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Well-Known Contester, DXer Dies in Fall from Tower:

Created by The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 25 on 2003-06-21

Well-Known Contester, DXer Dies in Fall from Tower:

Well-known contester and DXer Steve Miller, N8SM (ex-WD8IXE), of Prosper,Texas, died June 15 as a result of a fall while working on his AmateurRadio tower. He was 38. An ARRL member, Miller had extensive experience intower work and antenna installation. With the assistance of several otherhams, Miller had erected a 136-foot tower on his property and installedseveral antennas as part of his overall effort to build a competitivecontesting station.

Details of the mishap that claimed Miller's life are not available.According to unofficial accounts, Miller had been working on his tower themorning of June 15, and, after a lunch break, told his wife, Radhicar,that he had another hour's work left. Later, she heard a noise from theyard and found her husband lying on the ground. Miller's wife called 911,but the rescue squad was unable to revive him.

ARRL antenna guru Dean Straw, N6BV--who had corresponded with Miller onseveral topics--was among those expressing shock and sadness at his death."Steve was always most responsive, and he always had the most intelligentcomments and questions concerning whatever technical topic we werediscussing," said Straw. "I will miss his innate, contagious enthusiasm."

First licensed as WD8IXE in 1977 at the age of 12, Miller--an Ohionative--enjoyed contesting and DXing. He was routinely active during theCW weekends of the CQ World Wide, ARRL International DX and ARRL NovemberSweepstakes events. He also operated as J68AG from St Lucia in theCaribbean and participated in a few DXpeditions, including several stintsas a member of the J6DX team in the 1980s and 1990s. He was an ARRL DXCCHonor Roll member, with 332 entities confirmed (mixed).

In addition to ARRL, Miller belonged to the North Texas Contest Clubhttp://www.qsl.net/ntcc/ and 10-10 Internationalhttp://www.ten-ten.org/. Besides ham radio, he enjoyed playing jazzsaxophone.

An Ohio State graduate, Miller worked for Texas Instruments as part of itsbroadband wireless access group in Dallas. Survivors include his wife andtheir young daughter. A memorial service was held June 19.

Source:

The ARRL LetterVol. 22, No. 25June 20, 2003

SABERSAW2003-07-16
Well-Known Contester, DXer Dies in Fall from Tower
Wow what can I say.. Steve was my neighbor while growing up and was also my Elmer. I just read about this and it seems like a cruel joke. He spent many many hours helping me learn CW. He helped me with building antenna's and let me "borrow" a radio, which after 13 years is still in my shack. Steve was a great guy aside from his achievments in contesting. Even though I have not seen him in 10 years I will miss him. Steve was the definition of a good Ham as well as a good human.
W4EF2003-07-15
Well-Known Contester, DXer Dies in Fall from Tower
I met Steve while attending school at Ohio State in Columbus in 1984. None of my friends from home were going to school, so I didn't really know anyone when I got there. Steve was a year or so ahead of me and introduced me to a lot of people. Through my friendship with Steve, I met Pat - N8VW, Jack - KA3GZS, Jeff - KU8E, Doc - KN8Z, the guys from the Mad River Radio Club, and probably a bunch that I am forgetting to mention. Steve helped renergize my interest in contesting and DXing. We both built stations at our home QTH's where would go on the long weekends and during breaks to chase low-band DX. It was great fun. Back in Columbus we did our best to build W8LT into a contest station on a non-existent budget. I attended the Dayton hamvention that first year at Ohio State and got my extra class license on the trip down to stay with Steve at his house in Centerville just outside Dayton. We all had a great time drinking too much and running around the hospitality suites meeting all the of contest and DX folks. Many contest and DX adventures and fun followed over the next 4 years. All the while Steve managed to excel in his electrical engineering studies and pursue his love of music. Being a serious-minded one-track- mind kind of guy, I always admired his ability to juggle all of these different interests and activities while at the same time keeping a sense of fun about everything.

Although we lost touch to some extent after we finished school, we did bump into each other from time-to-time, either on the air or on the towertalk internet reflector. It was great to see that Steve's dreams were coming true with his new family and budding contest station. Words can't describe just how sorry I am that this tragic accident cut things short for him. I was hoping that we would both eventually get our chance to retire to the "gal bladder net" as every old timer should.

RIP OT.............

Mike, W4EF......................................
SOUNDCHASM2003-06-30
RE: Well-Known Contester, DXer Dies in Fall from T
I am a musician friend of Steve's from Ohio. Steve's tutelage got me started in recording. This is an unbelievable tragedy. As a human being, I can't express the quality of individual he was. This loss is immeasureable to family and friends. As to the question of the technical details of the fall, the family is stumped. Steve was a qualified climber and used a harness. He planned every move in advance. The police say the climbing equipment was not faulty and the tower did not fail. The two possibilities are human error, and, according to family, there were other males who had heart attacks at VERY young ages. The only comfort I find is in the latter conclusion. He landed feet first and could not have suffered. He fell about a third of the way up.

I don't know if he was going up to repair ice damage or an install or upgrade. Please remember his wife, daughter and family in your thoughts and meditations.

And I implore all of you to be careful. No accident of this magnitude is worth the price.
Very Respectfully,
Greg
Reply to a comment by : K9PO on 2003-06-27

Has anyone found out anything else about this? It seems like there may be something for us to learn from his unfortunate accident. In that way perhaps his death will be at least provide some good by maybe preventing another death. I for one am always afraid of being on a tower and as a non-professional tower climber like most hams I look to keep learning so that I do not end as this person has. Scott
HAMIL2003-06-29
RE: Well-Known Contester, DXer Dies in Fall from T
I worked on MD-11s for McDonnell-Douglas and safety harnesses work. We had a gut knocked off a 50 ft high stand and his stopped his fall.KI4BDS
Reply to a comment by : K9PO on 2003-06-27

Has anyone found out anything else about this? It seems like there may be something for us to learn from his unfortunate accident. In that way perhaps his death will be at least provide some good by maybe preventing another death. I for one am always afraid of being on a tower and as a non-professional tower climber like most hams I look to keep learning so that I do not end as this person has. Scott
K9PO2003-06-27
Well-Known Contester, DXer Dies in Fall from Tower
Has anyone found out anything else about this? It seems like there may be something for us to learn from his unfortunate accident. In that way perhaps his death will be at least provide some good by maybe preventing another death.

I for one am always afraid of being on a tower and as a non-professional tower climber like most hams I look to keep learning so that I do not end as this person has.

Scott