It is with regret that we inform members of the passing of St. George Amateur Radio Society member Stephen Kuhl VK2TQ at the age of 82. Stephen passed at Liverpool hospital on Monday 27th April after a short illness.

Educated at the Scots College, Stephen and his father operated a company in Mascot aptly named Aviation Tooling. That's what they did - made tools and devices for the aviation industry. Stephen continued the business until a few years ago. His philosophy was that no part that left his factory would ever come back due to a manufacturing fault and that his handshake was his bond.

Stephen was first licensed in the early 1960's as VK2ZSK. Young hams like Stephen got on the air using war surplus and disposal equipment; building, modifying and scrounging what they could. Stephen was very active in mobile VHF, in the days when running your transmitter mobile at night, often an old modified crystal locked taxi radio with power hungry valves, could result in your headlights going yellow, the battery going flat and your car stopping.

During the late 1960's and 1970's Stephen was part of the “Instant Audience”, a group of up to about 30 young amateurs who would suddenly appear at various random amateur radio events. Stephen liked attending WIA and later ARNSW events at Artarmon, Harris Park and more recently at Dural, with his final visit in March this year. Stephen attended most Annual General Meetings where he often fell asleep.

A funeral service for Stephen will be held at Macquarie Park Cemetery (Cnr Delhi and Plassey roads North Ryde) on Friday 8th May 2026, commencing at 10 am. The service will be held in the Roman Catholic lawn, block 14, plot 0524. Rev Ken Fisher will officiate at the graveside. The music Stephen requested will be played on speaker at the grave site.

Afterwards a celebration of Stephen's life will be held at the North Ryde RSL, in the "Green Bar", from 11.00 am. If you will be attending, for catering purposes please RSVP to Peter O'Connell by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Information provided by Peter VK2EMU

On behalf of The St George Amateur Radio Society