Aloha, Richard

E' scomparso a 67 anni, nella sua abitazione alle isole Hawaii, da dove segnalava mirabolanti ascolti in onde medie con le sue lunghe antenne beverages, uno dei mostri sacri del DX anglosassone, Richard E. Wood.

Richard non era americano, ma inglese, e la sua professione di linguista lo aveva portato nelle università di mezzo mondo, dalla Norvegia all'Arabia Saudita. Era un instancabile divulgatore dello studio delle lingue a fini radiofonici (per l'identificazione delle stazioni) e viceversa: la radio come strumento di apprendimento linguistico. Il ricordo estemporaneo e toccante che riporto qui viene da un'altra figura storica, John Callarman (autore della foto del National Radio Club qui riportata, che ritrae Wood, sulla sinistra, insieme a Ron Schatz, altro gigante del DX che non c'è più). Come dice Callarman, Wood faceva parte della seconda generazione di hobbysti di alto livello, quelli cresciuti dopo la seconda guerra mondiale.
Addio, professor Wood.

Richard Wood was probably best known as a linguist who shared his knowledge of how to identify languages with DX'ers. His original home was Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, but as a traveling university professor of languages, he taught above the Arctic Circle in Norway, in the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and, I think, several other overseas locations, at the University of Indiana, at a state university in New Hampshire, at a small private university on Long Island, and at Southeast Missouri State University, in Cape Girardeau, Mo., to name a few as he traveled the world, locating for a year or two at the sites he chose.
He was intensely active on shortwave, AM, FM, and TV DX, and attended many radio club conventions in the '60s, '70s and '80s.
When he was at SEMo, less than 100 miles from where I lived for 30 years in Mt. Vernon, Ill., he and I exchanged visits, and he was one of very few DX'ers my wife remembers with positive thoughts. My most successful FM DX was done on a Heathkit tuner (I forget the model number) that I had purchased from Richard.
Richard was not afraid to express his opinions about DX issues, and I understood that some DX'ers were uncomfortable about that, but I had nothing but good vibes from my relationship with him. Of the second wave of DX'ers who became adults after World War II, Richard Wood was one of the true giants.