It is with much sadness to report that John Plenderleith, 9M6XRO, passed away yesterday 4th December, John was first licensed in 1960 as GM3OOK in Ayrshire, Scotland. He operated from Singapore for about 10 years as 9V1RS, then moved to the Isle of Man as GD3OOK, then to Norfolk as G3OOK, including several years /MM. John retired to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, in 2005 and after one year as 9M6/G3OOK became 9M6XRO.
John logged over 250 thousand QSOs with his personal call signs often travelling on DXpeditons as a team member, adding many more thousands of contacts from many rare locations. John’s favourite mode was CW, but was comfortable on any mode, recently trying his hand with FT8 which he gave many all over the world an ATNO, John’s CW was exceptional, he was so accurate that over the last 10 years I rarely had any busted call enquiries. I first met John in 2011 when we operated together as team members on 4W6A, John was one of the CW ops and was extremely dedicated to his CW seat and was happy sitting for many, many hours and only wanted to stop when it was time for a beer.
A keen contester, John was active on most weekend contests, also chased DXCC and had Mixed 326 DXCC confirmed. CW 309, Phone 270, Digital 244.
His previous calls included: 3DA0OK, Op at 4W6A, Op at 5W8A (2013), 7P8OK, Op at 9M4SLL (Spratly), 9V1RS, A25OOK, C91XO, CU2/G3OOK/P, EL0A, G3OOK, GD3OOK, GM3OOK, Op at N8A (2013 from American Samoa KH8), V8FRO, V85/9M6XRO, Op at W8A (2013 from American Samoa KH8), XU7XRO, YB9/GM3OOK, ZL/GD3OOK (OC-201), Op at ZL9HR and ZS6/GM3OOK.
9M6XRO member of CDXC, GMDX, ISWL 9M6-6982, RNARS 0437
A true gentleman, great CW operator and friend. RIP John.
