Mike Koss, 58, was found in his workshop on the morning of March 28, 2011, and could not be revived by paramedics.
An accomplished DXer and contester, Koss had 326 confirmed DXCC countries and still holds the 10-meter CQWW record for the 9th call area, set in 1989. He owned, designed and maintained one of the best amateur radio stations in the Midwest, whose big signals could be heard during the three annual special event operations of W9IMS, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club.
Koss was also the driving force behind Special Event Station W87PAX, which commemorated the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis. The station logged more than 23,000 QSOs, which was considered a record for special event operations.
Public service also figured prominently in Koss' life: He used his hefty station to pass messages during hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Last year he spearheaded a volunteer project that cleaned up and repainted the U.S.S. Indianapolis Memorial in downtown Indianapolis, just in time for the survivors’ reunion. The ship was torpedoed in 1945, and only 317 of the original 1,196 crew members survived the sinking and subsequent shark attacks, exposure, extreme thirst and other rigors associated with spending nearly five days in the Pacific Ocean.
Industrial Communication Engineers (ICE), which Koss founded in 1989, is well known in the amateur community for lightning arrestors, line filters and other radio products. For information on ICE products, go to www.morganmfg.us
Last modified: 2011-11-02 02:33:56, 1769 bytes cached
