On November 7th Canada lost a pioneer of Radio and KWARC lost a member who has donated countless time and products to our club.
Fred Hammond VE3HC died peacefully at St. Joseph's Hospital in Guelph on Sunday November 7, 1999 after a long illness. His cheerfulness and generosity will be missed by his family, friends and employees of Hammond Manufacturing and radio amateurs around the world. For over 60 years Fred helped to build Hammond Manufacturing with his brothers Len, Roy and Ken into one of Canada's oldest and largest electrical and electronic equipment manufacturer. An amateur for more than 70 years, Fred started building radios in 1923 and became a Radio Amateur in 1929. He was elevated to the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame in 1996 and -- among other accolades -- had been named Canadian Radio Amateur of the Year and was recently honoured by the Quarter Century Wireless Association for his 70 years . His contributions to Amateur Radio and Amateur Radio causes are legendary. Fred and his long time friend Tom Wong VE7BC were responsible bringing China back on the air in 1983 with BY1PK. ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, recalled Fred as an enthusiastic and generous supporter of the ARRL. ''Fred was one of our most loyal benefactors,'' he said. ''Hammond Manufacturing Company cabinets grace W1AW and the ARRL Lab through his beneficence.''
The museum has recently been reorganized and reopened to continue Fred's vision of preserving the history of radio for present and future generations. Fred was a founding member and past President of The Southern Ontario Chapter 73 of the Quarter Century Wireless Association. Through his leadership he built the local chapter to the largest chapter in the association. Funeral Services were held Thursday November the 11th from the Harcourt Memorial United Church in Guelph where a celebration of Fred's life was eulogized by Martin Rosenthal VE3MR and Fred's two sons Bill and Rob VE3EIL. Pallbearers for the funeral were Harold Braun VE3DWH, John Riddell VE3AMZ, Paul Cassel VE3SY, Em Mitro VA3EM, Rocco Furfaro VE3YJ, and Fred's grandson Ross Hammond. Over the years Fred and Hammond Manufacturing donated thousands of dollars of equipment to support club projects. The 2 metre KWARC project in the 60s and the Power Supply project in the 70s were but two projects were Fred's generosity was evident. A long time friend of Fred's, Martin Rosenthal VE3MR gave the Eulogy as follows:
Fred Hammond's name and call sign, VE3HC are respected and admired around the world. Perhaps Canada's best known amateur, because of his long and distinguished professional and amateur radio career. Fred began building radios in 1923 at the age of 11 and became a radio amateur in 1929. A true promoter of amateur radio, and always ready with a smile and advise. Fred was the essence of the true amateur radio spirit, honorable, patient and knowledgeable. Few other Canadian amateurs have contributed so much to the hobby. His generous support for worthy amateur radio causes is legend. Here are just a few of Fred's many honors and achievements: He founded the Guelph Amateur Radio Club in 1946; Was Radio Society of Ontario Amateur of the year in 1977; Received the ARRL certificate of Merit also in 1977; Honored by the CNIB Amateur Radio Club in 1978 for his assistance to the White Caners program by providing hundreds of prepunched cabinets for mounting special CNIB equipment; CRRL amateur of the year 1979; RAC Member of the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame 1997 and in May of this year was presented with a certificate from the QCWA for 70 years as a licenced radio amateur. So where do I come into this picture. Fred claimed he knew me since I was knee high to a transistor. My first recollection goes back to the fall of 1952. 1 was just out of high school and had entered our family business on a full time basis. Fred made regular visits to our store and would meet with my father discussing the sale of Hammond products. It was a year later when I got my amateur radio licence that the common bond started. Parts of Ontario were still on 25 cycle current. Amateur equipment advertised in the USA functioned on 60 cycles and was a no go in Toronto without Hammond custom replacement transformers. Projects listed in the monthly radio magazines usually called up chassis and enclosure sizes that were not compatible with the Hammond catalogue of products. This was the start of Fred's direct generosity to me. In later years, it became known as government jobs where miraculously no company paperwork was ever generated. Fred already had his own X-files. I often wondered how these invisible projects might have affected the bottom line when Hammond published their yearly financial reports. Fred did have one problem though, he could never say no. That was his nature. I am sure there are many here today who have called on Fred for assistance in the past. He was a very gracious benefactor to the world wide Ham community. From supplying W1AW new station racks to custom designed cabinets for VK3AMH and VK3HW in Australia. He did not know the meaning of the word 'one'. On most occasions with my requests I would reiterate to him time and time again, one Fred - only one. When my customized piece was received there would usually be two. When questioned Fred shrugged his shoulders and simply said, it will save me doing it for you again. He was uncanny in this regard and I must admit on many occasions I did require the second unit. The design for our home station called for 5 rack cabinets. Six were delivered. I explained there was only room for 5 units. If I used the 6th, I wouldn't be able to access the back of the cabinets. Not to worry he said and took it back. Fred never threw out anything and was always a good source of supply for obsolete components. Bill, Rob, somewhere in one of your factories for the last 20 years sits a special custom cabinet with a special paint finish and thanks but no thanks, I still can't use it. Over the years I have verbally thanked Fred for his time and efforts on my behalf. On November 14, 1997 1 got the urge to put it in writing. I will read this now and it best describes the feelings I had for Fred:
Fred was not a gourmet eater, when he found a product he liked he stuck with it. So it was for many years that in late August or early September, he would load up his vehicle with ripe Niagara peaches and take off to barter for his favourite honey. It was only a trip of 1700 km. each way. That's product loyalty. In 1983 Fred and Tom Wong, VE7BC were invited to China to be the first foreigners to operate the new club station in Beijing. BYIPK. This culminated a 10 year project where Fred was the kingpin in supplying a good portion of the required equipment to put China back on the amateur radio bands. There had been no activity from there since 1948. Fred was not a world traveler as such, except of course via short wave radio. He would take trips but these were usually by his car or van. So when he accepted the invitation from the Chinese government, this raised a lot of eyebrows. Fred as I said before was a simple eater and was concerned about a possible lack of familiar foods in China. So in order to protect his well being he made sure that he had a small travel case for clothing and a large suitcase to take an ample supply of corn flakes, digestive biscuits, assorted chocolate bars and Coca-Cola. Quite a combination. Can you ever imagine pouring Coke over corn flakes. Fred was very modest when it came to recognition. He preferred to be that anonymous face in the crowd. He did relent a little and on October 27, 1984 - a Fred Hammond appreciation dinner was convened at San Giovanni's Banquet Hall in Guelph. The room was packed to capacity. Speeches from government officials and many ham friends made it a fun evening and one to be fondly remembered. Fred suffered a severe stroke on June 21, 1998. It was a major shock for all concerned. The doctors stated that a stroke of this magnitude is usually fatal in 99 out of 100 cases. But Fred was a fighter and over the next 17 months there was a steady flow of hospital visits by the family and friends to help ease his pain, discomfort and frustrations. A website was established with updates of Fred's activities and condition. A local band was reunited aptly called the Ham Band lead by Rocco, VE3YJ and accompanied by John, VE3AMZ, Rich VE3DCC, Jerry VE3DYY, Emerick VA3EM, and Larry Best from the factory. Fred, the nurses and other patients enjoyed the eight performances that were given at the hospital. OK, guys when can we expect your first CD to be released. There was something about our visits. For some reason, our appearance always seemed to kick start his reflexes. Each visit started with a 15 minute firm handshake, followed by our long standing but friendly disagreement as to who was No. 1. Then there was always that twinkle in his eyes and a wide grin when he saw Truus. I know he looked forward to receiving her arriving and departing kisses. Besides good memories, Fred has left us all an invaluable legacy " The Hammond Museum of Radio". From a humble beginning in the back shed of his house on College Ave. West, a collection of radio memorabilia got started. Over the years, it grew and grew. With the walls bulging at the seams, it was decided to relocate to a large room in the small transformer plant. For a time this alleviated the space problem. But Fred was always looking for new additions, his collecting reputation brought many unsolicited items. He would spend numerous hours on each radio refinishing the wood case and then making the necessary repairs so that it worked. This goes for all the items on display. The word world class is very appropriate for this unusual display. Recently the complete collection was moved into a much larger space in the Southgate plant. Great efforts were made to catalogue every item for the first time and to reorganize the display areas to encompass different eras of broadcasting history. Items on exhibit start from the early 1900's onward. Fred was given a tour prior to the museum reopening and notwithstanding his eagle eye for perfection, he was only able to spot a few pieces out of sequence. Once these units were repositioned, he gave his full approval. He had over the years accumulated one of the finest radio collections in North America. It's simply a must see. Fred has now joined the ranks of other silent keys. Out there somewhere, he is being received with open arms by those friends who have preceded him. He's in good company. However, this leaves me wondering as to how he's going to handle the government jobs this time around. It's the good things in life that should be remembered and with Fred it was all good, super good. He will be sorely missed by many. For the Hammond families there has been much tragedy in their lives in recent times. With all of them in mind I would like to repeat the words that are engraved on my parents gravestone "There is a link death cannot sever, love and remembrance last forever". - - - - The Sanderson Hour Fred was a faithful check-in each evening to the Sanderson Hour on 3762.5000 kHz. The members of the Sanderson Hour republished a slightly modified poem first written for a Roast to Fred in 1984 which truly represents Fred's life.
FREDERICK OLIVER HAMMOND
An poem by Brenda
Furfaro (xyl of VE3YJ)
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A favorite personal project of Fred's was the 
