RCA Proceedings Spring 2021

Proceedings

SPRING 2021

PLAN AHEAD AS RCA HEADS TO DENVER FOR THE 2021 BANQUET & TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM Dr. Martin “Marty” Cooper, one of Time magazine's “100 Best Inventors in History,” will be featured at the 2021 Banquet

INSIDE: Details on the 2021 RCA Banquet and Technical Symposium in Denver 2020 Virtual Technical Symposium a Huge Success!

Ham Radio Forms a Planet-Sized Space Weather Sensor Network Brothers in Wireless Part II: John Diblasi, Radio Pioneer E. Lilian Todd: Lawyer, Inventor, and the Unlikely Co-Founder of The Radio Club of America 1

Save the date!

Education

Networking

Exhibits

And more…

Find out more at apco2021.org 2

SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

2021 BOARD LISTING PRESIDENT John Facella P.E.* EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Nathan "Chip" Cohen, Ph.D.* VICE PRESIDENT David P. Bart* VICE PRESIDENT/COUNSEL Chester "Barney" Scholl, Jr.* TREASURER Ronald J. Jakubowski* SECRETARY Margaret J. Lyons, PE, PMP* DIRECTORS Robert Balais Rich Berliner Ernie Blair Dr. James Breakall Charles Kirmuss Carl Mathis Bruce Mcintyre Carole Perry Don Root Paul Scutieri Dr. Julio Urbina William Waugamann Jane Winter PRESIDENTS EMERITI Steven L. Aldinger Gaetano “Tom” Amoscato Sandra Black John “Jack” Brennan Phillip M. Casciano Mercy S. Contreras Timothy Duffy Mal Gurian Carroll Hollingsworth* Bruce R. McIntyre Stan Reubenstein Anthony “Tony” Sabino, Jr. Raymond C. Trott, P.E. STAFF Amy Beckham, Executive Secretary Miki Tufto, Membership and Order Fulfillment COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS 1921 Transatlantic Test Centennial:** Tim Duffy Awards & Fellows: Bruce McIntyre Banquet: Margaret Lyons / Paul Scutieri Constitution & By-Laws: Chester “Barney” Scholl, Jr. Education: Julio Urbina Finance: Phil Casciano / Ron Jakubowski Fundraising:** Jane Winter Historical/Museums & Archives:** Carroll Hollingsworth Interview & Networking Series:** Tim Duffy Keeping RCA Vibrant:** Margaret J. Lyons, PE, PMP Marketing, Endowment Policy & Onboarding:** Open Membership: Open Nominations & Elections: Robert Balais Operations Handbook:** Bruce McIntyre Publications: David P. Bart RCA Radio Amateur Club License:** Chip Cohen RCA Regional Conferences: Ernie Blair Rocky Mountain Section:** Charles Kirmuss Scholarship Fund: Alan Spindel Sponsors:** Jane Winter / Jon Paul Beauchamp Strategic Planning:** David Bart / Chip Cohen Technical Symposium:** Jim Breakall Website:** John A. Facella, PE, C.Eng. Youth Activities: Carole Perry *Executive Committee Member **Ad Hoc Committee

THE PROCEEDINGS SPRING 2021 | Volume 92, Number 1

The Radio Club of America, Inc. Honoring the Past, Committed to the Future

HEADQUARTERS OFFICE: 13570 Grove Drive #302 Maple Grove MN 55311 | (612) 405-2012 amy@radioclubofamerica.org | www.radioclubofamerica.org

CONTENTS From Your President............................................................................................................ 4 From the Publications Chairman.......................................................................................... 5 Special Announcement: RCA 2021 Banquet to Feature Dr. Marty Cooper............................. 6 2020 Technical Symposium a Huge Success!...................................................................... 8 2020 Technical Symposium Sponsors.................................................................................. 9 2020 Technical Symposium Snapshots...............................................................................10 2020 Award Recipients.......................................................................................................12 2020 Fellows......................................................................................................................13 2020 Technical Symposium Awards and Videos on YouTube...............................................14 RCA News RCA Scholarship Committee Announces 2021 Awards and New Programs.....................16 RCA and IWCE Welcome 2020 Young Wireless Professionals..........................................17 RCA’s Virtual Interview Series Continues........................................................................18 RCA Debuts New Website...............................................................................................19 The Utilities Technology Council and RCA Announce New Partnership........................... 20 Silent Key: Tom Peterson, Jr................................................................................................21 Reasons to Attend the 2021 RCA Banquet and Technical Symposium................................ 22 2021 Technical Symposium............................................................................................... 23 2021 Technical Symposium Call for Abstracts....................................................................24 2021 Technical Symposium will Celebrate Centennial of 1921 Transatlantic Tests............ 25 Ham Radio Forms a Planet-Sized Space Weather Sensor Network..................................... 26 Ionosphere-Holes and Radio Propagation.......................................................................... 33 The Next Step in the Legacy of Guglielmo Marconi............................................................. 36 Brothers in Wireless – Part II: John Diblasi, Radio Pioneer................................................. 39 E. Lilian Todd: The Unlikely Co-Founder of The Radio Club of America............................... 45 News Items NSF Planning to Decommission Arecibo Observatory’s 305-meter Telescope................. 54 Laser-Driven Radio Transmitter has a Vintage Sound.................................................... 56 New Quantum Receiver the First to Detect Entire Radio Frequency Spectrum................ 58 Dark-Coated Starlink Satellites are Better but not Perfect, Say Astronomers................ 60 Undersea Expedition to Retrieve Titanic’s Radio............................................................ 62 Call for Papers / Editorials..... ..................................................................................................64 2021 Sponsorship Opportunities....................................................................................... 65 Business Directory............................................................................................................. 66 RCA Calendar & Events..................................................................................................... 68 Opportunities to Support Radio Club of America................................................................ 69 TECHNICAL EDITOR John S. “Jack” Belrose, Ph.D., VE2CV 811-1081 Ambleside Dr. Ottawa, ON K2B 8C8, Canada (613) 721-7587; jsbelrose@gmail.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR David P. Bart 8512 Kedvale Ave. Skokie, IL 60076 (847) 542-9873; jbart1964@gmail.com

ADVERTISING CONTACT Amy Beckham (612) 430-6995; Amy@radioclubofAmerica.org PRODUCTION Sapphyre Group PROCEEDINGS SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR Nathan “Chip” Cohen, Ph.D.

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FROM YOUR PRESIDENT This issue of the RCA Proceedings brings great news about many developments at the Radio Club of America. Much of what I discussed in the last issue of the Aerogram has been accomplished, so here is what is new as of May 2021.

• We just completed an online survey of some of our members; the first survey since 2017. The response rate was excellent: 34%! We will be using these results to craft some new benefits for RCA members.

• The survey revealed that there was interest in several areas: mentoring some of our younger members; assisting in developing some wireless training materials; and in an optional print version of our publications. These projects will be investigated and there will be more on this in the near future.

• Another survey will go out to the remainder of our members in early June. Please help us to help you by filling out the upcoming survey, which should not take more than a few minutes • We are returning to live meetings after a long hiatus caused by the pandemic.

• RCA’s 2021 annual meeting and awards banquet will be in Denver at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in November. We were able to obtain a very good room rate for our event.

Please see the link on our Website’s home page to make hotel reservations.

• In August 2021, RCA will be participating at APCO in San Antonio, and in the Huntsville Alabama Hamfest. In September, we will be participating at IWCE. • To engage our California members, RCA is planning a networking event in San Ramon, California on Saturday evening, October 16th. More details will be provided in the future.

• RCA just signed an organizational partnership with the Utilities Technology Council (UTC). UTC’s member companies include those in the electrical power, water, oil & gas, pipelines, and other critical infrastructure industries. Their members are technical and dependent on communications to run their businesses. We look forward to a fruitful partnership with them, as they move closer to their 75th anniversary.

• Congratulations to Audrey McElroy as the first recipient of the RCA Young Achiever Educational Grant. The RCA Scholarship and Youth Activities Committees collaborated on this new program to begin providing one of RCA’s Young Achievers with a grant to be used for their education, and Audrey is the first recipient. The award will be Audrey McElroy, KM4BUN made annually. Audrey provided and Carole Perry, WB2MGP immense help in March by assisting Director Carole Perry with her youth presentation at the virtual QSOToday Virtual Ham Expo.

• The RCA Board welcomes, and bids a fond farewell, to the following: • I want to thank Ray Novak and Elaine Walsh for their many contributions to the RCA Board.

Ray received a major promotion at Ray Novak Elaine Walsh ICOM, and Elaine is continuing to assist RCA in various areas. We thank them for their dedicated service and wish them all the best with their endeavors.

• Please welcome Rich Berliner, an RCA Fellow, to the RCA Board as Ray’s replacement. Rich is the CEO of Fifth Gen Media, publisher of Connected Real Estate, which deals with inbuilding wireless systems. Prior to that, Rich was CEO and Founder of BCI Communications, a company that had 22 offices across the U.S.

• In planning for RCA’s second century, VP David Bart chaired a Strategic Planning Committee which completed an analysis of the Radio Club of America to help chart a course for the future of the club within the wireless industry. This is the first time in quite a while that such planning has taken place.

RCA is your club. If you are interested in working on any of RCA’s committees, or would like to help RCA in general, please email our Executive Secretary Amy Beckham with your areas of interest: Amy@radioclubofamerica.org. You do not need to be a board member to help. We are especially looking for assistance in our marketing and membership committees, and for short term assistance on some specific projects.

I hope you all have a fun and safe summer.

JOHN FACELLA, President The Radio Club of America, Inc. 4

SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

Rich Berliner

FROM THE PUBLICATIONS CHAIRMAN The spring 2021 issue of the Proceedings goes to our members at a time of recovery; vaccinations are rolling and the COVID-19 pandemic is hopefully subsiding. The pandemic has caused considerable harm and disruption across the globe; but as we go to press, wireless and radio activities are returning to live events. After 2020’s virtual world, and the loss of the Dayton Hamvention and other live events this year, it will be good to start seeing people again as the world moves toward recovery.

Each spring, the Proceedings traditionally celebrates our prior fall banquet and technical symposium activities. These were both virtual events in 2020. So, we do not have the usual array of photos to share; but, we enthusiastically congratulate our award recipients, and we hope to see everyone in person later this year.

RCA does plan to recognize everyone again at our upcoming live events. This issue includes the most up-to-date information about early planning for the upcoming 2021 RCA Banquet and Awards Ceremony and the Technical Symposium, which will be in Denver. We encourage all of you to join your fellow RCA members at this much anticipated, outstanding gathering this fall.

RCA has been working hard to expand its services. The new RCA website is functioning, RCA has reorganized its scholarship programs, membership recruitment is highly active, RCA has introduced new virtual programming, and the board has launched a new strategic initiative. Other RCA programs have continued to function well. Many of these activities are highlighted within this issue, so please see the articles for more information.

We remind our readers that the Proceedings reflects the commitment of our members. We need your contributions. We also want to know if the Proceedings is covering the

subjects you want to read about. Do we need more current topics, industry perspective, or historical material? Is our content mix OK? We invite the entire membership, and outsiders, to submit articles and reprints. We seek a range of news, current technical information, historical content, and biographical material to share with our membership.

The Proceedings has never been better, but we do need your help, so please contribute material for a future issue so that RCA can continue to expand its premier publication.

Finally, congratulations to all of RCA’s members for their continuing successes. We welcome your comments, recommendations, and suggestions on ways to further improve the Proceedings.

We look forward to seeing all of you in Denver this November.

DAVID BART, KB9YPD Editorial Director and Chairman RCA Publications Committee

Save the Date!

2021 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM AND 113TH AWARDS PROGRAM SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2021 DENVER, COLORADO www.radioclubofamerica.org | SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT RCA’S 2021 BANQUET TO FEATURE DR. MARTY COOPER IN DENVER The Radio Club of America (RCA) is thrilled to announce that Dr. Martin “Marty” Cooper will be featured at the 2021 banquet and awards ceremony to be held in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Cooper is a recipient of numerous awards including the Radio Club of America’s Fred Link Award and its Lifetime Achievement Award. Among his many honors, he is an IEEE Centennial Medalist, Marconi Prize recipient, IEEE Eta Kappa Nu Eminent Member, and Charles Draper Prize recipient from the National Academy of Engineering. He has been inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame and Wireless History Foundation’s Wireless Hall of Fame. He is a lifetime member of the IEEE, was president of its Vehicular Technology Society. In 2007, Time magazine named him one of the “100 Best Inventors in History.”

He is a Prince of Asturias Laureate.

RCA’S 2021 BANQUET RCA’s 2021 banquet will take place in Denver on Friday, November 20 at the Hyatt Regency. We look forward to seeing everyone in November for this rare and very exciting opportunity.

DR. MARTY COOPER Dr. Cooper, is a pioneer in wireless communications and radio spectrum management who has eleven patents.

He invented the first handheld cellular mobile phone in 1973, led the team that developed it and brought it to market, and is considered the father of the handheld cell phone. He is also cited as the first person to make a handheld cellular phone call in public.

He was born in Chicago and graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). He served as a submarine officer during the Korean War, later returning to IIT and earning his master’s degree in electrical engineering, and also receiving an honorary doctorate degree. He currently serves on the university’s board of trustees.

Dr. Cooper started his career at Cooper Teletype Corporation and then joined Motorola, Inc. as a senior development engineer in the mobile equipment group.

He worked at Motorola for the next 29 years, rising to Vice President and Corporate Director of Research and Development. He was responsible for building and managing Motorola’s paging and cellular businesses. He also led the creation of trunked mobile radio, certain types of oscillators, liquid crystal displays, piezo-electric components, Motorola AM stereo technology and various

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SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

Marty Cooper with original Motorola mobile phones.

mobile and portable product lines. He was instrumental in expanding pager technology from use within a single building to use across multiple cities. He also worked to enhance the manufacture of quartz crystals used in Motorola’s radios, that later benefitted the company when it started mass-producing the first crystals used in wristwatches.

LATER YEARS A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Cooper and his wife, Arlene Harris, cofounded numerous wireless technology companies. This includes Cellular Business Systems, SOS Wireless Communications, GreatCall, and ArrayComm. He is currently chairman of Dyna LLC and a member of the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council.

Mobile phone evolution. (Courtesy Evolution of Mobile Phones, Misstaylorknight Timeline)

COOPER’S LAW

THE FIRST HANDHELD MOBILE PHONE

“Cooper’s Law” addresses the efficiency of voice/data communications over the radio spectrum. He found that the ability to transmit different radio communications simultaneously and in the same place has grown at the same pace since Guglielmo Marconi’s first transmissions of wireless telegraphy at the end of the 19th century. This led Dr. Cooper to formulate the Law of Spectral Efficiency, otherwise known as Cooper’s Law. This law states that the maximum number of voice conversations or equivalent data transactions that can be conducted in all of the useful radio spectrum over a given area doubles every 30 months.

Inspired by Dick Tracy’s wrist radio in the Sunday newspaper cartoons, Dr. Cooper believed from the beginning that the cellular phone should be a “personal telephone – something that would represent an individual so you could assign a number; not to a place, not to a desk, not to a home, but to a person.” Motorola invested $100 million between 1973 and 1993 bringing the product to market before any revenues were realized. The original handset, the DynaTAC 8000x (DYNamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) weighed 2.5 pounds (1.1 kg) largely due to the battery. It measured 10 inches (25 cm) long and was dubbed “the brick” or “the shoe” phone and had only 30 minutes of talk time before requiring a 10-hour recharge. Within ten years, the size and weight reduced by half.

Today, the number of radio signals in the world that can be simultaneously sent without interfering with each other exceeds one trillion. This is based on calculations involving effective signal strength and how much today’s technology has split up the electromagnetic spectrum. The partitioning of the spectrum in ever finer degrees is one reason why a roomful of people can now simultaneously use their mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets, WiFi laptops, etc., without their signals interfering with one other.

Cooper’s Law implies that wireless Internet connections will reach ever more people at ever greater speeds until, theoretically, everyone is able to use the full radio spectrum without interfering with anyone else.

On April 3, 1973, Cooper famously demonstrated two working phones to the media and to passers-by prior to walking into a scheduled press conference at the New York City Hilton in midtown Manhattan. Standing on Sixth Avenue near the Hilton, Cooper made the first handheld cellular phone call in public from the prototype DynaTAC. Reporters and onlookers watched as Cooper dialed the number of his chief competitor, Mr. Joel S. Engel at AT&T. “Joel, this is Marty. I’m calling you from a cell phone, a real handheld portable cell phone.” That public demonstration landed the DynaTAC on the July 1973 cover of Popular Science magazine. As Cooper recalls from the experience: “I made numerous calls, including one where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter – probably one of the most dangerous things I have ever done in my life.”

CUTTING THE CORD

Report of the public demonstration of the DynaTAC.

Save the Date

In January 2021, Dr. Cooper published Cutting the Cord: The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity. The book/ memoir offers an intimate and fascinating account of the cell phone story. It includes lessons about the keys to innovation, how to manage it, failure and why it is important to innovation, and how to inspire others. Dr. Cooper offers readers his life’s lessons, gleaned from his unique perspectives derived from many years of leading dreamers who are dedicated to making the future a reality.

Copies of Dr. Cooper’s book will be available to Radio Club of America members at the RCA Banquet.

The Radio Club of America looks forward to seeing everyone in Denver on November 20 to meet Dr. Cooper and to celebrate his lifetime of achievement. www.radioclubofamerica.org | SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS

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RCA’S 2020 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM WAS A

HUGE SUCCESS!

T

he Technical Symposium held in virtually on Saturday, November 21, 2020 was a huge success. RCA’s annual opportunity to learn about innovative wireless technology moved forward with an online virtual format due to the pandemic. We had significant participation. The all-day symposium has indeed become one of the wireless industry’s premier events.

RCA presented 11 sessions in our largest program ever.

Presentations covered ionospheric disturbances, KDKA’s centennial, youth activities and a youth presentation, AM modulation techniques, drone measurements of broadcasting antennas, next generation TV and emergency alerting, and a history of Westinghouse radio and television manufacturing.

The presentation slides and the video of the presentations are available on the RCA website and presentations can be seen on

the RCA YouTube channel. This year we again live streamed the video using Facebook Live. Those who attended the event and needed continuing education units (CEUs) for their professional engineering licenses were able to do so for a nominal fee.

As in previous years, the Technical Symposium audience voted for the best presenters based on numerous criteria.

Preparations are already underway for the 2021 Technical Symposium in Denver, when we will be celebrating the centennial of the 1921 Transatlantic Tests performed by RCA and ARRL members. A call for abstracts for this year’s Symposium and an invitation to prospective presenters to submit their ideas can be found on the RCA website.

We hope to see you all live in 2021!

THANK YOU TO OUR 2020 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM PRESENTERS In case you missed it, the presentations are available on RCA’s website.

• Recent Progress in Observing Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Using Amateur Radio ­— Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, (Univ. of Scranton).

• The KDKA Tower — Mike Rhodes, P.E. (Cavell Mertz).

• The Modified Franklin Tower — A Look Back at the Past 20 Years — Chris Hudak (Station KDKA).

• Listen to What We Started — Jim Graci (Station KDKA).

• Progress Report on RCA’s Youth Initiatives — Carole Perry • Youth Presentation: Stranger Things — Frances Bonte (student at Case Western Reserve University) • Modern AM Modulation Techniques — Geoff Mendenhall, P.E. (Mendenhall Engineering LLC).

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SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

• Near Field Drone Measurements of Broadcast Antennas — Nicole Starrett (Dielectric Corp.).

• Next Gen Interactive TV & Advanced Emergency Alerting & Informing — Fred Baumgartner (One Media 3.0).

• History of Westinghouse Radio & TV Manufacturing on the 100th Anniversary Of KDKA — Mike Molnar.

• Rail Wireless Communications – What’s Next? — Barry Einsig (Econolite) and Umberto Malesci (Fluidmesh Networks) • Moderators — John Facella, P.E., Dr. Jim Breakall

THANK YOU: 2020 PROGRAM SPONSORS The Radio Club of America Board of Directors and its members would like to thank the generous event sponsors.

Their support and contributions ensure that the Awards Program is a success and enjoyable for everyone.

Be sure to tell them that you saw their company mentioned in the Radio Club of America Awards Program.

THANK YOU 2020 DONORS • Clarence Anderson III • Russ Anderson • Lynn Anto • Taizo Arakawa • Craig Bailey • Donald Jerome Backys • Rich Berliner • Jeffrey Bratcher • Alan Caldwell • Heather D'Alessandro • Richard Doering

• Dennis Foss • James Gabriel • Vijay George • Marvin Grossman • Lamont Hodge • Betsy Hooper • Gil Jackson • Carolyn Jackson • Richard Jones • Dave Kapavik • Richard Kohlhaas

• Carl Kolenda • Raghunathan Kumar • Roger Madden • Elizabeth Maxfield • Brian Mcauley • Cara Monroe • Dennis Paul Moriarty • Glen Sherman Nash • John Stewart Oblak • David Patton • PayPal Giving Fund

• PCARS • Christine Pham • Richard Reichler • H. Larry Shaefer, Jr. • Neel Shah • James Curtis Shideler • Tom Sorley Fund • Danley Thaddeus • Richard Tyler • Michael Wilkins • Larry Will

www.radioclubofamerica.org | SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS

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RCA’s 2020 Technical Symposium was VIRTUAL.

RCA’S 2020 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM

Moderator Tim Duffy (Top) and Dr. Nathaniel Frissell (bottom) talk about large scale travelling Ionospheric disturbances at the virtual RCA 2020 Technical Symposium.

Moderator Mike Rhodes (Top) and Tim Gracy, (bottom) discuss KDKA’s current distribution, base tuning unit, transmission line and lighting conduit at the virtual RCA 2020 Technical Symposium.

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SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

RCA’S 2020 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM

Frederick Baumgartner in front of a photo of the 2019 Technical Symposium while presenting at the virtual RCA 2020 Technical Symposium.

Carole Perry (l) and Frances Bonte (r) with the RCA Youth Presentation at the virtual RCA 2020 Technical Symposium.

Geoffrey Mendenhall presenting on modern AM modulation techniques at the virtual RCA 2020 Technical Symposium.

www.radioclubofamerica.org | SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS

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RCA’S 2020

AWARD RECIPIENTS Congratulations to all of RCA’s 2020 award recipients and new Fellows. Each of them deserves recognition for their many individual contributions to radio and wireless communications. Their work has helped lead the way to creating, and also preserving, the arts and sciences that bring forth new technological advances for the benefit of the industry and mankind.

RCA’s 2020 awards ceremony was held virtually due to the pandemic and was well attended. Thank you to all who participated in this unusual format, and thank you to Tim Duffy and Amy Beckham for leading a team of presenters as the master of ceremonies and the administrative coordinator.

We welcome all 2020 award recipients and 2020 Fellows who wish to have a live recognition to come to Denver in 2021.

It will also provide an opportunity to directly interact with each other and our other banquet attendees.

SARNOFF CITATION Robert Rouleau(l), Norman Pearl(r) | For exceptional contributions of a technical or non-technical nature to the advancement of electronic communications.

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JACK POPPELE AWARD John Schadler | For important and long-term contributions to the field of radio broadcasting.

RCA PRESIDENT’S AWARD Ron Jakubowski | For service and dedication to the Radio Club of America.

U.S. NAVY CAPTAIN GEORGE P. MCGINNIS MEMORIAL AWARD CTRCM John A. “Gus” Gustafson, USN (Ret.) | For service and dedication to the advancement and preservation of U.S. Naval Cryptology, as nominated by the U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association (NCVA).

BARRY GOLDWATER AWARD Bob Bruninga | For unique contributions to the field of amateur radio.

VIVIAN CARR AWARD Emily Calandrelli | In recognition of an outstanding woman’s achievements in the wireless industry.

RALPH BATCHER MEMORIAL AWARD Eric P. Wenaas, Ph. D. | For significant work in preserving the history of radio and electronic communications.

JAY KITCHEN LEADERSHIP AWARD Michael T.N. Fitch | In recognition of achievement of a high level of success leading a wireless association.

RCA SPECIAL SERVICES AWARD Ernie Blair | To recognize an RCA member who has performed significant work to advance the goals and objectives of the Radio Club of America.

YOUNG ACHIEVER AWARD Frances “Frankie” Bonte | A student who has demonstrated excellence and creativity in wireless communications and who gave a presentation at the annual RCA Technical Symposium.

SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

RCA'S 2020

FELLOWS

JIM BUGEL Vice President of the FirstNet Program for AT&T.

RAYMOND L. GRIMES, N8RG Owner and chief consultant for PegasusTelecommunications Consulting Group.

TRACEY M. HILBURN Director of Bossier Parish (LA) Communications District.

PAUL A. SCUTIERI Southern region sales manager at MCM Technology, Public Safety Software Solutions Provider.

ALAN S. TILLES Telecom department chair at Shulman Rogers in the Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Practice.

DAVID WITKOWSKI, W6DTW Founder and CEO of Oku Solutions LLC, and Executive director of Civic Technologies Initiatives.

AWA Congratulates The RCA Award Recipients and New Fellows!

AWA is dedicated to preserving and sharing nearly 200 years of the history of communication technologies

AWA cordially invites RCA members to join AWA. Save 5% with a Partner membership at www.antiquewireless.org/joinrenew Visit the world famous Antique Wireless Museum in Bloomfield, New York near Rochester

www.radioclubofamerica.org | SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS

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RCA’S 2020 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM AND AWARDS VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE ON

RCA's YOUTUBE CHANNEL

The Radio Club of America’s (RCA) 2020 Technical Symposium and Awards Banquet were held virtually on Saturday, November 21. The Technical Symposium included a record breaking 11 presentations. Some celebrated the centennial of radio station KDKA’s historic broadcasts, others addressed broadcast themes and other wireless technical subjects.

These events were recorded, and the videos are available on RCA’s YouTube channel, which can be accessed from the RCA Website, along with many other videos from prior Technical Symposiums as well as other RCA events. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive notifications when new content is uploaded.

RCA’s YouTube Channel.

THE 2020 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM VIDEOS INCLUDE: • Recent Progress in Observing Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Using Amateur Radio — Dr. Nathaniel Frissell

• Near Field Drone Measurements of Broadcast Antennas — Nicole Starrett

• The KDKA Tower — Mike Rhodes

• History of Westinghouse Radio and TV Manufacturing on the 100th Anniversary of KDKA — Mike Molnar

• KDKA Representative Presentations — Jim Graci & Chris Hudak

• Rail Wireless Communications – What’s Next? — Umberto Malesci

• Progress Report on RCA’s Youth Initiatives

• Next Gen Interactive TV & Advanced Emergency Alerting and Informing — Fred Baumgartner

• Stranger Things — Frances Bonte (youth presenter) • Modern AM Modulation Techniques — Geoff Mendenhall

The presentation materials are available on the RCA website to both RCA members and the public.

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SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

HELP US INSURE RCA’S WORK FOR

FUTURE GENERATIONS

Please remember RCA in your wills and trusts.

Call us at 612.405.2012 or visit radioclubofamerica.org to learn more about legacy giving and bequests.

www.radioclubofamerica.org

Follow us!

Radio Club of America, 13570 Grove Drive, #302, Maple Grove, MN 55311 | SPRING 612.430.6995 15 www.radioclubofamerica.org 2021 PROCEEDINGS

RCA NEWS

RCA Scholarship Committee Announces 2021 Awards And New Programs

T

he Radio Club of America’s (RCA) Scholarship Committee enters 2021 with a modernization plan that increases the efficiency of the committee’s processes, creates an exciting new scholarship fund, and revitalizes a legacy program.

REORGANIZATION AND A NEW SCHOLARSHIP FUND As part of the new plan, many of RCA’s legacy scholarship funds will be combined under a single name, the Captain Bill Finch RCA-Legacy Scholarship Fund. Further, the committee announced the creation of a new fund, called the RCA New Century Scholarship Fund, which will focus on assisting students training for a wireless career in vocational, secondary, international, and graduate institutions.

RCA Scholarship Committee Chair Alan Spindel said, “After much research and discussion with stake holders, we re-energized our scholarship program. These changes will allow us to attract more new entrants to wireless careers by helping a broader group of worthy youth.” RCA President John Facella said, “Alan has skillfully combined many of our funds into one fund to have more impact.

He also created a new fund that includes the previously missing elements of vocational and international schools.”

THE RCA SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM The RCA Scholarship Committee distributes over fifteen thousand dollars each year in grants. These grants all support students studying wireless or broadcast related disciplines at U.S. colleges and universities.

The institutions were either designated by the original donors of scholarship funds or have met RCA criteria for their wireless communications programs. Over fifty years ago, wireless pioneer, inventor, and winner of the RCA Armstrong Medal, Captain W.H. “Bill” Finch convened the first meeting of the RCA Scholarship Committee, launching RCA’s commitment to supporting people studying to become wireless professionals. Today, that legacy continues and enters this new phase.

INFORMATION AND DONATIONS The Scholarship Committee chair is Alan Spindel, AG4WK, with committee members Dr. Jim Breakall, W3FET, and Dr. Julio Urbino.

Please contact Alan Spindel at scholarships@ radioclubofamerica.org if you would like more information about RCA’s scholarship activities. Donations can be made directly on the RCA website at https://bit.ly/3eUt08S.

2021 RCA SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS The RCA Scholarship Committee also announces the following 2021 RCA scholarship awards. Congratulations to our recipients, and we wish them the best of luck in their studies.

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INSTITUTE

AMOUNT

SCHOLARSHIP / FUND

Montclair State Univ.

$4,000

Poppele-Endres RCA-Legacy

Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.

$1,500

Fred Link Memorial

Capitol University

$1,500

John Dettra Memorial

Cooper Union

$1,000

RCA Grant-in-Aid

University of Cincinnati

$1,500

Captain Bill Finch Memorial Scholarship

RCA Youth Activities

$2,500

Meyer/Goldwater/Bronson Memorial Grant

Stevens Institute of Technology

$1,000

Buller/Meyerson/Biggs Memorial

Georgia Tech/Cooper Union

$1,000

Facella-Barone-DiBlasi Fund

Metropolitan State Col. Of Denver

$1,000

Brownson Memorial RCA-Legacy

SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

RCA NEWS

RCA and IWCE Welcome 2020 Young Wireless Professionals

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ach year, the International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) introduces the next generation of leaders in communications technology. The annual IWCE Young Professional Award showcases the future leaders of the communications technology industry. The 2020 Young Professionals are selected in a program jointly managed by IWCE and the Radio Club of America (RCA).

During IWCE 2020, twelve individuals, all working in wireless and under the age of 35, and were recognized for “executing some of our industry’s most innovative ideas, showing creativity and initiative.”

THE 2020 YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ARE: • Jorge Bautista, Project Manager, PowerTrunk • Nick Cain, Technical Project Manager, Avtec LLC • Sam Colley, CEO, Pod Group • Philip Kirmuss, Radio Program Manager, City and County of Boulder, CO • KaeVon LeGrande, Project Manager, The Digital Decision, LLC • Joe Maher, ETA International • Alan Pugh, Jr., Director of Technical Services, AMP Global Strategies • Alan Quinn, President and CEO, Comtrol-HC Global • Igor Rudik, FirstNet Lead Product Marketing Manager, AT&T

IWCE’s Young Professional Awards recognize young professionals under 35 who have made a significant contribution in his or her company or agency and works in the communications technology industry. These individuals are executing some of the most innovative ideas, showing creativity and initiative. These individuals are the up-and-comers in the telecommunications industry, honored for their spectacular work and accomplishments.

• Nicole Vuong, Marketing Manager, Solaris Technologies Services • Scott Wendland, Project Field Manager, Black & Veatch • Christopher Williams, Senior Support Engineer, Avtec LLC

DISPLAY YOUR RCA MEMBERSHIP WITH OUR CUSTOMIZABLE MEMBER PINS! Wear it on its own, or add Life Member, Senior Member, or Fellow bars to reflect your unique membership distinctions.

• $9.95 for the standard pin • $3 per bar for Life Member, Senior Member, and Fellow bars ORDER AT: https://bit.ly/3eqX64O Prices include shipping & handling.

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RCA NEWS

RCA’s Virtual Interview Series Continues

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eginning last August, the Radio Club of America (RCA) launched a new webcast interview series available for members and the general public. The series has met with great success, and we encourage all of our members and guests to attend this ongoing series on the 2nd Tuesday of even months, at 9 PM ET/EDT. RCA president emeritus Tim Duffy, K3LR, hosts, and each interview runs approximately 1 hour. The interviews are alternated with online RCA networking sessions. Past guests have included a range of notables: • Dr. Theodore “Ted” Rappaport, N9NB, the David Lee/ Ernst Weber Professor at New York University (NYU), founder and director of NYU WIRELESS, and a wireless entrepreneur, educator, and innovator • Engineer Angel Vasquez, WP3R ex-KP3AP, the Telescope Operations Head/Spectrum Manager of Arecibo Observatory, responsible for tracking exoplanets, pulsars, quasars, asteroids and the mysterious Fast Radio Bursts (FRB) pulses • Margaret Lyons, P.E., a trailblazer with industry experience with two-way radios, paging, and microwave radio systems engineering and consulting, she is Engineer of Record for programs and projects in excess of $100M. • John Facella, P.E., C.Eng., K9FJ, current President of RCA, his career in wireless has spanned over 35 years, including 28 years with Motorola and Harris Corporation, and as a wireless and management consultant • Ken Claerbout, Acting Chief of the Broadcast Technologies Division for Global Media (USAGM), starting with the Diplomatic Telecommunications Service in the early 1980s, he is now responsible for USAGM’s global FM broadcast network with over 100 stations worldwide

Tim Duffy.

Discussions center on careers in wireless, life-long passion for radio, views on industry trends and outlooks for technology, and on the current work the guests are undertaking as well as their history with RCA. If you missed any of these interviews, they are available on the RCA Youtube page at https://bit.ly/3tjFooc.

Tim Duffy is assisted by Barney Scholl, RCA Vice President and Counsel, and RCA Member Scott Jones who act as moderators and host the questions and answers.

RCA plans many more of these exciting virtual activities. Please see https://bit.ly/3tmrJgb for further announcements.

Registration will open soon! www.radioclubofamerica.org 18

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RCA NEWS

RCA Debuts New Website

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CA is pleased to announce the launch of a newly designed website. This Website is geared towards member involvement and features a greatly improved look and feel, easier navigation, specific areas for RCA committees, and many other features.

RCA members will find that their member information is already in the database and they have full member access. To login for the first time, go to radioclubofamerica.org and click on Member Login in the upper right corner. On the next screen, click on Forgot Username/Password and it will send you a link to reset your password and you will then be able to login. It will ask you to reset your password to something more intuitive for you. If you do not receive the link, or the system does not recognize you, please contact our office for assistance. This would generally happen if there was a change of email that was not in our files, or if your membership has lapsed.

We encourage all members to login and personalize their member profile, including adding your biography and photograph. You can also view the membership directory and opt out of your own participation if desired.

You will note many member forums that have been established. They are all brand new forums and waiting for member involvement!

We encourage you to take some time and check out the website.

Please note – the RCA website is a work in progress!

We anticipate ongoing site changes until we get it just where we want it. Check back frequently for updated information, events, and news articles.

For website questions or login assistance, please contact our Executive Secretary Amy Beckham at amy@radioclubofamerica.org.

The new website's home page includes rotating images and quick links.

New RCA website events calendar.

The new website home page includes events calendar and news items.

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RCA NEWS

The Utilities Technology Council and the Radio Club of America Announce New Partnership

On May 19, 2021, the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) and the Radio Club of America (RCA) announced a new partnership designed to further the goals of both organizations. Wireless technology, among others, is a vital component of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) networks that ensure that utility services are reliable and secure.

UTC President and CEO Sheryl Osiene-Riggs stated, “Utility communications systems underpin the reliable, resilient delivery of essential electric, water, and natural gas utility services. A key ingredient to many of these systems is wireless technology, which permits utility engineers and operators to have situational awareness across their infrastructure footprints. As technologies change, utilities are investing in developing the workforce of the future; and as a result, we are excited about partnering with RCA, the world’s oldest society of wireless professionals. RCA’s strategic initiatives in investing in youth and women, wireless education, and assisting those in wireless careers, align with our strategic goals. We look forward to working with RCA on these and other initiatives.

RCA President John Facella said, “The UTC is an excellent partner, because their members, like RCA’s members, are very technology focused. UTC represents industries that are dependent on wireless technologies, including electricity, gas, water, natural gas pipelines, and other critical infrastructures. Their UTC Foundation encourages young people to study engineering, as does RCA’s Youth

and Scholarship Programs. Their vision of serving as a resource for deploying mission critical technology solutions is similar to that of RCA’s Education programs.

Additionally, UTC is already vitally engaged in wireless because of their role as a certified frequency coordinator for the utility industry, and their maintenance of the power line carrier database for the industry. RCA welcomes UTC as a new partner.”

UTC was founded in 1948. It is a global association focused on the intersection of telecommunications and utility infrastructure. UTC gives voice to the men and women in the utility workforce who create and maintain critical communications systems that help keep the lights and the water flowing. UTC represents the hands-on folks in the field and control rooms responding to storms, deploying new technologies, and securing energy and water infrastructure from all kinds of threats. UTC sits at the nexus between the energy and telecommunications industries, which are rapidly converging and becoming more interdependent. For more information, visit www.utc.org.

Display your RCA membership with pride!

Purchase RCA apparel from our online store. Options are available for men and women.

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SILENT KEY TOM PETERSON, JR.

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t is with a very, very heavy heart that I report Tom Peterson passed away in February 2021. He was a gentle man, inquisitive, quick to laugh, and brilliant.

Tom Peterson served for 22 years on the Antique Wireless Association Board of Trustees and 17 years as AWA Director. Under Tom’s leadership, AWA achieved international recognition as a Tom Peterson, Jr. premier communications historical organization with a world-class museum. Tom led the way to develop the Thomas Peterson AWA Campus which includes 4 buildings on five acres. Tom’s leadership and support made that possible.

Tom filed for his first patent (a perpetual calendar) at age 13.

He established a home laboratory and continued to invent and publish in peer-reviewed journals for decades. Tom attended MIT, but returned early to help with the family firm, Preformed Line Products. His father founded the firm in 1947 after inventing an advanced protective rod to cover conducting lines for electric utilities. Tom also had a passion for photography that had been inspired by one of his MIT professors. Even as Tom continued to support his father’s enterprise, he also pursued this emerging art. He eventually founded Motion Picture Sound, Inc., which provided audio services for corporate and government projects as well as Hollywood movies like A Christmas Story.

Upon his retirement as AWA Director, the AWA Board of Trustees elected him Director Emeritus. Tom received the AWA President’s Award in 2007. He was elected AWA Fellow in 2020. Also a member of Radio Club of America, Tom received the RCA Ralph Batcher Award in 2017.

I always enjoyed our long conversations (they were never short), his enthusiasm, his thoughtful counsel, his encouragement, and his support. He will be missed by all and especially by those lucky to be able to call Tom their friend.

Bob Hobday AWA Director Silent key is a term of respect for a deceased amateur radio operator. The key in the term refers to a telegraph key, the instrument that all early amateur radio operators, as well as many contemporary amateur radio operators, used to send Morse code. The term SK is used in telegraphy to indicate an end of transmission. Today, the term is commonly used within the radio community as a sign of respect and condolence, regardless of whether the deceased was an amateur radio operator.

FRESH CONTENT – ON THE –

RCA WEBSITE RADIOCLUBOFAMERICA.ORG

The RCA website is the go-to place for RCA news and events.

VISIT THE SITE FOR: • Member only content including the 2020 Technical Symposium slides and videos • Updated membership list, including email address and call sign (login required) • Calendar of upcoming RCA and industry events • Updated Wireless Women tab to assist women and youth • Updated committees page • Updated publications archive • New products in the RCA store • Training Tab lists available wireless training opportunities • Current articles about youth outreach

TROUBLE LOGGING IN? Please email Amy@radioclubofamerica.org if you need a new password or have difficulty logging in.

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Save the Date!

2021 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM AND 113TH BANQUET & AWARDS PRESENTATION SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20 | DENVER, CO Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Marty Cooper, one of Time magazine's “100 Best Inventors in History.”

REASONS TO ATTEND THE RCA BANQUET AND TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM 1

Cutting edge technical learning

Presentations on a wide variety of wireless topics, from emerging technology to historical aspects, make this a fascinating and educational event.

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Strengthen your network

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Honor the distinguished and deserving

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Help develop the future workforce by supporting RCA’s youth efforts, and learn from this year’s Young Achiever Award winner.

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Participate in a facility tour

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Discover Denver!

Join us in Denver, and meet members of the newly formed RCA Rocky Mountain Chapter.

Join us to celebrate the people who invent, create, inspire and collaborate to create the products, services, and companies that make this industry one of a kind.

Support the next generation

With many locations to choose from, we are working on putting together one or two tours of area sites. Watch for the final details soon.

We are excited to bring these events to the Rocky Mountain Region, and truly hope this provides greater opportunity for involvement for our members west of the Mississippi. What an opportunity for our members and peers to visit this incredible city.

Register for the 2021 Technical Symposium and Banquet at www.radioclubofamerica.org.

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2021 RCA TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20 | DENVER, CO The 2021 Technical Symposium this year will be in Denver at the Hyatt Regency on Saturday, November 20. Topics and speakers are still being organized. We are looking for presenters in any of the areas of wireless technology including antennas, broadband, broadcast, cellular, land mobile radio, military, satellite, or other wireless related technologies. RCA especially likes to feature 'early work' and offers an opportunity for researchers and companies to gain feedback on the technologies that they are developing.

We will also feature panels highlighting the centennial of the 1921 Transatlantic Tests made by RCA and ARRL members. Once the 1921 Transatlantic Tests proved that large distances could be spanned with very modest wireless equipment, a new era of experimentation and innovation began in wireless. These tests laid the foundation for viable commercial and amateur use of the shorter-wave radio bands under 200 meters. The success of these tests immediately rendered the huge, largescale, longer-wave broadcasting stations obsolete. Other inventors over the next 100 years worked on ever higher frequency equipment, perfected antenna technology,

smaller and eventually miniature circuits, and perfected improved techniques for sending both voice and data transmissions. These tests set the table for many later technological developments in radio that are still applied in international government broadcasting and by private domestic stations, air traffic control, utility stations not intended for the general public, amateur radio, time-signal and radio clock stations. Other sporadic or non-traditional users of the shortwave bands also include clandestine and numbers stations, unlicensed two way radio activity, pirate radio broadcasting, over-the-horizon radar, and ionospheric heaters used for scientific experimentation.

We are calling for abstracts from potential presenters.

More information is available on our website. If you have particular suggestions or ideas, please email to info@radioclubofamerica.org. received, and we plan to offer this event in a hybrid format to accommodate those who want to attend virtually.

Also, make your reservations early. The hotel block sells out quickly. Information is on the RCA website.

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Call for Abstracts

RCA 2021 Technical Symposium in Denver The Radio Club of America is soliciting abstracts for presentations for the 2021 Technical Symposium.

We welcome abstracts on all wireless subjects including antennas, broadband, broadcasting, cellular communications, land mobile radio, manufacturing, military communications, satellites, and other wireless-related topics.

Please submit the following to amy@radioclubofamerica.org, prior to Tuesday, June 15: • • • •

A title for the presentation 1 or 2 paragraph abstract or summary A short biography of the presenter(s) A 300 dpi headshot of the presenter(s)

Abstracts will be reviewed in June and you will be notified if you are chosen to present.

Presentation slide decks are hosted on the RCA Website after the event. All presentations are captured on video and archived for public access.

Prospective presenters will receive free registration to the Technical Symposium plus receive breakfast and lunch, however, we are unable to reimburse travel expenses.

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RCA’S 2021 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM IN DENVER WILL CELEBRATE

CENTENNIAL OF 1921 TRANSATLANTIC TESTS RCA’s annual Technical Symposium will return on Saturday, November 20, 2021, located in Denver at the Hyatt Regency. Topics are still emerging, but it will reflect the broad shift in the radio and wireless industry and will bring together a range of speakers and panelists who are at the forefront of change.

We will also celebrate the centennial of the 1921 Transatlantic Tests made by RCA and ARRL members.

These tests laid the foundation for viable commercial and amateur use of the shorter-wave radio bands under 200 meters. This milestone accomplishment immediately rendered the huge, large-scale, longer-wave broadcasting stations obsolete. It set the table for many later technological developments in short wave (HF or high frequency) radio that are applied in international government broadcasting and by private domestic stations, air traffic control, utility stations not intended for the general public, amateur radio, time-signal and radio clock stations. Other sporadic or non-traditional users of the shortwave bands also include clandestine and numbers stations, unlicensed two way radio activity, pirate radio broadcasting, over-the-horizon radar, and ionospheric heaters used for scientific experimentation.

Once the 1921 Transatlantic Tests proved that large distances could be spanned with very modest wireless equipment, a new period of experimentation and innovation began in wireless. Inventors such as Major Edwin Armstrong (a member of the Radio Club of America) perfected superregenerative and superhetrodyne receivers, and frequency modulation. Other inventors over the next 100 years worked on ever higher frequency equipment, perfected antenna technology, smaller and eventually miniature circuits, and perfected improved

1BCG Commemorative Monument in Greenwich Connecticut.

techniques for sending both voice and data transmissions.

One of the results today is the proliferation of smart phones, Bluetooth devices, wireless routers to give us Internet access, and many other technologies that we take for granted, which can be traced back to the 1921 Transatlantic Tests.

FRESH CONTENT – ON THE –

RCA WEBSITE The RCA website is the go-to place for RCA news and events.

TROUBLE LOGGING IN? Please email Amy@radioclubofamerica.org if you need a new password or have difficulty logging in.

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HAM RADIO FORMS A PLANET-SIZED SPACE WEATHER SENSOR NETWORK

By Kristina Collins, David Kazdan, and Nathaniel A. Frissell For researchers who monitor the effects of solar activity on Earth’s atmosphere, telecommunications, and electrical utilities, amateur radio signals a golden age of crowdsourced science.

Space weather events, triggered by solar emissions and their interactions with Earth’s atmosphere, can have significant effects on communications and navigation technology and on electric power systems. As with terrestrial weather events, the economic impacts of space weather–related disruptions can be substantial, affecting satellite systems as well as systems on the ground. A severe geomagnetic storm (on the order of the Carrington Event of 1859) could have a catastrophic effect on modern infrastructure. Even solar storms of more ordinary size can induce currents in the power grid that drive up energy prices, affecting manufacturing and commerce.

Considerable interest exists in developing space weather forecasting technologies that use Earth’s ionosphere as a sensor for events in its neighboring atmospheric layers. The ionosphere occupies a privileged niche in the geospace system, as it is coupled into both the terrestrial weather of the neutral atmosphere below and the space weather of the magnetosphere above.

To fully understand ionospheric variability on small spatial scales and short timescales, the scientific community will require vastly larger and denser sensing networks.

Although we have a good understanding of ionospheric climate—diurnal and seasonal variations are well known, as are the rhythms of the sunspot cycle—there are new and vital areas of research to be explored. For example, it is known that the ionosphere—and near-Earth space— experiences variability (e.g., radio signals can fade in and out over periods of seconds, minutes, or hours due to changes in ionospheric electron densities along signal propagation paths), but this variability has not been sampled or studied adequately on regional and global scales.

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To fully understand variability on small spatial scales and short timescales, the scientific community will require vastly larger and denser sensing networks that collect data on continental and global scales. With open-source instrumentation cheaper and more plentiful than ever before, the time is ripe for amateur scientists to take distributed measurements of the ionosphere—and the amateur radio community is up for the challenge.

The Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) is a collective that unites amateur radio operators with the research community in the space and atmospheric sciences. This confederation of scientists, engineers, and hobbyists holds annual workshops during which ham radio operators and space scientists share findings. A new HamSCI effort, the Personal Space Weather Station project, aims to develop a robust and scalable network of amateur stations that will allow amateurs to collect useful data for space science researchers. The next HamSCI workshop will be held virtually 19–21 March 2021, and it will focus on midlatitude ionospheric measurements.

A READY-MADE VOLUNTEER SCIENCE COMMUNITY From a communications point of view, the electromagnetic spectrum is a finite resource. Signals from broadcasting, telecommunications, and navigation all have their own demands of bandwidth and range.

Spectrum allocations are managed by government agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. Most countries allot some of the available spectrum to amateur users for the purposes of recreation, experimentation, and the promotion of international goodwill. There are more than 760,000 licensed amateur radio operators and uncounted shortwave listeners in the United States alone.

Amateur radio operators have an empirical knowledge of space weather because they want to know when and on what frequencies they can establish communications.

Equipment belonging to the Case Western Reserve University amateur radio club is seen here. Solar-induced effects in Earth’s ionosphere change the frequencies of radio signals picked up at receiving stations around the world, so ham radio enthusiasts can provide a rich source of information on space weather. (Courtesy: Kristina Collins)

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Amateur radio operators have an empirical knowledge of space weather because they want to know when and on what frequencies they can establish communications—and when and where they cannot. Changes in the ionosphere like those caused by the day–night transition or by solar activity can impede or aid communications on various frequencies. For example, the 20-meter band (14–14.35 megahertz) usually has its longest transcontinental reach during daylight hours, but the 40-meter band (7–7.3 megahertz) often works best at night. Amateur radio frequency allocations are distributed throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, enabling useful propagation experiments for any frequency range.

In the pursuit of the hobby, many an amateur operator (or “ham”) has experienced hearing the high-frequency (HF) bands (3–30 megahertz) go quiet right after sunset or has swapped frequencies to reach a distant station. Hams greatly value forecasts of space weather conditions and real-time information about propagation, and the community has a high level of scientific literacy on the topic. Resources like spaceweather.com and a weekly podcast by Tamitha Skov (the “Space Weather Woman,” whose amateur call sign is WX6SWW) are regularly consulted today by hams looking to achieve a distant contact.

Ham radio is currently experiencing a technical renaissance, thanks to the advent of inexpensive single-board computing platforms (a complete computer built onto a single circuit board, such as a Raspberry Pi) and open-source software.

Such computer-based systems serve as virtual radio repeaters, connecting computers via the Internet to actual ham radios in the real world to enable remote control and data collection. Beyond the old-fashioned pursuit of voice communication, the lure of maker movement projects and the removal of the Morse code requirement from the amateur

licensing exam have led to a greater number of licensed amateurs than ever before.

Out of this increasing technical sophistication, digital communications networks, such as the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS), the Weak Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR), and the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), enjoy wide membership and serve the amateur community while collecting propagation data at rates and resolutions that were previously impossible. The reach of these crowdsourced systems, and the support of the amateur community, offers tremendous opportunities for scientific measurements.

The reach of these crowdsourced systems, and the support of the amateur community, offers tremendous opportunities for scientific measurements.

One such measurement took place at sunset on 17 October 2017, when amateur station W8EDU in Cleveland transmitted the Morse code for “TEST TEST TEST DE W8EDU W8EDU W8EDU” on frequencies in the 20-, 40-, and 80-meter bands. A map of the automated listening stations in the RBN that picked up, or “spotted,” this signal shows all of the spots with extant propagation paths (Figure 1). In this case, the result clearly shows that the 40-meter paths go primarily to the nightside of the terminator (the

Fig. 1. On 10 October 2017, stations in the Reverse Beacon Network spotted a test message from amateur station W8EDU, the school club of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Yellow lines go to stations that received broadcasts on the 40-meter band, and magenta lines go to stations that received broadcasts on the 20-meter band. (Courtesy Kristina Collins; Map data ©2017 Google, INEGI, ORION-ME) 28

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moving boundary between regions in daylight and those in darkness), and the 20-meter paths primarily to the dayside.

For amateur operators, this is a useful tool for determining the reach of one’s signals: A ham might say that “there’s a path into Europe opening up on 40 meters” and listen for the call signs of European stations. Or, if operators want to reach a station in South America, they might rotate their antenna by 90° and try running an RBN test again.

HARNESSING THE DATA FOR SCIENCE How can ham radio signals tell scientists about energy and particles originating in the Sun and traveling millions of miles through space? The answer lies in the ionosphere, the electrified atmospheric region that can refract radio signals back to Earth. This is a complex region heavily influenced by the solar wind, extreme ultraviolet ionizing radiation, and geomagnetic disturbances, and even by the lower and middle neutral atmosphere.

From the perspective of scientists studying the ionosphere, ham radio data become most interesting in aggregate. All the data in the RBN, from 2009 to the present, are archived at reversebeacon.net and can be freely downloaded.

For scale, the earlier-referenced Cleveland transmission represented only a small subset of the 168,713 radio spots that were recorded on 17 October 2017, each one representing a propagation path between two points on a given frequency at a given time.

Amateur operators are prohibited from earning money through the act of operating, so most data used by operators are open and accessible at their creation.

“AT THE TONE, THE TIME WILL BE…” Just outside Fort Collins, Colo., lies the heartbeat of the electromagnetic communications spectrum—and one key to precision measurements of the interactions between ham radio and solar weather. The sound of radio station WWV, the time and frequency standard of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is familiar to any shortwave listener. It is the oldest continuously operating radio station in the United States, having been on the air since 1919.

Today WWV and its sister station WWVH in Hawaii broadcast the familiar “At the tone, the time will be…” message on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 megahertz, with the frequencies calibrated to at least nine significant digits.

These stations supply listeners with standardized time information, high-seas weather forecasts, and other programming. Station WWVB, located at the same Colorado site, transmits on 0.060 megahertz and provides timing information to radio-controlled “atomic” clocks. In recent months, WWV’s precise, cesium-controlled carrier has found another use as a beacon for ionospheric measurements.

Radio signals provide a window into the changing ionosphere. The various signals from WWV, reflecting off the ionosphere, undergo changes in path length as the ionospheric electron density profile changes. This results in changes to the observed frequency of radio signals at receiving points, akin to the rise and fall in pitch of a passing train whistle.

Comparing the received radio signal with a precision local frequency standard, such as a GPS-disciplined oscillator, allows a user to measure these ionospherically induced frequency shifts (Figure 2). This measurement is prepared and recorded with open-source software. Numerous data sets recorded simultaneously from multiple locations offer information—when these data sets are examined both individually and collectively—about the ionosphere at the time the data are taken. This information includes the movements of traveling ionospheric disturbances and other important phenomena at various scales.

HamSCI encouraged amateur operators to generate data on the RBN during the North American eclipse of 2017.

Later analysis confirmed that the RBN data were consistent with physics-based ionospheric models [Frissell et al., 2018], indicating the promise of this system for collecting propagation data.

A further advantage of collecting data through the amateur community is that these observations tend to naturally fulfill the requirements of FAIR data: findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. Amateur operators are prohibited by the strictures of licensure from earning money through the act of operating, so most data used by operators are open and accessible at their creation. Because much of the amateur community is technically literate, databases and records are structured around machine readability.

Most important, amateur radio has a global and persistent identifier woven into the metadata of every recorded contact: Each licensed operator or club has a unique call sign, tied to a physical address in its respective government database.

Fig. 2. Signals from radio station WWV reflect off the ionosphere in this illustration. Space weather affects how far a signal travels before it changes direction, and the receiving station detects this as a change in signal frequency. (Courtesy Kristina Collins)

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Fig. 3. The Festival of Frequency Measurement events drew participation from stations worldwide. The first event was held in 2019 to commemorate the WWV centennial (participating stations are shown in blue), and two more were held in June (red) and December (green) 2020 to gather data during solar eclipses. (Courtesy Kristina Collins; Map data ©2021 Google, INEGI)

THE FESTIVAL OF FREQUENCY MEASUREMENT On 1 October 2019, HamSCI celebrated the centennial of WWV with a Festival of Frequency Measurement.

HamSCI issued an open call to amateur radio operators and shortwave listeners to gather Doppler shift data, and about 50 stations responded (Figure 3). We presented the results of this experiment at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019 [Kazdan et al., 2019], and the data from the experiment are freely available. These data are rich with signatures of ionospheric dynamics, including coherent wave-like disturbances with periodicities at night of about an hour. The observations are more quiescent during the day. The results are covered in an open-access paper in IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

solar eclipse across eastern Africa and Asia on 21 June, ran for 3 days and included volunteer participation from 50 stations in 19 countries. The December 2020 Eclipse Festival, a 7-day campaign built around the total solar eclipse across South America on 14 December, drew data submissions from over 80 stations. Both were advertised through the same channels used for radiosport contests and other events (Figure 4). The strong participation in these events demonstrates the community’s interest in community science and the potential for deployment in science campaigns.

WWV was never intended to provide these data, but the station’s exceptional precision, high power, and guaranteed continuous availability make it a perfect beacon. Thanks to the advent of inexpensive GPS-disciplined oscillators and single-board computers, amateur scientists can assemble complete prototype systems to collect such data for less than $200, or they can build systems from existing equipment.

Thus, the amateur community, mobilized on a national scale, can generate a large-scale, novel data set for ionospheric study.

Data collection campaigns during the solar eclipses of 2020 demonstrated the potential for scientists to engage with the amateur community. Dubbed the Eclipse Festivals (Figure 3) (a full participant map is available), these events followed the template of the WWV centennial event on a global scale, using 10-megahertz time standard stations.

The June 2020 Eclipse Festival, built around the annular

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Fig. 4. Radiosport events, like the one shown here, generate synchronized, coordinated data on the effects of Earth’s ionosphere on radio signal transmission. (Courtesy Kristina Collins)

Fig. 5. Low-cost personal space weather stations (PSWS) are designed primarily for measurements of time standard stations, such as WWV and the Canadian station CHU. More powerful software-defined radio (SDR) PSWS systems can be reconfigured for a range of experiments.

(Courtesy Nathaniel Frissell)

MAKING SPACE WEATHER PERSONAL

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The personal weather station has become a familiar fixture for meteorologists. Stations belonging to hobbyists, networked through sites like Weather Underground, provide a dense constellation of sensors reporting air temperature and pressure as well as precipitation. We have better knowledge of terrestrial weather because of these networks, but no such system exists yet for ionospheric weather.

This research is supported by National Science Foundation grants AGS-2002278, AGS-1932997, and AGS-1932972.

The authors thank all HamSCI collaborators, particularly those at the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Association, MIT Haystack Observatory, the University of Scranton, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the Case Amateur Radio Club (W8EDU).

Through HamSCI, ham radio operators and researchers are bridging this gap by designing hardware for a distributed network of personal space weather stations (PSWSs), accessible to professional and amateur scientists alike.

These stations come in two varieties (Figure 5): a low-cost model designed only for observations like those performed during the Festival of Frequency Measurement, and the more powerful, software-defined radio TangerineSDR, a wideband receiver that can be reconfigured for a range of experiments. At the core of both is a single-board computer, which interfaces with a set of modular instruments (e.g., a magnetometer) and uploads data to a central database.

REFERENCES

These stations are in the prototyping and testing stage, with plans to deploy a network of PSWSs in the next 3 years in time to record the upcoming 2024 solar eclipse across North America. As the Moon’s shadow travels across Earth’s surface, it will shield the radio stations below from solar extreme ultraviolet radiation, providing an excellent opportunity to collect baseline radio data. We hope to have the network up and running in time for Festival of Frequency Measurement 2024, and we invite hams to join in as volunteer scientists to help improve our understanding of Earth’s space environment.

Kristina Collins (kd8oxt@case.edu; call sign KD8OXT) and David Kazdan (AD8Y), Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio; and Nathaniel A. Frissell (W2NAF), University of Scranton, Scranton, Pa.

Frissell, N. A., et al. (2018), Modeling amateur radio soundings of the ionospheric response to the 2017 Great American Eclipse, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45(10), 4,665– 4,674.

Kazdan, D., et al. (2019), A low-cost HamSCI citizen science HF Doppler receiver for measuring ionospheric variability, Abstract SA43C-3213 presented at Fall Meeting 2019, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 9–13 Dec.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

CITATION Collins, K., D. Kazdan, and N. A. Frissell (2021), Ham radio forms a planet-sized space weather sensor network, Eos, 102. Published on 09 February 2021.

Text © 2021. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS Kristina Collins, KD8OXT, is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University and current historian of the Case Amateur Radio Club, W8EDU. She is active in HamSCI and focuses on distributed Doppler measurement for ionospheric remote sensing. Her current efforts include contributing to the development of the Personal Space Weather Station and organizing campaigns for amateur radio operators and shortwave listeners to collect science data, including the Eclipse Festivals. Outside of radio, her interests include sailing, film projectors and space.

David Kazdan, AD8Y, is an adjunct assistant professor of electrical engineering (and retired assistant professor of anesthesiology) at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. First licensed as a Novice in 1970, he holds an Amateur Extra license and a Radiotelegraph Operator license with ship radar endorsement. Amateur radio took

him to an SB, Electrical Engineering and SB, Humanities (music) from MIT, MD from University of Cincinnati, and PhD biomedical engineering from CWRU. David is retired from his medical practice and is now the faculty advisor of the Case Amateur Radio Club W8EDU. He teaches electrical engineering and general education courses centered on radio and communications. He is active with HamSCI and its radio beacon research, and is a founding member of the WWV Amateur Radio Club WW0WWV. Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Engineering at The University of Scranton.

Nathaniel’s passion for radio and radio science began in middle school when he was introduced to the amateur radio hobby through scouting. He eventually went on to earn his B.S. in Music Education and Physics from Montclair State University, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech working in the Virginia Tech Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) laboratory. Nathaniel founded and now leads the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) citizen science collective.

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IONOSPHERE-HOLES AND RADIO PROPAGATION

By Robert H. Welsh For those of us that have been around radio for some time, many of us began our interest in short-wave radio by listening to the various short-wave broadcast stations.

These stations have been operated by many different nation-states and commercial enterprises. The larger, nationally funded transmitters used AM modulation, powerful transmitter stations, and directional antennas.

They operated in the 60, 27, and 25 meter bands. One can still copy some of these international stations in the high end of the 40 meter band.

I began listening to these stations on my grandparents PHILCO AM, FM, SW radio near the New Jersey shore.

Occasionally, I would listen to amateur radio operators AM transmissions as well. I found all those transmissions exciting, and I tried to understand how those radio waves could travel such long distances.

Later in my life, while stationed with the U.S. Army Security Agency at an electronic intercept site in northern Turkey, I installed a Collins R-390 receiver in the tracking van where I worked. My operator and I regularly listened to the BBC from London and Radio Hilversum from the Netherlands. These transmissions provided us with news and music. Of course, stations such as the Voice of America or Radio Moscow provided interesting sources of propaganda from their respective governments.

For amateurs, these international broadcast stations could be used to measure radio propagation from different parts of the globe; but, there have been other uses of international short-wave stations. I will focus on these other uses in this article.

MISSILE EXHAUST PLUMES SHORTWAVE RADIO SIGNALS During a different assignment at a U.S. Army Security Agency electronic intercept site in northern California, I maintained and operated a short-wave monitoring system. Inside a communications van located outside the main operations building, we connected a large number of Collins R-390 receivers to several rhombic antenna systems that were directed toward Australia and Asia.

Signals copied by these different AM broadcast stations were detected and coupled to recording and analysis equipment. During each experiment, the U.S. Navy launched missiles from their site at Point Mugu California.

We monitored how the high-temperature exhaust plume from the missile engine changed the ionization of the D, E and F layers of the ionosphere as we copied the various stations. The typical exhaust plume temperature of these missiles is on the order of 2300 Kelvin (almost 3600 degrees Fahrenheit). A radar located at Stanford University provided missile altitude data via an HF radio

Figure 1. Potential atmospheric effects due to space-power rocket launch.

(Courtesy Advisory Group for Aerospace Research & Development, Conference Proceedings, Seine France, Number 295, April 1981, p. 45)

link just outside the 20 m amateur band. The data gave us knowledge of when the missile passed through different layers of the ionosphere. See Figure 1.

We measured the receiver’s AGC voltage as the missile passed through the F-layer of the ionosphere at altitudes of 160 km (100 miles). Note that the F-layer has the highest concentration of free electrons and is considered the most important layer for long-distance HF communications. As the missile passed through the F-layer, we observed that the short-wave broadcast signals varied. The AGC voltage of the receivers indicated a decrease in signal strength.

After the missile passed through the F-layer, we observed a slow increase in signal strength until the signal strength returned to the level before the missile passed through that layer.

What then is the effect of the exhaust plume on the ability of the ionosphere to maintain the propagation of short-wave radio signals? Experiments have shown that the exhaust plume of a missile chemically induces a change in the ionosphere. Water and hydrogen in the

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exhaust plume become molecular ions which react with the ionized oxygen molecules of the ionosphere thus creating a decrease in electron density; this could create a hole in the ionosphere as the missile exhaust penetrates the layers of the ionosphere.1

AMATEUR EXPERIMENTS The amateur radio community was given an opportunity to be a part of a similar experiment. The September 1979 issue of QST, The Journal of the American Radio Relay League, published an article “The Great Ionosphere-Hole Experiment”. An Atlas-Centaur rocket was to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center.2 According to the launch characteristics, the Centaur stage burns from 209 km (130 miles) to 466 km (290 miles). This places the rocket exhaust plume within the accepted height of the F-layer.

Beacon transmitters were set up in Puerto Rico in the 80, 40, 20 and 15 meter bands. The beacon transmitters utilized stepped-power outputs at 10 dB intervals.

The results of the Ionospheric-Hole experiment were published in a later issue of QST.3 About 150 amateurs were involved in receiving and recording the signals from the beacon transmitters set up in Puerto Rico. Amateurs from 35 states and several Canadian provinces provided signal strength reports. Some reports were S-meter readings and some reports were from strip-chart recorders. The 80 m reports indicated no significant change in signal strength; the same was true for the 40 m reports. No reports of signal change were reported from those monitoring the 20 m signal. Again, the 15 m beacon signal yielded no measureable change in signal strength. There were several reports from stations monitoring 10 and 6 meters with no measureable change in signal strength.

Another study was performed based on the concept of a solar-powered satellite system. This system would use large satellites in geosynchronous orbit to capture solar energy. The captured solar energy would be converted into microwave signals that would be transmitted to earth stations. The hypothesis considered that the received energy would be supplied to the electrical grid as an additional source of electricity.4 The transmitted microwave energy would be beamed to Earth at a frequency of 2.45 GHz with a power of 2.2 W/cm2 from the center of the satellite antenna. It is suggested that there would be at least 60 antenna arrays spread over the continental United States at a separation distance of 300 km (180 miles). See Figure 2.

MORE EXPERIMENTAL CONFIRMATIONS The Solar Power Satellite Proceedings issue about rocket plume exhaust suggests the following scenario: “The lowest layers of the ionosphere (the D- and E-regions) could be affected by both rocket launches and spacecraft reentry. The effluents from these space operations include water vapor, hydrogen gas, and thermal energy during launch, and ablated materials, oxides of nitrogen, and thermal energy during reentry. These effluents would modify the composition and properties of the ionosphere 34

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Figure 2. Ionospheric hole creation. (Courtesy Final Proceedings of the Solar Satellite Program Review)

and might influence climate, satellite-based surveillance systems, radio communications, navigation systems, microwave propagation (SPS power=beam stability} and magnetosphere processes. While the likelihood of altering the electron and ion composition seems to be fairly high, the magnitude of the impacts is uncertain.

The effects of nitrogen oxides formed during reentry and the effects of ablated materials do not appear to be important at this time. Calculations have shown that injection of water and carbon dioxide into the F-region of the ionosphere results in both plasma reduction (electronion recombination) and enhanced airglow (visible and IR emissions from excited molecules). These predictions have been verified both inadvertently during the Skylab launch and deliberately during the Lagopedo experiments.

Plasma reductions can result in interference with radio communications and navigation systems. Enhanced airglow, while not a serious matter at ground level, can contribute to the noise level of satellite-based surveillance systems.”

A more recent experiment regarding the effects of a rocket engine burn in the ionosphere occurred during July 2018.

During this experiment, observations indicated the exhaust plume amplified VLF radio signals from the U.S. Navy VLF station NML (North Dakota) and VLF station NWC (Australia). The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory monitored these transmissions as the BT-4 rocket engine of the Cygnus spacecraft passed through the ionosphere. No effects were noted on VLF waves due to the launch vehicle engine.

A later experiment in May 2020 yielded an amplification of the whistler signals at the top of the ionosphere.5 If one considers the very low frequencies of these effects, there appears to be minimal effect at amateur radio frequencies.

It is interesting to note that the 25.2 kHz signal from VLF station NML was amplified by a factor of 1000 times (30 dB) due to the interaction of the exhaust plume and the ionosphere. No equivalent effects appear to have occurred at amateur radio frequencies.

SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCHES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR STARLINK Recently, the concept of exhaust plume problems in the ionosphere has arisen again in connection with the StarLink program being developed by SpaceX. This system has already launched 60 satellites with the goal of putting more than 1,400 satellites into low-earth orbit at 550 km (340 miles). SpaceX envisions eventually placing almost 30,000 satellites into orbit for the StarLink program. These 227 kg (500 pounds) satellites are part of a system that will provide a global broadband internet service from space. No direct measurements have currently been made on the ionosphere effects of so many rocket launches.

Measurements of Space Shuttle engine exhaust have been studied by the Naval Research Laboratory. These measurements covered 25 years of Shuttle launches.

Changes in propagation were observed as the Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering Subsystem burned during passage through the ionosphere, and high-frequency radio propagation was found to have been affected. In addition, measureable changes in GPS signals and scattering of radar signals did occur.6

CONCLUSIONS What conclusion can be drawn based on the various experimental data stated above? It appears that rocket exhaust plumes do have short-term effects on high-frequency radio propagation. When one considers the variability of high-frequency radio propagation, those of us that use the ionosphere will not notice any changes in the propagation of our signals. If we lose a signal due to a rocket launch, we will probably put the short-time loss to occasional QSB and go on our way working stations around the world. Since the majority of U.S. rocket launches are made from either the Florida or California coasts, many operators will not notice any adverse effects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my sincere thanks to the following individuals for their gracious assistance: Paul A Bernhardt, KF4FOR and Joseph H. Reisert, W1JR.

REFERENCES 1. Heki, Kosuke, Ionospheric Hole Behind an Ascending Rocket; Earth and Space Science (Hokkaido University, 2008).

2. Bernhardt, P.A., et al, Great Ionospheric Hole Experiment, QST, September 1979, pp. 22-23.

3. Bernhardt, P.A., et al, Results, Great Ionospheric Hole Experiment, QST, November 1980, pp. 26-31.

4. The Final Proceedings of the Solar Power Satellite Program Review, April 22-25, 1980, Lincoln Nebraska.

5. Bernhardt, P.A., et al, “Strong Amplification of ELF/ VLF Signals in Space Using Neutral Gas Injections from a Satellite Rocket Engine,” Earth and Space Science Open Archive, September 2020.

6. Bernhardt, P.A., “25 Years of Ionospheric Modification with Space Shuttle OMS Burns,” 2011 XXXth URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium, August 2011.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robert Welsh (at the Very Large Array, Socorro New Mexico) is now in his 60th year as an amateur radio operator; actively chasing DX, islands, etc. He is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania, where he is the faculty sponsor of club station KB3YRR. Prior to teaching, Robert worked in the Defense Electronics industry dealing with radar and RF systems. He served as an Electronic Warfare Equipment technician in the U.S. Army Security Agency at several NSA intercept sites. He occasionally performs microwave radio galactic studies at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, West Virginia. He was part of the microwave Galactic Plane Survey using a dual-frequency radio telescope operating at 9.7 GHz and 14.3 GHz. While employed at NRAO, he developed a web page for teaching radio astronomy, see http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~glangsto/ lessons/index.html.

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THE NEXT STEP IN THE LEGACY OF GUGLIELMO MARCONI

By Jason Zavaleta, President of Marconi Legacy LLC Ten years ago I was studying cinema at San Francisco State University, fulfilling my dream of becoming a film director. I was then also working as a Student Media Advisor to the United Nations Academic Impact program.

After the launch of the program, I was invited to Rome by an Italian Ambassador for Peace, Count Federico of Wardal, to seek mentorship from legendary Italian film director, Maestro Carlo Lizzani. Quickly after landing in Rome, I had the great privilege of being introduced to Princess Elettra Marconi, daughter of Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi. Before we met, Maestro Lizzani had instructed me to "listen well, it is an honor to meet her."

In the Cafe Grecco by the Spanish Steps, I met Princess Marconi. Dressed in a suit of what I now refer to as "Elettra Blue." She glimmered as I would expect someone with the title of "princess" to embody. I interviewed her as she recounted her father and his accomplishments: inventing the radio, cell phones, microwaves, and radar.

We concluded, and, as I put my camera away, she asked if she might interview me. I shared my background, my upbringing in the suburbs of San Francisco (one of her father's favorite cities), a child of divorce, a diverse ethnic background (Spanish Basque, indigenous American, Filipino, Russian, Polish, Jewish), and my passion for filmmaking and healing. In the end, she whispered in Italian to Count Wardal who audibly gasped at her remark.

Had I offended her? What did I say? "You must share this with him," Count Wardal exclaimed. With a lightness, Princess Marconi turned to me, "You and my father have the same spirit, and I would like you to make a film about his life." Shock and awe is perhaps the most accurate way I could describe how I felt. As she left, my energy shifted, and a newly heightened awareness coursed through my being. Glancing around the cafe, I noticed all the people on their computers and cell phones, connecting to the ether that Guglielmo Marconi had enabled us to do, more than 100 years after his inventions. I was 19 years old and had no idea how I would honor the legacy of such a man.

About five years ago, Princess Marconi returned to me as we continued to develop the film and said, "My father left me a beautiful Palace in Bologna and I don't know what can be done with it. It's falling apart and is in dire need of repairs. What do you think?" My response, “What if we restored it and created a communication technology and arts institute to honor him, to extend the hand of his legacy into the lives of students from all over the world.” Her eyes lit up, "Yes! Yes!" Now I am President and Co-Founder of the Marconi Legacy LLC, dedicated to preserving and furthering the life work of Guglielmo Marconi.

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Jason Zavaleta and Princess Elettra Marconi.

Our first task, to restore and reinvigorate the Palace in Bologna. Vacant since 1935, this more than 700-yearold building brings a powerful sense of mythology and strength. Walking through the large iron gate with the monographic "M" for Marconi, through the main courtyard, and to the back you find a towering statue of Hercules killing the Nemean lion. From its 50 foot grand staircase to ballrooms with 200-year-old frescos, magic permeates the halls. Along with my team: Jonathan Rachman, Shafik Bahou, and Stefania Pierucci, we have begun to design the reinvention of this glorious space.

The Palace is 94,000 square feet with six stories, including an extravagant basement. We envision most of the building to be occupied by our flagship program, The Marconi Institute. It is our hope for the Institute to be a space of sabbatical, invention, instruction, and collaboration. The greatest young minds, dreaming of transforming the world through their next wireless breakthrough, will be invited to come to live, work, and incubate their ideas and products. They will work with the support of not only our team but the partnership of universities and technology companies facilitating technological breakthroughs around the world. Marconi Institute Fellows will participate in our version of Y-combinator - investing in the products and companies our Fellows build, with the Institute taking their products to market or coordinating sales of their products. An emphasis will be placed on inventors from less affluent communities and countries worldwide. We also are committed to diversity and inclusion, aiming for no less than 50% women and trans/non-binary individuals and 50% people of color within the Institute.

Additionally, we are creating a museum dedicated to Marconi. Given the vast size of the Palace grounds, and to become a self-sustaining community touchstone, we are also exploring the development of arts and performance spaces, event spaces, private residences, a boutique hotel, a private members club, bar and lounge, restaurants, plus prime commercial storefronts for rent.

Summer Programs for youth would be available in the summers to Italian, and international, students to learn about electrical engineering, coding, and other wireless technology topics. Through partnerships with leading self-growth and development education participants, their work will not only grow in their career aspirations but also helping them to excel in their communication and interpersonal skills.

As we prepare our final plans for the building this summer we are seeking initial investors to help us cover our costs: legal, architectural evaluation, virtual mapping of the space for remote tours and mock-up renderings, program development, and partnership efforts, and a documentary to share this historical transformation. Our current goal is to raise around $30-40 million for the initial renovation and upgrading of the building.

We will be following up on this article with an update in the Fall Proceedings edition, to share with the RCA community where we're at then and what's coming next from Marconi Legacy.

As for the film on Marconi, it is finally being written.

Palazzo Marconi Ballroom.

For more information and to get involved please email: jason@marconilegacy.com.

Palazzo Marconi Hallway.

Palazzo Marconi Exterior.

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2021 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM AND 113TH AWARDS BANQUET SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2021 DENVER, CO

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BROTHERS IN WIRELESS – PART II

By John Facella, P.E., RCA Fellow This is the second part of a two-part article presenting the history of two brothers-in-law who shared a love of wireless, and grew up during the pioneering days of the 1920s. Sal Barone and John DiBlasi were both Radio Club of America (RCA) Fellows: one served as a director and one was a club officer. By the end of their careers in the 1970s, both men had left their marks on the wireless industry. We also discus John DiBlasi’s son, John S. DiBlasi, who had his own wireless career and was also a member of RCA. Part I of this article, which was about Sal Barone, appeared in the fall 2020 issue of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America.

Our discussion will reveal two successful entrepreneurs and their associations with important personalities, some unfortunate business disagreements, and the reality that

success never comes easily. During our journey, we will meet some of the wireless industry luminaries of the time. It is hoped that this history will provide inspiration for others in their own wireless careers.

Recall that both men had several common connections.

John DiBlasi was related to Sal by virtue of marrying Sal’s sister Anna Barone. Both men were the same age, both came from families that emigrated from Sicily, and both studied electrical engineering at the Cooper Union in New York City. Both engaged their early interest in wireless as radio amateurs, but only John stayed licensed. Both men were entrepreneurs, both starting several businesses during their careers.

Part I of this article presented the story of Sal Barone.

Part II of this article presents the story of John DiBlasi.

PART II

JOHN DIBLASI, RADIO PIONEER, 1898-1981

(RCA FELLOW, RCA TREASURER 1921-1925, RCA VICE PRESIDENT 1926) THE EARLY YEARS IN AMATEUR RADIO John DiBlasi was born on November 5, 1898 in Sicily.

John demonstrated an early interest in radio by becoming a radio amateur. He started in wireless in 1913, and was first licensed as a radio amateur in 1915 (2AGP), then in 1919, just after World War I commenced, as 2FD.25 This same listing is shown in the 1921 U.S. Department of Commerce call sign listings, but then in 1922 and again in 1923, he is listed as 2FD. The listing reflects a power of 450 watts and the address is changed to 33 Sinclair Ave, Flushing, New York. As 2FD, John operated one of the stations heard by Paul Godley in Scotland during the December 1921 transatlantic shortwave wireless tests on 200 meters.26 John operated a continuous wave (CWMorse code) station, as opposed to the more primitive spark transmitters, which some of the other stations were using at the time.

After 1924, he is no longer listed in the federal call sign books as 2FD, and that call is eventually given to a Roy Cook of Vanderbuilt Ave., Brooklyn in 1925. In 1937 or 1938, he received the amateur call sign W2LKC; and finally in 1945, W2FX, which he used for the remainder of his life.

John attended the Cooper Union and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1922.27 His brotherin-law, Sal Barone, attended about the same time but did not graduate, perhaps because of family responsibilities.

John DiBlasi. (Courtesy Airpax Sales Confidential 11 Dec. 1972)

EARLY JOBS Unlike his brother-in-law Sal, who concentrated on manufacturing, John focused on the sales side of the radio industry. He worked for or founded manufactures representative (MR) companies. In those days, modern companies like Tessco and DigiKey Electronics did not exist. Instead, wireless manufacturing companies and radio amateurs depended on MR’s staffed with smart engineers to assist them in ordering electronic parts www.radioclubofamerica.org | SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS

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in a rapidly growing industry. In those days, much of the activity in wireless was occurring in the northeast, and especially in the New York City area. Thus John’s ability to be involved with successful MR companies was enhanced by the proximity of so many wireless manufacturing companies.

John was listed as the Secretary in 1921 for the Continental Radio & Electronic Corporation, located at 6 Warren St., New York City, which sold various components including the Phonetron speaker and microphone device.28 Around the same time, John worked for the Manhattan Electrical Supply Company (MESCO) on 17 Park Place in New York City.29, 30, 31 MESCO was one of the premier manufacturers and sellers of electrical apparatus, telegraphy equipment, and as it matured, they also sold wireless equipment. The early amateur radio operators in the New York City area bought equipment from John at MESCO, and he got to know many of them.

John joined the RCA in 1920, became a Fellow in 1926, and a life member in 1971.32 From 1921 to 1925 he served as treasurer of RCA, and in 1926 he became a vice president.33 In 1923, John married Anna Barone, the sister of Sal Barone, another wireless pioneer (see Part I of this article). They had three children.

ENTREPRENEUR In 1930, John and Charles B. Cooper formed CooperDiBlasi, manufacturers’ representatives located at 91 Seventh Ave. in New York City.34 This new company sold equipment from the major manufacturers at the time including: Electro-Snap, James Millen, Meissner, Radiart, Sarkes Tarzian, and Thordarson. Later, they relocated to expanded facilities on West 14th Street.

During those years, John Sr. commuted into New York City from his home on Long Island via the Long Island Railroad. Each morning, a group of amateur radio operators would gather in the first car of the train to

Press Wireless Event, L to R: James Millen, Sal Barone, John DiBlasi, Ray de Pasquale. (Author’s collection; from Press Wireless Signal magazine, Vol. III, No. 2, April 1946, page 19)

talk radio. Some of those in the car included Walter Grosselfinger W2ATQ, David DeWitt W2CNJ, George Rulffs, Walter Pierson, and Ted Long.35 In 1947, Cooper-DiBlasi was appointed to be the first manufacturer’s representative of Airpax for the New York area.36 Airpax at the time was a small company that made specialized power supplies and was located in Baltimore, Maryland. Cooper-DiBlasi helped Airpax secure an order from Sperry Gyroscope on Long Island for a specialized vibrator supply. The devices were used in the early ground-air missiles, forerunners of the Sparrow missiles. Later on, Cooper-DiBlasi invested in Airpax, and eventually, John was appointed to their board of directors. Many years later, Airpax was sold to Phillips Electronics of Eindhoven, Netherlands.

In 1950, John’s oldest son, John DiBlasi, Jr. joined the firm as an outside sales engineer responsible for covering industrial users and OEM manufacturers.37 In 1960, Paul DiBlasi, the younger son, joined as a sales engineer.

Sometime in the 1950s, the firm moved to 90 Main Street in Port Washington, Long Island. Later in the 1960s, they moved to Vanderventner Ave. in the same town.

One of John’s customers in the 1950s and 1960s was Northern Radio, run by his brother-in-law Sal Barone.

The families were close, and John and his brother-in-law often spent family visits talking about the radio business.

In 1962, upon the death of Charles Cooper, CooperDiBlasi was re-organized as John DiBlasi Associates, Inc. In 1964, John’s oldest son, John S. DiBlasi, Jr., was elected president.

John DiBlasi Sr., at Cooper-DiBlasi, circa 1949. (Courtesy QCWA Website) 40

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In 1969, John DiBlasi Sr. suffered a stroke, and became bed ridden and mute. This must have been an intensely frustrating period for a man who spent much of his free time talking with friends on his amateur radio equipment. The next year, at the age of 72, he officially retired. It is interesting to note that his brother-in-law Sal also retired that same year at the same age.

THE LEGEND OF PAPPAS RESTAURANT

Amateur Radio Emergency Corps, Suffolk Co. Long Island NY, John DiBlasi in center, circa 1920s. (Author’s Collection)

AMATEUR RADIO AND QCWA John had been an active amateur radio operator since 1915; he was one of the true pioneers of the era.

On November 4, 1947, John and five other early wireless pioneers were talking on the QCWA logo.

10 meter band, when they decided during their three-hour conversation (QSO) to form an ‘old timers’ organization. Other participants in that eventful QSO included Dr. E.A. Cyriax W2DI, John Gioe W2FD, E.S. Crane W2EF, Irving Groves W2DX, and Uda Ross W2UD/OA4J. The following month, on December 5, 1947, they met at Pappas Restaurant.38 John was elected president, and the organization was named the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA). John remained president until 1964. There were 34 charter members present at that first meeting. John was Charter Member #1, and is considered the founder of QCWA.

QCWA Initial Organizational Meeting at Pappas Restaurant on Dec. 5, 1947. L to R: Doc Walsh W2BW, Morton Kahn W2KR, John DiBlasi W2FX, Irving Groves W2DX, Uda B. Ross W2UD. (Courtesy QCWA Website)

Pappas Restaurant, NYC (Courtesy NL7XM Collection)

John DiBlasi had booked a small banquet room on the second floor at Pappas Restaurant on 14th Street in New York City for the inaugural meeting of a group of radio amateurs on December 5, 1947.39 The purpose of that meeting was to formalize the organization that would become known as QCWA. The hungry group of 34 radio amateurs waited for a long time in a narrow, freezing, and drafty foyer until their tables could be vacated by a meeting still underway that was ahead of theirs.

John complained about the delay to the staff. As the wait grew to 30 minutes, John deliberately complained loudly enough in order to be heard by the squatters at the tables upstairs. A few minutes later, an impeccably well-dressed, perfectly coifed, cigar-chomping group of nearly 30 of New York City’s most notorious and feared legendary gangsters of the era emerged in single file. They passed closely by each waiting QCWA Charter Member in the tiny foyer, glaring viciously at these men who had had the temerity to rush them out of their important conclave.

John and the others became very concerned and remained absolutely silent as each famous gangster passed them without a single word, but glowered at each member of John’s group with deliberate intimidation. It took a few minutes for everyone to compose themselves once inside. Finally, that first meeting was called to order, and the rest is history.

Membership in the QCWA is restricted to those who were licensed with an amateur radio license 25 years prior, and are currently licensed at the time of application to the QCWA. QCWA members reside all over the world, and there are scores of chapters where members can attend regular meetings. The QCWA has become one of the most prestigious amateur radio organizations, and its member list reads like a who’s-who in the amateur and professional wireless communities.40

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In the 1960s and 1970s, John was active in several amateur “nets” including what he called the “Spaghetti Network” of Italian stations on early Saturday mornings on 20 meters. John enjoyed conversing in Italian with those amateurs.

LEGACY John was involved in many wireless related organizations in the northeast. He was a senior member of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), which later became the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

In November 1945 the New York section of the IRE held a “Radio Pioneers Dinner” in New York City, and he was on both the Executive Committee and the Chair of the General Committee.41 The men that were involved in this dinner reads like a “Who’s Who” of the industry at that time. John was also a member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), a member of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and a member of the North Shore Amateur Radio Club.42 John began to fall into ill health in the mid-1960s; and, as a result, he resigned as president of his beloved QCWA on September 21, 1964 during a Board of Directors meeting at the Engineer’s Club in New York City. John had been QCWA president for almost 17 years, from its inception in December 1947. John remains to this day (2021) the QCWA president with the longest tenure.

John passed away on December 13, 1981 at the age of 83. He was eulogized on the front cover of the QCWA News in the spring 1982 issue.

During John’s life he participated as 2FD in the famous 1921 Transatlantic Tests with other radio amateurs. He was a wireless entrepreneur, founding two companies that sold parts and equipment to companies in the greater New York City area. He also helped found, over 70 years ago, one of the most prestigious amateur radio organizations, with thousands of members all over the world. In 1984, the QCWA established the John DiBlasi Award. This is awarded “to any QCWA member who has over a long period of time made an outstanding contribution to the honor and preservation of our Association”.43

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JOHN S. DIBLASI JR. (1924-2009), RCA MEMBER (1951) It is said that the acorn does not fall far from the oak tree. John DiBlasi’s oldest child, John S. DiBlasi (John Jr.), also pursued a career in wireless.

John Jr. was born in 1924 in Queens, New York.

Now fast forward to 1941. John Jr. had graduated from Bayside New York High School, and had just started attending St. John’s University in his first semester. John Jr. also had his amateur license and could copy Morse code at 25 words per minute. He was sitting with his father in their basement ham shack on December 7, 1941, communicating with amateurs around the country. Suddenly, bulletins were being broadcast on the amateur bands from the ARRL and the FCC for amateurs to cease operations because a state of war existed.

John Jr. decided to enlist in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and later to Camp Crowder, Missouri for Signal Corps training. He then heard that pilot training could qualify for a commission as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Force (the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force of today). So, he signed up for training as a cadet pilot at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.

Prior to completing training, he was re-assigned to the 75th Infantry Division in Breckenridge, Kentucky, apparently because the military needed more infantry soldiers. While undergoing that training, John Jr. became aware of an opportunity to volunteer for a mysterious assignment involving hazardous duty, communications, and intelligence work behind enemy lines. Of the 200 applicants, only John Jr. and fifteen others were accepted. He was sent to Washington, D.C. where he learned he was joining the OSS (Office of Strategic Services).45 John Jr. trained in communications exercises, sending and receiving 5 letter code groups in Morse code.

They also received weapons and explosives training at the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia, and a British Major from Shanghai taught them knife fighting.

OSS insignia.

While undergoing training, he participated in an OSS test that evaluated the feasibility of an aircraft controlling a torpedo boat using television and radio remote controls (remember this was the early 1940s!).

They twice almost crashed into a U.S. Navy cruiser at 55 miles per hour, and the test ended. Nothing more was ever heard of this contraption!

John DiBlasi Jr., operating OSS radio station in China, circa 1944. (Author’s collection)

OSS Radio Station YA3, Nanping China, circa 1944.

(Author’s collection)

John Jr. then made a long journey to Calcutta, India via San Francisco and 35 days by ship to Australia.

From there, it was a six hour plane ride in a C47 aircraft flying over the Himalayas to Kunming, China.

After a few weeks of receiving Morse code radio communications, he was sent to station PWF near the small town of Wutu, where they trained local Chinese operators to send intelligence reports on Japanese units. The OSS operators, in turn, sent this information back to Kunming, where it was evaluated and used to create bombing targets for the 5th and 14th Army Air Force units. Many tons of Japanese shipping were sunk in the Straits of Formosa as a result of the work of the OSS. Allied aircraft crews that were downed along the China coast were intercepted by Chinese agents and led back so that they could be returned to their units. Messages had to be sent only during the daytime in three one hour shifts because the electrical storms in the mountains would make night messages impossible to get through.

the next month were found and forwarded to the headquarters at Kunming.

The OSS agents used small suitcase transceivers with a 6L6 final tube. The main base at Kunming used a large BC-610 transmitter. Generators were used to run the radios, and the Chinese drivers showed the Americans a trick to conserve precious gasoline: they would start the generators on gasoline until they were running at normal temperature, and then they could switch to a turpentine-like pine oil substitute. The generator would run with a bit less power, but it was sufficient to run the radios and lights, and conserved scarce gasoline!

At one point, a Japanese aircraft with high ranking officers crashed in the mountains. OSS and Chinese agents searched for it and found it. All the occupants had been killed, but plans and code books for

After about a year, John Jr.’s group received a message to return to OSS Headquarters in Shanghai.

It took two weeks to travel over bad ox-cart roads, by sampan on rivers, and by jeeps that by the end were barely running. John Jr. then volunteered to help a buddy and operate radio station RAM in Formosa (Taiwan today). Part of their mission included reporting on the status of repatriating Japanese troops.

Finally, he received orders to return home after three years overseas. He returned via San Francisco and Fort Meade, Maryland.

Upon returning to the U.S. after active military service, John Jr. attended St. John’s University, and W2QNR Receives His QCWA graduated with a Certificate from His Father W2FX. B.S. degree. He (Courtesy CQ Magazine, Jan. 1968) then worked at his father’s firm as a sales engineer starting in 1950. In 1951, John Jr. joined RCA as a member.

In October 1967, at the QCWA’s 20th anniversary meeting, the circle was completed: John Jr., W2QNR, joined the QCWA that his father had helped found, and he was presented his QCWA membership certificate #5401 by his father W2FX.46

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Facella is a Fellow and Life Member of RCA. He earned his BSEE degree from Georgia Tech, an MBA from Georgia State University, and is a registered professional engineer.

His work career has spanned over 35 years in wireless, starting with service in the Signal Corps platoon leader, 28 years working for Motorola and Harris Corporation, and as a consultant. He is also a radio amateur, and a life member of the ARRL, QCWA, and the Antique Wireless Association.

DIBLASI REFERENCES 1. “Diamond Jubilee, A History of the Radio Club of America, 1909-1984”, Proceedings of the Radio Club of America, Vol. 54 No. 3.

2. “The Story of the First Trans-Atlantic Short Wave Message”, Proceedings of the Radio Club of America, 1BCG Commemorative Issue, October 1950.

3. The QCWA Newsletter, January 1965, pp. 1, 7, 8.

4. QCWA Website: a. https://www.qcwa.org/w2fx-00001-sk.htm b. www.qcwa.org/1953/17-member-pictures.jpg c. https://www.qcwa.org/awards-member.htm 5. Information provided by family including John T. DiBlasi and Paul DiBlasi.

6. Airpax Electronics Newsletter, 11 Dec. 1972, Vol. 1, Issue 19 (Provided by John T. DiBlasi).

7. Discussion with Pete (“The Greek”) Varounis, NL7XM, QCWA Historian.

8. Unpublished Manuscript: “Military History of John.

S. DiBlasi, Little Neck, NY” edited Aug. 13, 1998.

9. John S. DiBlasi Newsday Obituary, Legacy.com, Nov. 3, 2009.

10. John DiBlasi, W2FX, Quarter Century Wireless Association Celebrates Its Twentieth Anniversary, CQ Magazine, April 1967, pp. 68-69.

11. QCWA 20th Anniversary, CQ Magazine, January 1968, p. 58.

ENDNOTES See Part I in the fall 2020 issue for references and endnotes associated with the first half of this article.

25. The 1920 listing in the U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s Radio Stations of the United States (p. 31) shows DiBlasi’s address as 227 E. 75th Street, NY, NY, and his transmitter power was listed as 30 watts. This location was just a few blocks away from his brotherin-law Sal Barone, who was licensed in 1914 as 2WO at 343 E. 76th Street, NY, NY. 26. See DiBlasi Ref #2, pp. 35, 37, 51, 52 (all excerpts from QST, Feb. 1922), and p. 61 (excerpt from Radio News, Feb. 1922).

27. Source: Discussion with the Archivist at Cooper Union.

28. See DiBlasi Ref. 4a.

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29. For more information on the company and some pictures of equipment they sold, see www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail. cfm?company_id=12964. The company had 3 outlets in the greater New York City metropolitan area, and also had outlets in three other cities. They manufactured at three locations.

30. For more detailed information on MESCO operations, see www.telegraph-history.org/manufacturers/index. html, and www.telegraph-history.org/manufacturers/ mesco/index.html. The company originated in 1891, selling telegraphy equipment at 32 Cortland St. in New York City until 1906, and expanded to other locations. From 1907 to 1921, they were listed in New York City telephone directories at 17 Park Place in New York City.

31. Article excerpt from The QCWA News (Vol. 21, No. 4, Dec. 1972) by Uda Ross on the origins of the QCWA as excerpted in Worldradio Magazine (Dec. 1987).

32. See Proceedings of the Radio Club of America Oct. 1982, p. 20 and Aug. 1926 (See the RCA Centennial CDROM, 1926-08.pdf). The RCA president at the time was Ernest Amy, and Armstrong and Godley were directors. RCA moved its headquarters that year to the Bryant Park Building, Room 469, 55 W. 42nd St, NYC. DiBlasi was only vice president for one year. The articles also noted that Edwin Armstrong paid RCA $100 to be a life member in 1927 (Vol. 3 No. 13, Jan. 1927).

33. See DiBlasi Ref. 1, p. 262.

34. Tribute to John DiBlasi Associates, Airpax Electronics Sales Confidential Newsletter, 11 Dec. 1972, Vol. 1 No. 19, front page.

35. Memorial by George Rulffs, AA4GR, QCWA News, Spring 1982, p. 4.

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid, p. 2.

38. Some accounts indicate the first meeting was held at the famous Fraunces Tavern in New York City, others say Pappas.

39. From article by Ralph Hasslinger, W2CVF (SK), published in the Spring 1994 QCWA Journal Vol XLIII, Number 1 (V43N1) Pages 19-20. The legend story was told to the author but its accuracy cannot be verified at this time.

40. Uda Ross, A Club is Born (QCWA), Proceedings of the Radio Club of America, Oct. 1982.

41. IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. CE30, No. 2, May 1984, pages 114 & 120 42. See DiBlasi Ref. 3.

43. See DiBlasi Ref. 4c.

44. This entire section on John Jr.’s military service is based on DiBlasi Ref. 8.

45. OSS was the forerunner of the CIA. It was formed in Jun. 1942 under Maj. Gen. William J. Donovan, and was dissolved in Sep. 1945. See https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Strategic_Services.

46. CQ Magazine, Jan. 1968, p. 58.

E. LILIAN TODD: LAWYER, INVENTOR, AND THE UNLIKELY CO-FOUNDER OF THE RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA

By Elaine Walsh This article re-introduces Miss E. Lilian Todd. She is the woman who helped establish the Radio Club of America (RCA). A remarkable woman of her era, she co-founded the Junior Wireless Club and mentored and taught technology and invention to nine teenage boys. The club redefined itself as RCA a few years later. Her legacy in RCA spans more than a century of leadership, collaboration, and support for those interested in the world of wireless, radio, and electronic communications.

AMERICAN LIFE IN 1909

professor, for most women, work means holding a low wage, unskilled job.

These women toil for long hours without protection from dangerous working conditions and little hope of advancement since access to higher education is limited and expensive. And, without the vote, woman have almost no ability to change the laws or culture that keeps these conditions in place.

This historic and cultural backdrop makes what Todd did in 1909, and her role in the history of the Radio Club of America, even more remarkable.

E. Lillian Todd.

It is 1909 in America. William Taft is the 27th President.

Less than twenty percent of the population has a stove, and even fewer households own a refrigerator. There are no home radios, but player pianos and springwound phonographs provide entertainment in wealthier homes. You can order a house from the Sears catalog at $3,500; and that is the most expensive model, a 10room two-story cottage. For the most part, Americans are not driving. They walk, ride horses, and in some cities, use new-fangled trolleys. The nation’s population totals around 91 million people, with nearly ten percent immigrants from Italy, Russia, and the AustrianHungarian Empire; all forming part of a sudden and unsettling population surge.

WOMEN IN 1909 The average life expectancy for American women is 53.8 years. In big cities, thirty-two percent of women are employed, while in rural areas, only twenty percent of women work outside the home. Women are primarily employed in ten professions: servant, factory worker, laundress, teacher, dressmaker, salesclerk, stenographer, bookkeeper, housekeeper, and boarding housekeeper.

The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909, also known as the uprising of the 20,000, shocks the entire nation. It is the largest labor strike in history by female workers. Born in the aftermath of the strike, the suffragette movement is at its height in 1909, particularly in New York City, with marches that sometimes turn violent in the streets nearly every week.

While 1909 is a year of expanding opportunities for women to pursue a career as a lawyer, doctor, or college

E. LILIAN TODD Emma Lilian Todd was born in Washington, D. C. a few months after the Civil War ended in 1865. Only Emma, known as “Lily”, her mother, Mary Todd, and her sister, Cora, are listed in the 1870 census. Eventually, her death certificate stated “Unknown Todd” on the line for a father. Most biographies state that she grew up without a father.

She possessed an insatiable desire to understand machines, and had a talent for invention that she later said was inherited from, and nurtured by, her maternal grandfather. With no formal training at all in the use of tools, Todd taught herself by trial and error to design and build mechanical objects while still a child.

As a teenager, she bought a wind-up toy at a fair that was supposed to soar through the air. It did not. In fact, it performed so poorly that she considered it an insult to her intelligence and felt that she could build a better one. Later, in her 20s, she did design and build a model dirigible, which flew successfully.

After her success with the model dirigible, she put aside her work on aircraft, but she continued to tinker on other projects. By the time she was 31, she received her first patent for a typewriter copyholder. She would later receive patents for a cabinet with a folding table, a cannon that could be triggered by solar power, a sundial, and an Aeolian harp device that could be attached to a tree.

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Todd’s glider circa 1906.

earn money. She taught herself typewriting; and, with that skill, landed her first job at the New York Patent Office. After two years, she left for Pennsylvania, claiming in a 1909 autobiographical article that she was the first woman to receive an appointment to the executive department for the Pennsylvania governor’s office. After saving enough money at that job, she left the governor’s office and returned to New York. While she continued tinkering in her spare time, she studied law, ultimately graduating in the first Woman’s Law Class of New York University in 1890.

After law school, Todd worked as a secretary to the director-general of the Women’s National War Relief Association during the 1898 Spanish-American War.

the pilot had to run along an inclined plane, with that momentum causing the fans to revolve and catch the air. Two propellers then activated, causing the aircraft to lift off. A valve controlled the amount of air flow to the fans, causing the propellers to slow their revolutions; and eventually, the pilot could bring the aircraft back to earth.

Pneumatic wheels cushioned the landing impact.

Andrew Carnegie was among those who saw the aircraft at the Aero Club, and said he was impressed by the design.

Ultimately, her work attracted the attention and support of the elderly and restless philanthropist Olivia Sage, widow of financier and politician Russell Sage. Sage was introduced to Todd through Helen Miller Gould, a member

TODD AND AVIATION Yet, her passion for invention still burned, and by 1903, she was back to her first love - aviation. After seeing a sketch of an airplane in a Parisian newspaper, watching airships take to the skies in London and at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, she announced that she was determined to design her own “heavier-than-airmachine.”

Todd publicly revealed her first flying machine in December 1906 at Madison Square Garden during an exhibition of the Aero Club of America. It was the first aircraft in the world designed by a woman.

The airplane’s construction was unique; it was really more of a glider, since it had no engine. To start it, Todd’s design studio at 131 West 23rd Street, New York.

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met in Todd’s living room/workshop, surrounded by her airplane models, inventions, and mechanical toys.

When it was finally completed and revealed, many marveled at the unique design of Todd’s biplane. The graceful two-seater biplane was modeled on an albatross.

The upper wings curved like a bird’s wings and feathers, directing air downward to provide the needed lift, while the lower wings were level for stability. Straight-grained spruce wood kept the frame light and strong, and the wings were covered with sturdy and feather-light muslin and duck fabric, with internal structures reinforced by very thin piano wire. After Todd rejected many engines as unsuitable, a modified Rinek engine was finally selected and installed in the completed design. On the ground, the biplane stood about five feet high. There were two seats, although there is no evidence that two people ever rode in her invention.

Test flights for the new aircraft were held at Mineola Flying Field, not far from the summer home of her patroness, Olivia Sage at Lawrence, Long Island. As she watched Todd’s plane fly, Sage remarked that she saw “no reason why women should not fly as well as men.”

E. Lillian Todd circa 1907.

of the Russell Sage foundation, and another prominent New York City philanthropist. Gould was responsible for significant contributions to the New York University engineering school, the national YMCA, and Rutgers University.

A NEW CLUB AND A BIPLANE Assisted by an investment of over $223,000, in today’s dollars, from her patroness, Olivia Sage, by 1908 Todd was working with the Wittemann Brothers of Staten Island to construct her first full-sized biplane. Todd grew impatient while supervising the construction and channeled that energy into organizing America’s first Junior Aero Club in 1908. The new club was intended to “foster enthusiasm for aviation and further the education of young aviators.” The young men who joined the club

Todd agreed. She wanted to fly the biplane herself.

In a 1909 autobiographical article in Woman’s Home Companion titled “How I Built My Aeroplane”, she recounted applying for permission to fly her invention from the Richmond Borough Commissioner of Public Works and being the first woman to apply for an aviation license in the U.S. Both her permit and her license were denied. So, Todd went looking for a pilot.

But before the first flight of her airplane, the life of this ambitious, pioneering, self-made woman took an interesting, but not unexpected, turn.

A NEW FIELD EMERGES: RADIO In 1909, against a backdrop of political and cultural upheaval in America, very similar to today, there was something else going on in the world of technology that looks very much like today’s Maker Movement.

Today’s Maker Movement is a convergence of computer hackers, traditional artisans and self-reliant inventors and tinkerers; all creating and collaborating online and in cluttered local workshops and bedroom offices. The movement is energized by easy access to inexpensive computer parts and a desire to experiment with technology by “creating and not consuming.”

The new fields of radio and aviation in 1909 were, for the most part, perfect playgrounds for self-taught hobbyists, the imaginative, and the curious who used affordable components or home-built equipment to pursue their personal needs to invent.

The first five members of the Junior Aero Club at Madison Square Garden, circa 1909.

While aviation was a more expensive endeavor than radio, enthusiasts in both fields were young, and they wanted to pursue their interests without the “bother of having to ask permission.” Until 1912, there were no laws or regulations restricting the use of amateur radio transmitters in the U. S. Aviation was also a wide-open

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Minutes of the first meeting of RCA from its Secretary Book.

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Minutes of the first meeting of RCA from its Secretary Book.

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overlooked by the broader media. A 1984 IEEE history about the industry that includes a description of RCA does not mention Todd’s role. It only comments that a group of young men formed the original club that later became RCA. The Junior Wireless Club’s Secretary’s Book contains minutes from RCA’s first meeting as the Junior Wireless Club. They clearly show Todd was in attendance, participated in forming the new separate club and did not simply transfer members from Junior Aero Club, and donated the funds of the Junior Aero Club to RCA. The minutes indicate that Todd was the “Organizer” and had been named as “Honorary President” and was named as a “Charter Member.” RCA’s own histories published on its 25th, 50th, and 75th anniversaries clearly reflect Todd’s early role.

Newspaper account of the Junior Wireless Club in 1910 discussing Ms. Todd’s role in mentoring the youth who formed the new club that became RCA.

field for the experimenter who had funding. This heady mix of young people, alive with the spirit of invention and filled with a passion for experimentation, were custom made for the mentoring talents and enthusiasm of Miss E. Lilian Todd.

JUNIOR WIRELESS CLUB AND RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA Newspaper accounts describe how Todd taught aeronautics and wireless telegraphy to her young charges and mentored the students every Saturday, often in her apartment. In 1909, Todd co-launched the Junior Wireless Club, Ltd. with a group of teenaged boys who were fascinated by wireless and some of their parents.

They met in The Ansonia Hotel on the upper West Side of Manhattan, originally built by William Earle Dodge Stokes, the Phelps-Dodge copper heir and shareholder in the Ansonia Clock Company. Stokes Sr. was also, incidentally, the father of one of the boys who belonged to the wireless club, so hotel space was provided to the club for free. The new club was intended to be devoted to the interests of wireless telegraphy and wireless telephony.

Todd encouraged the young men to expand their club, advising them to solicit members among those interested in wireless telegraphy and wireless telephony. She provided guidance, donated funds, and laid an important foundation for the new organization in its earliest days, including offering her expertise and experience as a proven inventor and holder of multiple patents.

LILIAN’S AIRCRAFT TAKES TO THE SKIES Lilian Todd eventually found her pilot, Didier Masson, and in 1910, her aircraft flew over the Garden City aviation field. Shortly after that, she donated her airplane to the State of New York so the Signal Corps could use it. At the

The Junior Aero Club continued after Todd co-founded the Junior Wireless Club. Todd even asked the Junior Wireless Club at its second meeting to make a wireless set for the Junior Aero Club’s balloon that was to be shown at an aviation exhibition at Columbia University. Unfortunately, the Junior Wireless Club declined due to limitations on their time.

Invention and experimentation leading to interest in science and technology was as much a motivator for the young people in the Junior Wireless Club in 1909 as the Maker Movement today, so perhaps one of Todd’s greatest achievements was being the first STEM mentor/teacher.

Two years later, the Junior Wireless Club became the Radio Club of America, and moved its meetings to the home of a teenaged Frank King, who had been a member of both the Junior Aero Club and the Junior Wireless Club. Todd’s role in co-founding the club has been

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RCA station at Hotel Ansonia, NYC operated with the Navy League in 1915.

same time, she left her career in aircraft design and went to work for her former patroness, Mrs. Sage. Todd moved to California in the 1920s and lived in Corona Del Mar until her death in 1937. She’s buried on Staten Island in the Moravian Cemetery, not far from the Mineola Airfield where her airplane, the first one designed by a woman, made its test flights so many years before.

TODD’S LEGACY IN AVIATION AND AS AN INSPIRATION Todd’s legacy lives on in some surprising ways, including at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, in an awardwinning movie, two children’s books, and in a pop star’s music video.

In 2018, Joseph Milano, P.E., an RCA member from New Jersey, wrote to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to request recognition for E. Lilian Todd as a pioneer aviation inventor and mentor/teacher of aeronautical and radio technology. In a letter dated December 20, 2018 to Milano, the Smithsonian confirmed that Todd was included in their 1978 publication, United States Women in Aviation, as well as having earned an entry in their official biographical archives. In that same letter, Dorothy S. Cochrane, Curator, General Aviation, also stated that as of spring 2021, Todd is included in a renovated Early Flight gallery at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Miss Todd, a short, stop-motion, musical animation, was created in 2013 at the National Film and Television School in England and won a gold medal at the Student Academy Awards in the Foreign Film Category, the first animated film to win in this category in 40 years. Director and animator Kristina Yee said that the film is the “story of Todd’s determination, her perseverance and her passion.” The film has won nearly 70 awards worldwide for art design, music, and original story. The animation can be watched at this this link on YouTube.

The children’s book, Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane, written by Kristen W. Larson, formerly of NASA, was released in 2020. Another children’s book, Miss Todd and Her Wonderful Flying Machine – The true story of the first woman in the world to design and build an airplane, inspired by the Miss Todd film, came out in 2015.

Captivated by the life story of the founder of RCA and the world’s first airplane designer, pop star Elizaveta created a music video version of her rendition of the beautiful and haunting song “Icarus” using highlights from the Miss Todd film.

TODD’S LEGACY AT RCA In 1909, 14 year-old W.E.D. Stokes Jr., one of the young men who co-founded RCA with Todd, was encouraged to advocate for his new interests. In fact, newspaper accounts state that Todd had given quite a bit of instruction to young Stokes. In 1910, Stokes addressed the U.S. Senate to prevent a ban on amateur radio by commercial interests. That early act made newspaper headlines and brought RCA into national prominence.

Little was said about Todd while the press marveled at her young male acolytes.

The Junior Wireless Club changed its name to the Radio Club of America in October, 1911. Todd was no longer attending meetings and was not listed as a member.

But by now, RCA was attracting major wireless industry players who sought an environment filled with youthful enthusiasm, camaraderie, and collaboration among hobbyists and engineers, all experimenting with the new form of communication. By 1915, RCA members were handling radio traffic with the Navy League for Admiral Fletcher and his staff when the fleet visited the Hudson River docks.

RCA Banquet in honor of Edwin Howard Armstrong at Hotel Ansonia, 1919.

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On its tenth anniversary in 1919, RCA had grown significantly, and it hosted a large banquet in honor of Maj. Edwin Howard Armstrong at Hotel Ansonia. Armstrong had returned from World War I and his posting with the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Europe. The banquet celebrated his important contributions to the new wireless and radio technology during the war.

CONCLUSION Todd’s legacy in radio is not mentioned in her biographies that typically focus on her aviation career. It is likely that the inventive E. Lilian Todd would feel at home with the young people at a Maker’s Faire today, even though today’s inventors and experimenters use 3-D printers, drones, robots, and processors instead of home-built receivers and transmitters.

As evidenced by the books and videos based on her life, Todd continues to inspire young people today. Even at a time in America when the roles of women were tightly controlled, and women had little agency over their own lives, and even while she was denied achieved some of her most heart-felt goals, E. Lilian Todd pursued the freedom to chase her passions, to persist and to leave a legacy. Or, as a line from the song “Icarus”, set to her life, says, “If we are free, we never die.”

REFERENCES 75th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee Yearbook, Special Issue of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America, Vol. 54 No. 3, Fall 1984.

1909: E. Lilian Todd’s Biplane, Mrs. Russell Sage: America’s Forgotten Philanthropist, Auburn University Digital Library, https://content.lib.auburn.edu/digital/ collection/sage/id/20.

A. R. Parkhurst, Jr., With the Man Birds, Daily Journal and Tribune, July 10, 1910, https://earlyaviators.com/etodd2. htm.

C. M. Oakes, United States Women in Aviation through World War I. Smithsonian Studies in Air and Space, 1978, 1–44. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.01977245.2.1.

Changing Role of Women in Society, Progressive Era Photo Exhibit, Google, https://sites.google.com/site/ photographyprojecta12/theme-1/topic-2-immigration-urban ization?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV. Correspondence with Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, from Dorothy S. Cochrane, Curator, General Aviation.

D. Thompson, America in 1915: Long Hours, Crowded Houses, Death by Trolley, The Atlantic, Feb. 11, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/02/ america-in-1915/462360/.

E. L. Todd, How I Built My Aeroplane, Women’s Home Companion, Nov. 1909.

E. Lillian Todd, Early Aviators, https://earlyaviators.com/ etodd1.htm.

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Female Pioneers, AIRBUS Company Heritage Publication, 1978, https://www.airbus.com.

The First Woman to Design an Airplane, Aug. 2015, https://www.rosieriveters.com/the_first_woman_to_design_ an_airplane.

From Utopia to Scandal to Luxury: The History of the Ansonia, Curbed New York, Feb. 13, 2013, https:// ny.curbed.com/2013/2/13/10273862/from-utopia-toscandal-to-luxury-the-history-of-the-ansonia.

A History of Consumer Electronics Commemorating A Century of Electrical Progress, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol CE-30, No. 2, May 1984.

Joseph Milano interview with Frank Gunther, Letters from Joseph Milano to Radio Club of America.

Junior Wireless Club Ltd., Secretary’s Book.

Miss E. L. Todd and the First Model Aeroplane Club, The AMA History Project Presents: Biography of E. LILLIAN TODD (Week 3, Nov. 17, 2011), The Academy of Model Aeronautics, https://www.modelaircraft.org/sites/ default/files/ToddELillian.pdf.

Miss Todd Film: Behind the Scenes, www.facebook.com/ MissToddFilm P. E. Arnold, William Taft: The American Franchise, The Miller Center, University of Virginia, https://millercenter. org/president/taft/the-american-franchise.

September 24, 2016: Girls in Aviation Day, State of Michigan News Service, https://www.michigan.gov/formergovernors/0,4584,7-212-96477_90815_75291-393077--,00. html.

Spare Parts from Here, There and Everywhere, CHIRP, Aug. 1936, No. 20, https://earlyaviators.com/etodd2.htm.

T. H. White, Personal Communications by Wireless (18791922), United States Early Radio History, http://earlyradiohistory.us/sec004.htm.

Wireless Wonder Aged 14 Amazes Senate Committee, New York Times, May 1, 1910, https://timesmachine.nytimes. com/timesmachine/1910/05/01/104932130.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Elaine Walsh is the founder of E Comm International, Inc., which provides marketing, public relations, and sales support to major manufacturers in wireless around the world, or as she describes it “the opportunity to work with the most amazing clients in the world.” Elaine has been the owner of a wireless equipment manufacturing company, has been a keynote speaker at many technology events, and a top executive with an international media company; producing written and digital content and events in wireless. An RCA Fellow, former RCA board executive and director, Elaine is an activist for STEM education, the environment and animal rights, and, if you ask nicely, she will tell you how she ended up here after going to college on a scholarship for opera singing.

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2021 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM AND 113TH AWARDS BANQUET SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2021 DENVER, CO

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NEWS ITEM

NSF begins planning for decommissioning of Arecibo Observatory’s 305-meter telescope

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he National Science Foundation (NSF) has provided a report to Congress, as required by the report language accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, describing “the causes and extent of the damage, the plan to remove debris in a safe and environmentally sound way, the preservation of the associated AO facilities and surrounding areas, and the process for determining whether to establish comparable technology at the site, along with any associated cost estimates.” The investigation of the collapse and exploration of future opportunities for Arecibo is ongoing. The report is available at https://www.nsf.gov/news/reports/AreciboReportFINALProtected_508.pdf.

A series of catastrophic events occurred at Arecibo in November 2020 that culminated in breakages to the supporting cables and the collapse of the 900-ton science platform suspended over the telescope's 305-meter aluminum dish. The famous radio telescope had survived hurricanes and earthquakes, but had become unstable as supporting cables and wires failed and snapped. The platform and the dome crashed into the reflective dish in the early morning of December 1.

Arecibo was the largest fixed aperture telescope in the world. In 2016, China’s FAST telescope came online.

Arecibo Observatory prior to the collapse.

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Debates continued over which telescope had better sensitivity and performance under the definitions of “fixed aperture” and regarding other distinctions and capabilities.

But for 57 years, Arecibo contributed to many important discoveries across many disciplines, including radar and radio astronomy, atmospheric science, and planetary science. Just a few highlights include: • determining Mercury’s rotation of 59 days • preparing lunar radar maps used to determine a landing site for the Apollo 11 mission • mapping landing sites for the Mars Viking program • sending the “Arecibo Message” radio signals into space for alien detection • discovering the first binary pulsar that verified predictions from Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity • generating the first radar maps of Venus’ surface • discovering the first exoplanets outside our Solar System, rotating around a pulsar • detecting ice on the polar regions of Mercury • participating in planetary defense by tracking asteroids

Future plans for Arecibo remain in flux. Various groups have rallied to plan for rebuilding the telescope. Other options include using the site for further scientific research by utilizing other equipment and capabilities at the facility. The price tags for the different options vary, but are significant, ranging from $200-$400 million. Arecibo supporters published a white paper in February 2021 outlining key scientific objectives and novel capabilities that a new facility could offer. The white paper is available at http://www.naic.edu/ngat/NGAT-WhitePaper_ v2.0_03042021.pdf and an executive summary is available at http://www.naic.edu/ngat/NGAT-Summary_ v2.0_03042021.pdf.

SOURCES

Arecibo Observatory’s 900-ton equipment platform.

The March 3, 2021 NSF News Release 20-010 is available at https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ. jsp?cntn_id=301674.

Approximately 350 scientists used Arecibo annually along with 100 staff; and, 100,000 visitors came to Arecibo each year. Arecibo served as an important scientific and educational establishment for Puerto Rico, and even served as a FEMA emergency operations location following Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Other sources reviewed include Miami Herald (December 12, 2020), Scientific American (December 11, 2020), Nature (December 18, 2020), Physicsworld (January 4, 2021), and Science (January 14, 2021) as well as the Arecibo Observatory website at https://www.naic.edu/ao/ landing.

Arecibo Observatory after the collapse.

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NEWS ITEM

Laser-Driven Radio Transmitter Has A Vintage Sound

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new type of microwave radio transmitter built by physicists in the U.S. could lead to practical devices that operate at terahertz frequencies – something that could boost the capacity of wireless data systems.

The transmitter converts light from a quantum cascade laser into microwave signals and the researchers say that in about five years it could be modified to work in the terahertz range.

LASER INTERFERENCE

Terahertz radiation occupies the notch between microwaves and infrared radiation – at frequencies 100 times higher than those used in today’s wireless data systems. While the effective range of terahertz signals is shorter than microwaves, its higher frequency means that it can carry more information – making it a good candidate for short-range data exchange. The problem, however, is that simple and low-cost ways of creating terahertz radiation are lacking.

Systems developed to date have tended to use two relatively large lasers and combine their light in a third device called a photomixer. But in the latest work, Federico Capasso of Harvard University and colleagues have shown how to pull off the same trick using a much more compact set-up centred around a single quantum cascade laser with an optical cavity just a few millimetres long.

Terahertz lasers, for example, typically have to be cooled down to about 80 K and are therefore bulky. Pushing the operational frequency of transistors as high as possible is another option. However, the best performing devices today reach about 0.5 THz, and it remains to be seen how much that limit can be raised.

A more practical approach could be to combine optics and electronics by converting light waves into terahertz signals.

The idea is to interfere multiple laser beams with slightly different frequencies to generate an electric current oscillating at the beat frequency that can then feed an antenna. The beat frequency is equal to the difference in frequency of the laser beams.

Unlike standard semiconductor lasers, which generate photons when electrons and holes combine inside a material with a given band gap, quantum cascade lasers instead comprise a sandwich of dozens of thin layers of semiconductor whose structure determines the output frequency. Each electron that travels through the device “cascades” through a series of quantum wells, emitting

Tuning in: interfering laser light could soon be used to generate terahertz signals. (Courtesy: iStock/arttanja)

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multiple infrared photons as it does so. The device can be engineered so that the laser emits over a wide range of infrared frequencies, with the gap between frequencies having a constant, very well-defined value – in this case, within the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

OSCILLATING ELECTRIC CURRENTS The researchers found that the oscillating electric currents set up by the beating within their laser cavity had a certain spatial distribution. They saw that as the current in one side of the cavity went up, the current in the other went down, and vice-versa. Harvard’s Marco Piccardo says this is like what takes place inside a dipole antenna. Such a device typically consists of two metal wires separated by a short distance, which emit radio waves when driven by an oscillating voltage of opposite phase in the two wires.

To turn their laser into a radio transmitter, the researchers cut a small piece out of the metal electrode that runs along the top of the optical cavity and then connected the two halves of the electrode to strips of gold, each just over a centimeter long and fixed to a dielectric substrate. When supplying current to the laser and placing a microwave horn antenna just under a meter away, they showed that their device emitted microwaves at the beat frequency – which was 5.5 GHz.

VINTAGE RADIO But a radio is only useful if it can transmit information.

Piccardo and co-workers showed they could do that by converting an MP3 file of the Dean Martin song

“Volare” into a voltage signal that they used to modulate the device’s radiofrequency output. They were then able to pick up the emitted waves and replay the song using a radio receiver, connected to a loudspeaker, that they placed a few meters away. Piccardo says that the transmitted song “had a slight vintage touch” caused by noise at very low frequencies – caused by thermal fluctuations in the laser cavity.

Piccardo emphasizes that the demonstration was a “proof of concept” and that it is likely to take him and his colleagues around five years to adapt the laser and antenna technology so that it transmits powerful signals at terahertz frequencies. For one thing, he says, the spatial pattern of the beating inside the laser will be different at these frequencies. He reckons it could then take another few years to turn the device into a packaged and reliable commercial product.

Among the challenges will be bringing the cost down – the growth of quantum cascade laser material being “not cheap”, he says – and shrinking the components as much as possible. “Whether we will be able to put this in a phone,” he says, “I don’t know yet”.

He adds that such a device could have spectroscopy-based applications, in, for example, medicine or radio astronomy.

A preprint describing the radio is on the arXiv server.

REFERENCE E. Cartlidge, Laser-driven radio transmitter has a vintage sound, PhysicsWorld.org, Industry News, Laser Research Update, Jan. 30, 2019, Retrieved April 19, 2021, https:// physicsworld.com/a/laser-driven-radio-transmitter-has-avintage-sound/.

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NEWS ITEM

New Quantum Receiver the First to Detect Entire Radio Frequency Spectrum

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new quantum sensor can analyze the full spectrum of radio frequency and real-world signals, unleashing new potentials for soldier communications, spectrum awareness and electronic warfare.

Army researchers built the quantum sensor, which can sample the radio-frequency spectrum—from zero frequency up to 20 GHz—and detect AM and FM radio, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other communication signals.

The Rydberg sensor uses laser beams to create highlyexcited Rydberg atoms directly above a microwave circuit, to boost and hone in on the portion of the spectrum being measured. The Rydberg atoms are sensitive to the circuit’s voltage, enabling the device to be used as a sensitive probe for the wide range of signals in the RF spectrum.

Researchers excite Rubidium atoms to high-energy Rydberg states. The atoms interact strongly with the circuit’s electric fields, allowing detection and demodulation of any signal received into the circuit. (Courtesy U.S. Army illustration)

in sensitivity, bandwidth and frequency range. Because of this, the lab’s Rydberg spectrum analyzer and other quantum sensors have the potential to unlock a new frontier of Army sensors for spectrum awareness, electronic warfare, sensing and communications— part of the Army’s modernization strategy.

A Rydberg receiver and spectrum analyzer detects a wide range of real-world radio frequency signals above a microwave circuit including AM radio, FM radio, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. (Courtesy U.S. Army illustration)

“All previous demonstrations of Rydberg atomic sensors have only been able to sense small and specific regions of the RF spectrum, but our sensor now operates continuously over a wide frequency range for the first time,” said Dr. Kevin Cox, a researcher at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, now known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory. “This is a really important step toward proving that quantum sensors can provide a new, and dominant, set of capabilities for our Soldiers, who are operating in an increasingly complex electro-magnetic battlespace.”

The Rydberg spectrum analyzer has the potential to surpass fundamental limitations of traditional electronics

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“Devices that are based on quantum constituents are one of the Army’s top priorities to enable technical surprise in the competitive future battlespace,” said Army researcher Dr. David Meyer. “Quantum sensors in general, including the one demonstrated here, offer unparalleled sensitivity and accuracy to detect a wide range of mission-critical signals.”

The peer-reviewed journal Physical Review Applied published the researchers’ findings, Waveguide-coupled Rydberg spectrum analyzer from 0 to 20 GigaHerz, coauthored by Army researchers Drs. David Meyer, Paul Kunz, and Kevin Cox. The researchers plan additional development to improve the signal sensitivity of the Rydberg spectrum analyzer, aiming to outperform existing state-of-the-art technology.

“Significant physics and engineering effort is still necessary before the Rydberg analyzer can integrate into a field-testable device,” Cox said. “One of the first steps will be understanding how to retain and improve the device’s performance as the sensor size is decreased. The Army has emerged as a leading developer of Rydberg sensors, and we expect more cutting-edge research to result as this futuristic technology concept quickly becomes a reality.”

Researchers use a Rydberg spectrum analyzer experimental apparatus at the DEVCOM Army Research Lab. (Courtesy U.S. Army)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David H. Meyer et al, Waveguide-Coupled Rydberg Spectrum Analyzer from 0 to 20 GHz, Physical Review Applied (2021). DOI: 10.1103/ PhysRevApplied.15.014053.

DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory is an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command.

As the Army’s corporate research laboratory, ARL is operationalizing science to achieve transformational overmatch. Through collaboration across the command’s core technical competencies, DEVCOM leads in the discovery, development and delivery of the technologybased capabilities required to make Soldiers more successful at winning the nation’s wars and come home safely. DEVCOM is a major subordinate command of the Army Futures Command.

SOURCE The Army Research Laboratory, New quantum receiver the first to detect entire radio frequency spectrum, Feb. 4, 2021, https://phys.org/news/2021-02-quantum-entireradio-frequency-spectrum.html, Retrieved April 13, 2021.

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NEWS ITEM

Dark-Coated Starlink Satellites are Better but not Perfect, Say Astronomers

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n anti-reflective coating applied to some newer satellites in SpaceX’s Starlink constellation reduces their overall reflectivity by half but is less effective at certain wavelengths – meaning that ground-based astronomical observations are still being impaired by satellites passing through the telescope’s field of view.

That is the finding of Takashi Horiuchi and colleagues at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, who used the 1.05 m Murikabushi Telescope at the Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory (IAO) to determine the brightness of the so-called “DarkSat” model at different wavelengths.

as streaks in astronomical images taken from Earth-based telescopes, and astronomers’ concerns were heightened when the new satellites proved to be brighter than 99% of the approximately 200 artificial objects that were previously visible with the naked eye.

STARLINK STREAKS

“Significant physics and engineering effort is still necessary before the Rydberg analyzer can integrate into a field-testable device,” Cox said. “One of the first steps will be understanding how to retain and improve the device’s performance as the sensor size is decreased. The Army has emerged as a leading developer of Rydberg sensors, and we expect more cutting-edge research to result as this futuristic technology concept quickly becomes a reality.”

SpaceX launched the first 60 small satellites in its planned 12,000-satellite Starlink constellation on 24 May 2019.

The intent is that these satellites will work alongside ground-based receivers to create a global broadband network, with the humanitarian aim of making the Internet accessible for people throughout the world. However, low Earth orbit satellites like the ones in Starlink often appear

In response, the third round of 60 Starlink satellites, which SpaceX launched on 7 January 2020, included some satellites with a special anti-reflective dark coating. The IAO astronomers set out to compare the reflectivity of this modified satellite with the “standard” STARLINK-1113 version using the Murikabushi scope’s MITSuME system, which allows for simultaneous observations in the green,

Photo of a Starlink launch, showing a bright streak across the night sky. New lights in the sky A Starlink launch. (Courtesy: SpaceX, CC BY-NC 2.0)

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red and near-infrared bands. They also compared the brightness of reflected sunlight from the satellites to the known brightness of nearby reference stars.

The results, Horiuchi says, were mixed. “The darkening paint on DarkSat certainly halves reflection of sunlight compared to the ordinary Starlink satellites, but [the constellation’s] negative impact on astronomical observations still remains,” he says. Horiuchi adds that while the mitigating effect is “good in the UV/optical region” of the spectrum, “the black coating raises the surface temperature of DarkSat and affects intermediate infrared observations”.

PUTTING A VISOR ON IT Starlink’s more recent launches, in June and August 2020, featured yet a third type of satellite. The newly developed “Visorsat” model has eaves to further mitigate its reflectivity and these are expected to be more effective than the coating on DarkSat. However, Horiuchi suggests that it would also be a good idea to raise the operating altitude of the Starlink satellites. Satellites in a rival

constellation operated by OneWeb are darker, he notes, because their orbital altitude is higher, at 1200 km.

“We think it is important to discuss with the astronomical community of ground-based observations and proceed with the necessary verification when such a problem occurs or is expected,” he says. While astronomers hope that Visorsat will be less bright than its predecessors, Horiuchi suggests that discovering the implications and determining the best mitigation techniques for current and future missions will require researchers, the public and SpaceX to work together. “Dark skies with beautiful stars and nebulae are the treasure for all people in the world,” he says. “Astronomers need to communicate with the public towards keeping the shared treasure.”

SOURCE C. James, Dark-coated Starlink satellites are better but not perfect, say astronomers, PhysicsWorld.org, Jan. 13, 2021, Retrieved April 19, 2021, https://physicsworld. com/a/dark-coated-starlink-satellites-are-better-but-notperfect-say-astronomers.

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Help spread the word about why you belong, and direct potential members to www.radioclubofamerica.org/join to learn more about the benefits of membership!

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NEWS ITEM

Undersea Expedition to Retrieve Titanic's Radio

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he company with sole rights to salvage artifacts from the RMS Titanic has gone to court to gain permission to carry out a "surgical removal and retrieval" of the Marconi radio equipment on the ship, a Washington Post article reports.

1912 The Titanic sank in 1912 on its maiden voyage after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The state-of-theart wireless telegraph transmitter, installed by Marconi Wireless and Telegraph Company, was the Titanic’s sole connection to the rest of the world. As the radio room filled with water, radio operator Jack Phillips transmitted, "Come at once. We have struck a berg. It's a CQD, old man," and other frantic messages for help, using the spark transmitter on board. CQD was ultimately replaced with SOS -- which Phillips also used -- as the universal distress call. The passenger liner RMS Carpathia responded and rescued 705 of the passengers.

CURRENT CONDITION After resting at the bottom of the ocean for more than a century, the rust-covered wireless equipment that relayed those messages could be recovered. As might be expected, the deteriorating Marconi equipment is in poor shape after more than a century under water.

The Marconi wireless transmitter as it appears in the wreck.

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RMS Titanic Inc., the Atlanta-based company with the sole rights to salvage artifacts from the shipwreck, is seeking a court’s permission for the “surgical removal and retrieval” of the Marconi set.

The undersea retrieval would mark the first time an artifact was collected from within the Titanic, which many believe should remain undisturbed as the final resting place of some 1,500 victims of the maritime disaster, including Phillips. The wreck sits on the ocean floor some 2 1/2 miles beneath the surface, and remained undiscovered until 1985.

THE TREATY A just-signed treaty between the U.K. and the U.S. grants both countries authority to allow or deny access to the wreck and to remove items found outside the vessel. "This momentous agreement with the United States to preserve the wreck means it will be treated with the sensitivity and respect owed to the final resting place of more than 1,500 lives," British Transport and Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani said in a statement.

THE DEBATE RMS Titanic Inc. argues that the wireless transmitter must be recovered soon, and ideally within the year, as expeditions to the site more than two miles below the

A rendering of the Marconi transmitter as it would have appeared in 1912.

ocean’s surface have noted deterioration over the years.

The “Silent Cabin,” the soundproof room where it is housed, withstood years of damage and protected the transmitting switchboards and regulators, the company wrote in court documents. The deckhouse above the Marconi transmitter has been falling apart since 2005, and holes have been forming over the Silent Cabin. The overhead will probably collapse within the next few years, Titanic expert Parks Stephenson wrote in court documents, “potentially burying forever the remains of the world’s most famous radio.”

Millvena Dean, Titanic’s last living survivor said in a 2000 interview, “I think the ship should be left in peace.” She was 9 weeks old at the time of the disaster and died in 2009. “Any bits and pieces that have come out from the ship on the seabed — that is all right. But to go on the ship — no, that is all wrong.” RMS Titanic Inc. President Bretton Hunchak, however, has said the radio recovery mission would be limited in scope and undertaken in an effort to protect the important artifact before it is too late, “This is a careful, surgical operation to rescue a historically significant item so it can teach future generations about the story of Titanic.”

The request to enter the rapidly disintegrating wreck was filed in U.S. District Court in Eastern Virginia by RMS Titanic, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia, which said that it hopes to restore the Titanic radio transmitter to operating condition, if it is allowed to go forward.

THE PLAN The company plans to use a manned submarine to reach the wreck and then deploy a remotely controlled sub that would perforate the hull and retrieve the radio equipment.

If carried to the surface, it could perhaps be restored to working order, RMS Titanic Inc. said, meaning “Titanic’s radio — Titanic’s voice — could once again be heard."

SOURCES Undersea expedition planned to retrieve Titanic's radio gear, ARRL Letter, Feb. 6, 2020.

B. Shammas, Relic hunters plan to retrieve Titanic radio that relayed the ship’s final pleas for help, Washington Post, Jan. 22, 2020.

Support RCA Youth Activities by Donating Your Frequent Flyer Miles Due to the efforts of Carole Perry, the Youth Activities Program has been very successful.

During the year, Carole travels all over the country to meet with people and to speak on behalf of the program. Almost all of the travel is at Carole’s personal expense. You can help by donating your frequent flyer miles to the Radio Club. If you would like to participate, please contact Carole Perry at wb2mgp@gmail.com and she will assist you.

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CALL FOR PAPERS & EDITORIAL COMMENTS The Proceedings of the Radio Club of America is known for bringing you a wide mix of papers, ranging from sophisticated technical material to historical surveys of subjects related to electronic communications. RCA also is known for fostering discussion and sharing the viewpoints of its members. RCA is therefore issuing a call for papers and editorial comments for publication in upcoming issues of the Proceedings.

• Antennas and supporting structures (i.e., towers) • Broadband communications • Broadcast

The Proceedings is published semi-annually, and has been issued since 1914. The Proceedings is considered to be the first publication geared to promoting and sharing the intellectual development of all aspects of radio and wireless communications.

Coverage has expanded to include relevant articles encompassing science, technology development, marketing and regulatory topics. We seek articles from knowledgeable engineers, professionals, academics and amateurs who are participating in building future applications, as well as those who want to document the history of relevant technologies.

• Cellular telephony

As a fellow reader of the Proceedings, we would like you to author an article or editorial for publication. We welcome “early work,” even if it is still in the process of being drafted. RCA offers a unique opportunity for you to get an early reaction to important work now underway in wireless communications. It is also a unique opportunity to air your views, inviting commentary and response from the membership.

• Robotics

Please submit an abstract (1-3 paragraphs) including the title, author(s) and contact information, a synopsis of the material to be published, and a note as to why you think the subject is interesting or important to the wireless industry. Authors of papers selected for publication in the Proceedings may be given an opportunity to present at one of the RCA’s upcoming events, such as the annual Technical Symposium. (Note: participants are responsible for their own travel expenses to RCA events.)

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We seek interesting or important technical articles, editorials and discussion pieces in any of the following areas:

SPRING 2021 PROCEEDINGS | www.radioclubofamerica.org

• FirstNet • Ham (amateur) radio • Land mobile radio • Long-Term Evolution (LTE) • Military communications • Regulatory topics

• Satellites • 4G/5G Cellular • Semiconductors, LED or other devices supporting wireless communications • Any other wireless/radio technologies

Please send abstracts for articles and editorials to be published in the Proceedings to: John Facella at pantherpinesconsulting@gmail.com with copies to David Bart at jbart1964@gmail.com.

Please send abstracts for potential presentation topics at RCA events to: John Facella at TechSymp2018@radioclubofamerica.org.

For general questions about RCA, an article idea or submission, please contact Amy Beckham at Amy@radioclubofAmerica.org.

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The RCA is offering a variety of new sponsorships in 2021 which can give your company recognition and business opportunities. We can also create a custom sponsorship that meets your needs. Radio Club of America is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, therefore, your sponsorship can qualify for a tax-deduction. Please consult with your tax advisor for specific information.

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YOUR NAME ADDRESS PHONE EMAIL WEBSITE

You can pay online at www.radioclubofamerica.org or call Jane Winter @ 781-795-2476 or jwinter@eaa.org for more information, to pay by check or for the specifications for your company logo.

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BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL

DIRECTORY ADVANCED WIRELESS MARKETING Jack Armstrong, President 200 Warren Road Cockeysville, MD, 21030 PHONE: (443) 823-5100 jack@advancedwirelessmarketing.com www.advancedwirelessmarketing.com

Manufacturer’s Representative

ANDERSON-INTELLI-SMART BATTERY DIVISION KIRMUSS & ASSOCIATES, LLC Charles Kirmuss, Founder, Principal 51 West 84th Ave., Suite 301 Denver, CO 80260 PHONE: (303) 263-6353 ckirmuss@frontier.net www.anderson-intellismartbattery.com

Manufacturer of OE and replacement batteries for the two way radio industry. iNTELLi Smart Battery™ technology at lower cost than traditional OE standard batteries.

CAPITAL AREA COMMUNICATIONS Stephen J. Shaver, Project Manager 4120 Swatara Drive Harrisburg, PA, 17113 PHONE: (717) 561-0800 CELL: (717) 645-0086 FAX: (717) 561-9805 steves@cacradio.com www.cacradio.com

Wireless Communication Systems Solutions Provider

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Contact RCA at (612) 405-2012 or Amy@radioclubofamerica.org to reserve space.

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INFINITY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES/WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGIES DIRECT A DIV. OF KIRMUSS & ASSOCIATES, LLC, SINCE 1979

Charles Kirmuss, Founder, Principal 51 West 84th Ave., Suite 301 Denver, Co. 80260 PHONE: (303) 263-6353 ckirmuss@frontier.net www.wwtechnologiesdirect.com

BLUE WING Andy Maxymillian, PMP, Principal Consultant 235 Summer Hill Drive Gilbertsville, PA 19525 PHONE: (610) 473-2171 CELL: (610) 316-2660 FAX: (610) 473-2536 andrew.maxymillian@bluewing.com www.bluewing.com

Consultant Services

JACOBS Margaret J. Lyons, PE, PMP Senior RF/Communications Engineer 100 Walnut Ave, Suite 604 Clark, NJ 07066 PHONE: (908) 4030171 margaret.lyons@jacobs.com www.jacobs.com

Radio pioneer, Director of RCA and Rampart Search & Rescue: Custom solutions & products for the Public Safety, Search & Rescue and Military markets.

Proud supporter & sponsor of RCA’s Youth Program.

KIRMUSSAUDIO DIV OF KIRMUSS & ASSOCIATES, LLC Charles Kirmuss, Founder, Principal 51 West 84th Ave., Suite 301 Denver, Co. 80260 PHONE: (303) 263-6353 FAX: (303) 862-7170 ckirmuss@frontier.net www.kirmussaudio.com

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LEONARDO William P. Fredrickson 11300 W. 89th Street Overland Park, KS 66214 PHONE: (913) 495-2614 CELL: (913) 909-4492 Bill.fredrickson@ leonardocompany-us.com www.leonardocc.com

Land Mobile Radio Manufacturer: DMR, P25, Tetra

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL

DIRECTORY PANTHER PINES CONSULTING John Facella, P.E., BSEE, MBA, Principal PHONE: (978) 799-8900 pantherpinesconsulting@gmail.com www.pantherpinesconsulting.com

Communications & Management Consulting

RFI AMERICAS

RLA COMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING, LLC

Sean Johnson, President 2023 Case Pkwy Twinsburg, OH, 44087 PHONE: (330) 486-0706 x302 CELL: (330) 541-6585 FAX: (330) 486-0705 sean.johnson@rfi.com.au www.rfiamericas.com

Robert A. Lopez, P.E., President 8305 Bergenline Avenue #9 North Bergen, NJ 07047 PHONE: (973) 449-5249 rlopez@rlacommunications.com www.rlacommunications.com

Manufacturer of antennas and RF conditioning equipment for LMR

A communications engineering consulting company serving public safety and commercial wireless industries.

TOWER INNOVATIONS, INC.

TSR CONSULTING ®

Bruce R. McIntyre, President 107 Dunbar Ave., Suite E Oldsmar, FL 34677 PHONE: (813) 818-8766 CELL: (727) 439-3683 FAX: (813) 925-0999 bruce@towerinnovationsinc.com www.towerinnovactionsinc.com

Dr. Theodore S. Rappaport, P.E., Ph.D PO BOX 888 Riner, VA 24149

TWR

Wireless consulting, Communications structures

UTILITY TELECOM CONSULTING GROUP George R. Stoll, President 9850 S. Maryland Pkwy Las Vegas, NV, 89183 PHONE: (303) 840-2878 CELL: (303) 475-0414 FAX: (303) 840-1129 george.stoll@utcg.com www.utcg.com

Consulting Engineers

Technical consulting, engineering and design services in the field of wired and wireless communications systems, equipment and devices.

MASSIVELY BROADBAND ®

WIRELESS TOWERS, INC. Larry Shaefer, President 115 N. Walker St. Angleton, TX 77515 PHONE: (713) 522-7000 CELL: (713) 526-8000 Lshaefer@sbcglobal.net www.wireless-towers.com

Texas Tower Site Leasing

Lauren Libby, International President 300 Greyson Drive Cary NC 27511 PHONE: (719) 331-7051 llibby@twr.org www.twr.org

RF and Digital Content to 190 Countries in 230 languages every day

YOUR AD HERE Would you like to be listed in the next issue of the Proceedings?

Contact RCA at (612) 405-2012 or Amy@radioclubofamerica.org to reserve space.

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RCA CALENDAR

EVENTS

CALENDAR

Visit the event calendar on the RCA website for the most up-to-date event information.

RCA EVENTS

INDUSTRY EVENTS AGL VIRTUAL SUMMIT

AGL VIRTUAL SUMMIT

June 8, 2021 2–4 PM

September 9, 2021 2–4 PM

2021 RCA BANQUET AND TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM November 20, 2021 Denver, CO

IWCE 2021 MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS: CONNECTED IMPACT June 28 – July 1, 2021 Barcelona, Spain

APCO INTERNATIONAL August 15–18, 2021 San Antonio, TX

September 27-30, 2021 Las Vegas, NV

CONNECTIVITY EXPO October 4-7, 2021 Orlando, FL

AGL VIRTUAL SUMMIT November 10, 2021 2–4 PM

AWA ANNUAL CONVENTION October 5–9, 2021 Rochester, NY

SUPPORT RCA WITH A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION Help RCA continue its mission of advancing wireless art and science for the betterment of society by making a tax-deductible donation today! RCA believes in the future of the industry and your contribution will help us with the important work of encouraging the next generation of wireless pioneers and entrepreneurs. Consider making a donation in someone’s honor as a memorial or gift.

Donate online at www.radioclubofamerica.org/donate-to-rca/ or call us at (612) 405-2102 to contribute.

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OPPORTUNITIES TO SUPPORT RCA The Radio Club of America provides many opportunities to support the organization and its activities. Sponsors can make specific requests or provide funding for general operations.

INDIVIDUAL SUSTAINING DONATIONS Make a difference in how quickly we progress with our many initiatives for young people, young wireless professionals and those in established careers. We encourage any member who is impressed with the operations of the club to make a tax-deductible donation earmarked to sustaining operations. Donations to support our day-to-day operations are critical to our future as an organization. You can also select RCA as your full or partial beneficiary on an IRA, so funds are tax-free to RCA, or set up a monthly donation through a credit card or ACH withdrawal.

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS AT SPECIFIC EVENTS Networking is a key reason many of our members get involved and stay active with RCA. Breakfasts, cocktail parties and other social events can be underwritten by sponsors who receive promotional considerations for their donations and heightened visibility to the membership.

3 YEAR SUSTAINING CORPORATE SPONSORS There is a unique set of advantages to corporate sponsors who participate in our three-year program. See our summary of benefits by level of sponsorship.

SCHOLARSHIPS Donate to an existing scholarship fund or create your own and you will be supporting university students pursuing wireless communications as a career.

YOUTH ACTIVITIES The Youth Activities program brings the excitement of learning about amateur radio and vivid lessons in science, math and electronics to middle and high school children in this unique and innovative program sponsored by RCA.

HOW YOU CAN APPLY YOUR DONATIONS A variety of funds are available to support specific goals of the initial donors and RCA operations. Please contact RCA for more information on these opportunities.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

General Club Operations (unrestricted) Archive Preservation Barone-DiBlasi-Facella Biggs Brownson DeMello Award Continuing Education Dettra, Finch General Grants in Aid Goldwater Grebe Gunther Legacy Fund Link Meyer Meyerson Poppele Tom Sorley Memorial Fund to RCA Youth Activities Richard G. Somers Youth Edu Fund

RCA is classified as a 501(c)(3) organization under IRS rules. Contributions may be tax deductible in the United States depending on a person’s individual tax situation.

HOW TO SPONSOR/DONATE The RCA donations form is on the website. Please contact our Executive Secretary, Amy Beckham, for more information on any of these opportunities. She can be reached at 612.405.2012 or amy@radioclubofamerica.org.

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SHARE YOUR RCA STORY

SHOP AMAZON & HELP RCA

We had a record number of new members last year help us continue this momentum by spreading the word about why you belong to the oldest, most prestigious group of wireless professionals in the world! Direct potential members to the Why RCA? page of the website to learn what sets us apart.

Amazon has a program called Amazon Smile, through which Amazon will donate .5% of a qualified purchase to a charitable organization of your choice. To designate proceeds towards RCA, go to smile.amazon.com and use your Amazon login.

You will be asked to select a charitable organization (Radio Club of America) and start shopping. It is an easy way to help the Radio Club and at the same time get a great deal on amazon.com. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you will continue to receive the benefits of your Prime membership.

Signing up for RCA Membership has never been easier! Use the new online membership application to submit your information in a matter of minutes.

HAS YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION CHANGED? If you have recently changed your address, email, or phone number, please login to your membership page on our website to update your information, email amy@radioclubofamerica.org or call (612) 405-2012.

HEADQUARTERS OFFICE ADDRESS: 13570 Grove Drive #302 Maple Grove, MN 55311 PHONE: (612) 405-2012 EMAIL: amy@radioclubofamerica.org WEBSITE: www.radioclubofamerica.org

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