BCC Man of the Year 2018: DJ3WE

Nachdem in 2018 kein BCC Buffet stattfand, wurde Rudi, DJ3WE während des BCC-Buffets am 21. Juni 2019 als Man of the Year 2018 ausgezeichnet. Die Laudatio könnt Ihr hier nachlesen.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this year I am very proud to honor a member of our club, who has been on the air for a long time, longer than many of your‘s your personal age – 62 years!

He started his amateur radio career with the age of 17 back in 1957. I personally got to know him during some of the fieldday activities in the 1980s – actually when I was still a newcomer to amateur radio. Until today he is a strong fieldday enthusiast and keeps competing among the top competitors.

In 2004 he planned and managed a DX pedition to Nepal. With his personal conections to Nepal, many of the difficulties could be overcome easily but still it was a big adventure. I was also part of this Dxpediton and I remember the huge planning and logistic effort we managed, overcoming some of the buerocratic burdens and finally getting on the air as 9N7BCC from downtown Kathmandu.

In 2016 the then forming WRTC 2018 organisation approached him in urgent need of a fund raising manager. With his professional background as a former marketing manager for a world-known semiconductors manufacturer, he seemed to be a perfect match.

Initially reluctant to join, mentioning his age and his family as a reason, he gave in after a while and became the deputy – he felt that full responsability should not lie on his shoulders. But time after time he was drawn into the action and finally took this task very seriously, securing the financial foundation for WRTC 2018 with a total demand of 550 k€. Without his successful work, WRTC 2018 would not have been the great success it turned out to be.

Being a great storyteller and a regular contributor, he keeps the BCC contest reflector alive with his immortal contest stories and failure reports. With his wire dipole, multiply bent in several plains, he achieves great results and keeps adding points to the BCC club score.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me call on the stage: Rudolph Schwenger, DJ3WE

The BCC Man of the Year 2018 is – as some have probably guessed in the mean time – Rudolph Schwenger, DJ3WE.

Unfortunately Rudy could not be with us tonight due to personal committments.

So we hand over the award to his long time friend and colleague, Manfred, DK2PZ.