John Tom Foster, N6FVY - Silent Key
It is with great sadness that we share the passing of our friend, mentor, and longtime club member, John “Tom” Foster, N6FVY, who became a Silent Key on April 27, 2025, at the age of 79.
Tom’s fingerprints are on nearly every part of what makes our club work. He was a dedicated member of CERT, serving as the Southern Monterey CERT advisor and lending his expertise to South Monterey CERT and ARES. That work traces back to 2009, when a wildfire near Bryson-Hesperia led Ann Brown, KG6TZO, to found the South Monterey CERT Association. Seeing the value of amateur radio for emergency communications, she asked Tom and Jack Lindley, W6YOY, to teach a license class to the community — the first of many Tom would go on to teach starting in February 2011.
Tom’s own love of Morse code began in the Boy Scouts, where he earned his first license, Novice WB6TLZ, in 1961, before serving as a Navy Communications Technician. He went on to teach Morse code through CWOps, and held a weekly training net every Wednesday night on the local repeater system he helped establish. A Laurel VEC Volunteer Examiner, he taught and licensed more than 100 new hams over the years, both in person and over Zoom, opening the door to amateur radio for newcomers who might never have earned their license without his patience and encouragement.
Tom organized our Field Day activities for years and built the communications trailer that still serves the club today. At club meetings, CERT events, and out in the field, he taught wilderness safety, knot tying, antenna building, and coax repair, sharing the practical, hands-on skills that make amateur radio operators ready for anything.
Tom’s dedication to training new hams lives on at wednettraining.com, the website he built for the Wednesday net and the license classes he started.
We extend our deepest condolences to Tom’s wife, Grace Foster, W6ULW, and the rest of his family. Tom’s legacy lives on in every operator he trained and every piece of gear he helped build. He will be deeply missed.
