Ham Help

[7.62x39]

Right up front, I know nothing about ham radio. So I'm looking for some help.

I was trying to track down a good friend of mine that I lost touch with many years ago. I was trying to track him down by his call letters (if that's the correct term) I know them by heart since that was his license plate. K1CZH. When I googled it, I got a return that said something about K1CZH now being Repeater W1OJ.

What is a repeater (other than in the firearm sense of the word) and why would you change call signs?

 

[edin508]

I looked that up on QRZ and got this. "The search for "K1CZH" produced no results." All I can think is that he is no longer a HAM user and let his lic. laps. Or, changed his call sign for some reason or another.
And here is an example of a repeater and what it does.
http://www.hamuniverse.com/repeater.html

What is his first name? Mike or Dean ?

 

[Realtor MA]

"No current or pre-ULS license history found for K1CZH"

I did a search on ae7q.com doesn't seem to be any history of that call sign.

 

[greencobra]

your buddy named roger by any chance? some guy from the area with that call sign died a while back. see this discussion i found here http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=28485.0;wap2

 

[7.62x39]

What is his first name? Mike or Dean ?

your buddy named roger by any chance? some guy from the area with that call sign died a while back.]

Both right. His first name was Dean, but he went by his middle name which was Roger.

From your link:
Named after Roger K1CZH, who usually was involved with young, attractive women, frequented the bar scene of the 1970s, drove flashy cars and wore good clothing.

That was him alright and yes, I also learned through my poking around yesterday that He passed on 7/29/11

"It is with deep regret that Roger, W1OJ is no longer with us. For over 25 years, the "OJ" repeater on 29.62 Mhz spanned the world with its high power and loyal following of thousands of hams. Roger pulled the machine off the air in May 2010 following his retirement from FEMA. Roger had been battling throat cancer for the last 2 years. He told me on Memorial Day weekend last year he wanted to spend more time and travel with his wife Saniye and tend to quality of life issues. Roger passed away last July 29. He as 66 . He spent his last days working SSB HF and contesting. 73 Roj, we're all gonna miss ya."

I was curious what it meant when it said K1CZH had become repeater W1OJ in a different post