Hi friends,

It's with a very heavy heart that I must announced that Mert Nellis, W0UFO, passed away peacefully on December 19th, 2024.? Mert was 99 years old and less than three months away from his 100th birthday (March 2).? His mind was still ss sharp as ever, showing no signs of his age.

Mert fell and broke his right hip about 5 years ago and that surgery was successful, allowing him walk and even drive his car again. Unfortunately, he fell again about a month ago and broke his other hip.? This hip replacement surgery did not go as well as the first and he went into hospice care about 2 weeks after.

Mert has been an active QRPer since first licensed in June, 1941 (83 years ago).?? He's the only ham that I ever knew who was told to shut down his station on December 11, 1941 (Pearl Harbor Day) as World War II commenced. Mert served in the Navy for 23 years (active and reserve) and, because of his head-start in electronic knowledge as a ham, the Navy sent him to Iowa State University for formal electronics training.? After being an instructor in the Navy he was a college professor (Electrical Engineering) at Michigan State University for a few years before moving on to start and run several business involving electronics, one being designing and constructing custom transformers.

Mert published countless articles in QST and QRP Quarterly and was an avid homebrewer.? For the last several years Mert lived in a condo so he no longer had his big antennas, but he still kept active in many QRP contests as well as some DX contests. He attended FDIM and OzarkCon for more than 25 years, loving to socialize and compare notes with his many friends.? He usually had a project or two to demonstrate at FDIM, including his entry in the 2-transistor power amplifier contest and other gizmos that he developed. We often sat in a restaurant where Mert pulled out a napkin and started drawing schematics and formulas showing how things "used to be built".?

Mert has been a mentor for me for ALL of my projects through the years as well as for countless other people.? He’s always been my first Beta tester, providing valuable feedback and suggestions about how to make the projects better.?

Mert was at peace with the world as well as with God when he passed away. My friend (Chuck Stroud, KA8HDE) and I prayed with him when he was in hospice care at the convalescence home so he was at peace.

So long, dear friend.? As Mert told us a few days ago, "See you in heaven.? I'll be waiting for you".

73,

-Craig, AA0ZZ