for an auto supplier that closed up operations here) and now lives in Virginia.

Anyway, we had a very nice chat, catching up with one another. He was also very gracious in talking to one of the kids who was visiting the museum. One of the cool things about ham radio is that you never know whose voice is going to come out of the speaker. Yesterday, I was glad that it was Neil’s.

This Saturday, three of us showed up on Saturday:

• Jack, WT8N
• Ovide, K8EV
• yours truly, KB6NU

Ari, KD8MJV, the Museum Store’s Manager was on duty Saturday, so I guess you could say that there were four of us in the building. He was one of the graduates from our most recent One-Day Tech Class on November 14.

One of the first things we did was to get Ari on the air for the first time. I brought along two hand-helds, and right after Jack took off his coat, I sent him downstairs with one. Not only were we able to give Ari his first QSO, but also his first QSL card!

After pinning up some QSL cards, I sat down to see what could be worked on 40m. Fortunately, we made contact with Lance, KB0RGS. His signal was 58 – 59, and when I gave Ovide the “thumbs up,” he was off to find some kids to talk to Lance.

We were doubly lucky in that Lance is a retired elementary school teacher and was just perfect with the kids. Our contact with Lance lasted long enough for him to speak to two sets of kids.

This afternoon, I popped down to the museum for a bit and had a great contact with George, K2HRS. He told me a great story about his high school days and the amateur radio club at his high school in New York City. The QSL card at right is the club’s QSL card. The club consisted of George and his friend, Joe, K2QPR. They became such good friends that they maintained a regular schedule for more than 50 years! Joe passed away a couple of years ago, unfortunately.

Other News
The museum’s exhibit folks have set up a new display near the ham radio station. This display lets kids (and adults, for that matter) speak into a horn and see what their voice looks like on an oscilloscope. The table on which this display sits will also hold a crystal radio display and a Morse Code display. The money for these displays came from the $10,000 grant that the IEEE awarded to the museum.

We’ve also been discussing ways to improve the station and make it more accessible to museum visitors. What will probably happen is that another table will be installed so that the operating positions will be shifted 90 degrees and face the ramp. There’s also talk of installing an elevated floor so that we’re not so far down. I think these changes will make the station not only more accessible to visitors, but also to the hams who come down to take part in our activities.