Inducted May 2025
Uli was was playing around with crystal detectors when he was only 10 years old. In 1953, at the age of 15, he applied for an Amateur Radio License, but was rejected, because they had a minimum age of 18 years, so he became a very active SWL. Finally, in 1955 at the age of 17, the authorities allowed him to take the official examination, and he received the callsign DJ2YA as the youngest ham from Germany. In November the same year, he participated in the CQWW CW Contest as Single Op 80m and received his first certificate finishing as 2nd in DL.
Uli contributed to Amateur Radio Contesting in many ways, not only as an avid and skilled operator with countless contest QSOs but also in many support functions. For ten years, he served as chairman of the WAEDC committee. He is one of the founding members of the Rhein Ruhr DX Association (RRDXA) and still one of its most active members today. He participated in two WRTCs, as a competitor (with DJ6QT) in 1996 and as a referee in 2000.
As the Bavarian Contest Club (BCC) rose to challenge the Rhein Ruhr DX Association (RRDXA), tempers often rose between the young challengers and older contesters. It was Uli’s merit who cooled down tensions and quarrels among the competitors.
ON4UN chose Uli as an editor of the chapter “Verticals” in his renowned book “Low Band DXing”. Uli, being an English teacher at college as his profession, it became an easy task for him to support John’s work.
During WRTC 2018 in Germany, Uli spearheaded the technical organization and planning of the antenna concept for all competition stations and was heavily involved in searching for suitable station sites to create a real level playing field.
The contest station CT3L on Madeira, initiated by Walter, DJ6QT, remained active after his passing in 2016 under CR3W. Uli was and still is one of the main contributors to this contest beacon, which nowadays serves as a home for many joint operations by RRDXA and BCC.