It is with sadness that we were informed today that our colleague Loris Papadopoulos, 5B4FN, from Nicosia, became a Silent Key on 28 Feb 2023 at 19:00 at the age of 67.
Loris was known as a super handyman among fellow radio amateurs. He enjoyed CW communications, as well as home-brewing. There is probably nothing he couldn’t construct once he set his mind to it. In addition to amateur radio, Loris was involved for many years with remote-controlled airplanes, archery as well as Scouting.
Loris followed studies in Merchant Shipping in 1976, and was licensed as a radio amateur in 1977-1978. Following his studies, he worked on various merchant ships for a period of 6-7 years. During his shipping days, Loris developed a great interest in Morse code, and worked mainly as the ship communications officer.
During the mid-80s, a few youngsters persuaded Loris to hold a few CW lessons. One of those lessons has stuck in memory. After the session, Loris offered to drive us home. We got into his min-bus vehicle. As soon as he set off, he switched on his mobile HF rig, and begun tapping away on a CW paddle while zooming through town.
Loris had many stories to tell of his amateur radio activities. One of those stories was especially entertaining. The event took place only a few years after the 1974 war in Cyprus. The security services at that time were in general on edge. One summer night, a friend called Loris up and proposed a visit to Xyliatos dam. His friend would do some fishing at the dam. Loris decided to do a bit of portable CW operating. While Loris was tapping away on this straight key, in the dead of night, his friend setup a number of fishing poles, using some chemical lights to spot any fishing pole movement. As luck would have it, the fishing poles aligned themselves. At the same time, a game division patrol passing by the area saw the aligned lights, and heard the Morse code signals from a distance. As a result, both Loris and his friend were arrested on the charge of preparing an illegal sea plane landing strip in the dam!!
Lori’s funeral will be held on Friday, 3/3/2023 at the Holy Church of Saint Paul, in Agios Pavlos in Nicosia, at 11:00am.
