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A John Bryant article on any subject was always a great read.
Not only was the level of knowledge and research always first rate but his
style was always enthusiastic and down to earth as well, even when the subject
was a complex one.
Unlike some other hobby writing I've run across, there was no air of
superiority or sense that most other DXers were "peons" or "plebeians" who
could not possibly comprehend the esoteric concepts of electromagnetic
communications phenomena.
Rather John got right to business with a clever, easy-going, and sometimes
humorous style that got the ideas across to beginners and experts alike. There
was no belittling of others' efforts (as we've seen elsewhere) even when some
of those others were clearly barking up the wrong tree.
His articles in the Fine Tuning Proceedings books were legendary. His knowledge
in other realms (architecture, art, cars / industrial design, workshop tools /
practices, world cultures, languages, books, music, food, etc.) informed his
writings about exotic DX and high-tech receivers. This cross-pollination of
knowledge bases was vastly enriching, the stuff of top shelf novelists.
John is missed for sure. At least we can take some solace in that he inspired
Gary and numerous others to carry on with similar dedication, expertise, and
helping-hands mentoring that avoids pomposity and 'snark'. This is true whether
today's DX keepers of the flame use ultralights, SDRs, or traditional desktop
radios with knobs.
Fortunately some of John's writing is still online.
This one about the Kaz antenna is quite useful:
http://www.dxing.info/equipment/kaz_bryant.dx
To the best of my knowledge, he never got to test-drive Neil's next
development, the DKAZ. If he had, it would have been a great article.
R.I.P. John
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA
<<
The 9th of February is the 9th anniversary of John's untimely death,
following a fall from a ladder at his home in Stillwater, OK. I still
think of John often. He was a good friend, mentor, teacher, and first rate
DXer. Rest in Peace, John. Please take a moment for some thoughts for
this amazing gentleman. Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC.
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Thanks Walt,
John was a co-Founder of our Ultralight Radio group, and we lost a major part
of our leadership with his untimely accident.
We still miss him greatly, especially as an ocean coast DXer willing to push
his luck with Ultralight radios. He did set in motion a very creative trend,
though, with experimental breakthroughs in FSL antennas, ocean cliff
propagation discoveries and "Frequent Flyer" travel DXing. John probably would
have been an eager participant in all these activities.
Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)
>>
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