While reviewing the availability of various web controlled receivers I discovered that
Bob Arnold, N2JEU, died this summer at age 58.
Bob Arnold's web controlled Icom R75 in New York was one of the best online. I lurked on that receiver quite a bit in 2006-2007, which finally motivated me to dig my shortwave receivers out of the closet and get back into the SWL hobby. In fact, the first fall 2007 weekend after setting up my old Uniden Bearcat DX1000 (now the late DX1000 - it died in 2008), I heard Sycko Radio, Wolverine Radio and WTCR. I was hooked.
I'd also registered on the original DX Tuners, which I think was the brainchild of Kelly Lindman, 5B4AIT. After DX Tuners shut down, and before GlobalTuners was launched by Ivo Smits, during the interim Bob Arnold's Icom R75 was the best thing going for N. American SWLs and DXers.
Besides featuring an easy to operate interface (developed by Bob himself, if I'm recalling correctly), and a top notch receiver, Bob also provided an excellent outdoor antenna in a quiet location. I recall at one point a few years ago he switched from a popular brand sloper to a vertical, which wasn't as quiet but did seem to pull in a better variety of DX. I was able to hear the annual Radio St Helena broadcasts and several European pirates using Bob's receiver, as well as some daytime N. American pirate broadcasts that I'd never been able to catch at home on my own receiver.
Unfortunately no good deed goes unpunished. Bob made the R75 freely available, without requiring registration. After a handful of people abused access to the receiver Bob posted generalized warnings that he might shut down the receiver. The last straw came during a weather emergency when Bob's requests to give priority to the amateur radio emergency nets were ignored. In 2010 he locked down the receiver to listen-only mode to whatever frequency it happened to be tuned to.
My sincere condolences to Bob's family and friends. I'm glad I didn't procrastinate in 2010 in sending Bob an e-mail thanking him for having provided a terrific service for radio listeners.
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