Well-known Contester, DXer, and DXpeditioner Carl Cook, AI6V/P49V (ex-WA6JUD), of Las Vegas, Nevada, died December 15. An ARRL Life Member, he was 74. Despite getting a rather late start, Cook went on to enjoy considerable success in Amateur Radio, and even casual DX contesters had P49V in their logs.

“Carl passed away at 3:30 this morning, in his sleep, per his wishes, just two days shy of his 75th birthday,” his wife Sue, AI6YL, said in a posting to the QRZnow website. “We sure had an amazing run during our seventeen years together.”

In posting word of Cook’s passing to the CQ-Contest reflector, his friend John Bayne, KK9A/P40A, said, “He was a great down-to-earth guy who will be sorely missed.”

On his QRZ.com web page, Cook recounted how he got into Amateur Radio in the 1970s, when he was 38, after installing an HF radio on his boat. He began listening on VHF, discovered VHF-UHF contesting, and got his Technician license, diving in as Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club Field Day chairman, serving one term as its president, and completing Worked All States on 6 meters. After upgrading to General in 1975, he enjoyed ARRL November Sweepstakes with the Northern California Contest Club, for which he also served a term as president.

His search for “DX locations where you could run a high rate” led him to Aruba, where he bought a “fixer-upper,” put together a station, and contested for 16 years. He sold the house in 2002 due to a heart problem, he explained on his QRZ.com web page.

Cook attended the first World Radiosport Team Championship event in Seattle in 1990, and, in 1996, he helped organize the WRTC in San Francisco. He raised funds for WRTC-2000 and WRTC-2006. His contest exploits earned him several Top 10 finishes and a world record or two.

The highlight of his years in Amateur Radio was being named to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 1997, he said. Cook was on the DXCC Honor Roll and held 5-Band DXCC.

Initially a phone contester, Cook eventually “got serious” about CW and began entering those contests. He and Sue, AI6YL/P40YL — an RTTY contesting enthusiast — bought another house on Aruba. He became P49V, and assembled a new station, where they would spend 3 months each year and enjoy contesting together. Over the years Cook had operated from locations around the globe, including Brunei, the Maldives, and Clipperton. — Thanks to John Bayne, KK9A/P40A, and QRZ.com