In February 2016, we lost our dear friend Jack Ritter, W0UCE, to the ranks of silent keys.In February 2016, we lost our dear friend Jack Ritter, W0UCE, to the ranks of silent keys.
Jack had been involved at every stage of the decade of fiddling, research and experimentation leading to the public introduction of the FCP in the 2012 May/June National Contest Journal. Jack was often the first to try out a new thought, just to see what happened. Early on we literally burned up or otherwise destroyed a lot of ferrite devices at W0UCE, once starting a fire in his utility building.
Comedic destruction continued until we came across photo 9-G and related text in balun guru W2FMI's book.** Taking inspiration from Jerry's #2 powdered iron core choice for tuning harsh impedances, today's powdered iron toroidal isolation transformer was born, which Jack was not able to set on fire, or even get warm, ending the long string of comical what-did-you-burn-up-today stories.
Jack maintained all the web material on the FCP and contributed drawings we still use. Jack's original FCP drawing from 2011 is the opening for our home page, still communicating the basic FCP idea in a single picture. In Jack's time, there were over 40,000 hits on his "K2AV Antennas" section.
Many knew Jack as "Chef Archie" with or without the Shriner's Parade clown suit. Chef Archie mentioned in a PVRC club or multi-op event meant the food would be memorable. I will forever miss Jack's Loaded Potato Leek Soup.
Jack's friendship, gruff I-can-say-anything-I-want-to-family-and-friends humor, his mischievous pushy advice toward inventing solutions and getting things done, all his service to us, are hard to put into words. We will always miss Jack. -- Guy, K2AV
Those looking for other W0UCE web material can find Jack's final web site archived here on the "Wayback Machine".
!!! Please do not use the Wayback archive or the NCJ magazine article for consultation on the FCP and low band RF loss mitigation!!!
The FCP, RF loss material and construction details under Jack's old "K2AV Antennas" tab cannot be maintained on the archive. Certain archive and article material is obsolete, without essential upgrades from lessons learned in installations since 2012. Entire new sections are missing. Use the web site you are reading now for new and currently maintained material.
** "Understanding, Building, and Using Baluns and Ununs. Theory and Paractical Designs for the Experimenter", Jerry Sevick W2FMI (SK), copyright 2003, CQ Communications, Inc., Hicksville, NY, Chapter 9 - Baluns for Antenna Tuners.