George Sofronas SV1ELF, a member of RAAWG since 2006, a friend, a key figure of SZ1A, the person behind most of the station’s electronic constructions, a frequent contributor to our website, a well-known DXer, especially on the low bands, a beloved and good-hearted person, and a family man, passed away today, September 20, 2023…
George was born on December 31, 1967, and lived with his family (his wife Konstantina and their three children Irene, Dimitra, and Giannis) in Peristeri, Attica. He was an Electrical Engineer by profession and had been working at the General Secretariat of Sports in recent years.
He became a radio amateur many years ago and held the call sign SV1ELF. Due to his particular interest in low-frequency bands and 160m, we often referred to him as Extra Low Frequency…
Beyond his passion for DXing, George was deeply involved in building electronics. He undertook and completed numerous electronic projects. Many of them adorn and serve the operation of the RAAWG contest station, SZ1A. In addition to those at the station, he had worked on and built HF amplifiers, transverters, constructions for QO100, rotor interfaces, many Arduino-based projects, and much more. Apparently, the Almighty needed a good electronic expert and took him away from us…
Apart from his work for our station (and for many other fellow radio amateurs, as George was always there for everyone), he contributed in many other ways: always the first to join work teams and the first to donate whenever we needed something for the station. This made him one of the major sponsors of SZ1A and part of our Hall of Fame! He also participated many times as an operator with us in various contests.
Above all, George was a good person. Gentle, honest, kind… No one had anything bad to say about him. Everyone loved him, and he was there for all of us. We shared our concerns with him, sought his advice, made plans together that he was always willing to improve and enhance, and so on. His calmness and advice always helped us make the right decisions. We will miss him a lot… And because he left suddenly and at such a young age…
However, he will always live in our hearts, in our thoughts, at our station… After all, people die when we forget them, and we will never forget George!
…-.- dear friend!
