Born September 18, 1921, Dick had an interest in radio from an early age. He would carry around a small notebook in which he would copy CW from the air. When he had the book full, and it was a thick book, he felt that he could then take the exam for his license. The speed requirement was 12 or 13 wpm, but by the time that Dick took his exam he was already copying at 16 or 17 wpm. Dick was first licensed in 1940, at the age of 19.

A mentor and friend was the legendary Mike Premus, W2OY who was licensed 1919 to 1967. After W.W.II, Mike didn’t want to bother getting back on the air, but Dick talked him into it. That’s an interesting bit of trivia that Dick used to like to chuckle about. It was at Dick’s urging that Mike applied for a new W2 call, and was issued W2OY. Prior to that he had been W8MLR, but W2MLR wasn’t available after the war. Dick, on the other hand, had W8UJR, and W2UJR was available after FCC had re-ordered the call districts, and took New York State out of the 8th district.

In the fifties and sixties Dick was THE BIGGEST AM signal in the northeast on 75 meters. In those days he ran his push pull 250THs on AM, modulated by P.P. 810s. The R.F. section (and its power supply) was in one seven-foot rack cabinet, and the A.F. section (and its power supply) was another. What a rig that was, and when he pushed it into his two element collinear array at 60 feet, it was the biggest signal in the northeast. It was so big that in the mid 1960s, the slop buckets put on 4-KW rigs with 75-meter beams just to QRM him. He finally got disgusted with it all, and left 75 AM forever.

Most recently, Dick could be found on 1.888AM early mornings like clockwork. Dick became the backbone of the early morning 160m group, which often had a 10-15 member roundtable from throughout the Northeast, with check-ins as far away as the Midwest. Dick was also a member of the Gray Hair Net holding number 116, in addition to keeping other skeds with friends outside the local area via CW and AM.

Dick’s transmitters, except for the Collins 32V2, were all home brew. Mounted in large seven-foot racks with crinkle black panels, it was like traveling back to the fifties. The glowing tubes, the whirl of blowers and the hum of high voltage transformers were something that needed to be seen and felt to be understood. For high voltage supplies on some of the transmitters, Dick was using what he termed "pole pigs", old power pole transformers. He had reversed the installation, using the secondary windings as the primary to obtain his HV. Dick was a firm believer in open wire feedlines, and used homemade acrylic insulators between the wires.

Dick certainly became a fixture on 160 AM, but his first love was always CW. And he was a great CW op with his Vibroplex bug, he was easily able to copy and send 35 wpm CW in his head. After becoming disgusted with the current state of 75 meter AM, he dismantled the 75 meter rig with it’s 810 modulators, and built up a 40 meter C.W. rig with P.P. 810s in that rack cabinet instead. W2UJR was well known and respected throughout the Northeast for his professional operating manner, and extensive technical knowledge.

As a founding member of the Lancaster Amateur Radio Club, Dick served faithfully as club Secretary for over 10 years. He was the backbone of the club, instrumental in both its growth and outreach. A fixture at club events, you could always count upon Dick to run the weekly Net, help with the hamfest, show up at Field Day, or coordinate the July 4th Parade. He always had time for people. And when something had to be done, and no one else would do it, Dick would take up the challenge without a complaint.

Dick was also an ARRL VE, and ran the monthly exam sessions in the Lancaster area for over 10 years. Pat NW2I, his assistant at VE sessions for many years relates, "His teaching ability was superb and yet he would take no credit for himself, but became delightfully proud to know when a new ham accomplished another ladder of success. He looked forward to every VE session; he had tested over 2500 candidates. "You passed"; he would say and shake another outstretched hand. If the candidate needed to try again, he encouraged each one to do so."

Dick became ill in December of 1997. Although I did not know it then, Dick had developed terminal cancer. In the last 6 months of life, fighting cancer, Dick remained the same caring, dedicated person as always. Marie, his wife of 43 years, explained, "Dick was determined to see the end of the century, the year 2000. And what Dick sets his mind to he accomplishes." Unable to sleep comfortably due to the pain, Dick would often be awake and in the ham shack at 4:00 AM. Sometimes he would call his usual CQ "Anyone around this morning?" if he felt good, or just stand by listening.

Despite the pain of his illness, Dick remained active on the air until just a few weeks before his death, continuing his many friendships and dispensing advice to his radio friends. Richard H. Haungs, W2UJR, passed away May 15, 1998. At the age of 77, after 58 years of hamming, Dick became a Silent Key.

The W2UJR callsign was adopted by the Amplitude Modulation Society of Buffalo to honor Dick and his achievements.