W6HDC - Denny Chase
March 6, 2023 It is with great sorrow to report Denny Chase (W6HDC), also known in the old days as (KA6KTA) passed away this morning following a long fight with cancer. Denny is well known by many as a past president of Cactus Radio Club, and long-time dedicated Cactus volunteer. Denny was instrumental in the growth of the intertie system and developed strong personal relationships with many of our affiliate clubs. His knowledge, professionalism, and friendship will be deeply missed. On a personal note, Denny was my sponsor into Cactus back in the 1970’s. He and his wife LaDonna quickly became our personal friends and soon after, Denny was my best man at my wedding and La Donna was our maid-of-honor. All these years later, we always remained close. This is a huge loss both personally, and for Cactus. May he be forever remembered for all his contributions to this organization, as well as, for all of the great friendships he developed with so many people who were lucky enough to have met and spent time with him. It is my understanding there will not be any public service, at Denny’s request. For those who would like to send their regards, may do so via USPS. His home address is good in QRZ or within the FCC database online. Rest peacefully with God my friend. We will all deeply miss you…. Don Braun (KB6BOB) & Tracy Braun (KB6BAB)
This is a very sad time for Denny’s sweet wife LaDonna, his family and myself too. I met Denny in the mid 1990’s and I was very new to ham radio. I took an interest in the mechanics of repeaters and I began talking to Denny about getting involved in the process. Not long after that I was sitting in his work shop tuning mitrek link radios and boy there were a bunch of them. This then progressed to traveling to mountain tops for installation and maintenance with Denny. During this time frame Denny came up with the idea of starting a Cactus open repeater which came to be known as CORA. To this day, thanks to Denny has become very successful. For those of you that truly new Denny, he loved his secret squirrel frequencies in which we talked on every night at 8:15pm sharp. We talked about everything from ham radio to trying to solve all the world’s problems. Even during his worst of his illness he would always show up on the radio or cell phone at 8:15. I truly valued his friendship and all the knowledge he passed onto me. Forever missed RIP my friend. Ron Boyd
Very sad news. I met Denny in 1996 at my membership interview. It lasted 4 hours and I got a great history session. We became friends and started servicing the radios in San Diego together. With road trips to Telegraph, Potato Patch, and Potosi. Between radio and aviation we were never at a loss of something to talk about. He was the best friend and I shall miss him. RIP my friend. Ken
Very sorry to hear this. Denny spent a good bit of his life building and doing for Cactus, including a stint in the unenviable position of President and GM. He moved us into incorporation and acquired use of a number of sites that are key to our continued operations. Denny pushed the construction of Palomar based sites, and with others, helped Rick work the software into stable operation. He battled health issues, conflicting medications and difficult treatments for many many years. Now he is at rest. We will miss him Robin
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