RCA Proceedings - Spring 2024

VOLUME 96, NUMBER 1 | SPRING 2024

Dr. Robert Woodrow Wilson Headlines the 2024 RCA Banquet

This year marks the 115th anniversary of the Radio Club of America. Dr. Robert Woodrow Wilson, who won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physicsfor his discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), will be the featured speaker.

IN THIS ISSUE: RCA’s 2023 Banquet and Technical Symposium Wrap-Up Analysis of Hedy Lamarr’s Contribution to Communication

A New Dr. Robert Wilson Park Preserves The Holmdel Hor RCA Launches Innovation Council

Proceedings

2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT

David P. Bart*

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Don Root*

VICE PRESIDENT

Rich Berliner*

VICE PRESIDENT/COUNSEL

Chester “Barney” Scholl, Jr.

VICE PRESIDENT/CO-COUNSEL

Edward Ryan*

TREASURER

Ronald J. Jakubowski*

SECRETARY

Margaret J. Lyons, PE, PMP*

DIRECTORS

JonPaul Beauchamp

Richard Biby

Dr. James Breakall

Karen Clark

Michael Kalter

Charles Kirmuss

Robert LaRose

PRESIDENTS EMERITI

Andrew Maxymillan

Nick Pennance

Carole Perry

Alan K. Poddar

Stanley Reubenstein

Dr. Julio Urbina

Steven L. Aldinger Mal Gurian

Sandra Black Carroll Hollingsworth*

Philip Casciano Bruce McIntyre

Mercy Contreras Stan Reubenstein

Timothy Duffy Anthony Sabino, Jr.

John Facella P.E.

STAFF

Amy Beckham, Administrative Director

Kathy Sheridan, Membership & Order Fulfillment

Maria Olaez, Bookkeeper

COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS

Bylaws Defined

Awards: Charles Kirmuss

Banquet: Margaret Lyons* / Denis Marin

Constitution & By-Laws: Chester “Barney” Scholl, Jr. / Ed Ryan

Education: Dr. Jim Breakall / Dr. Julio Urbina

Fellows: Bob LaRose / Don Root

Finance: Ron Jakubowski*

Marketing: Dave Bart

Nominations & Elections: John Paul Beauchamp

Publications: David P. Bart*

Shows/Conferences: Rich Biby / Stan Rubenstein

Scholarships: Alan Spindel / Rich Biby

Youth Activities: Carole Perry

Ad Hoc Committees

Sponsors/Fundraising: Karen Clark

Historical, Museums, Archives: Jim & Felicia Kruezer

Membership: Jon Paul Beauchamp

Member Srvcs, Mid-Career: Keith Kazmarek / Rich Biby

Member Srvcs, Senior/Retired: Don Root

Member Srvcs, Young Professionals: John Facella / Rich Biby

Mentoring Program: Paul Scutieri

Rocky Mountain CO Chapter: Karen Clark / Mercy Contreras

Technical Symposium: Dr. Julio Urbina / Dr. Jim Breakall

Strategic Planning: David Bart

Website: Alan Spindel / Don Root

IWCE Specific Conference: Amy Beckham

Innovation Council: Dr. Nathan Cohen

Interviews Program: John Facella

*Executive Committee Member

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.

RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA

Greetings to our RCA Members! I hope you will enjoy the spring 2024 edition of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America. There are substantial news and feature articles to share. This issue reflects gratitude and renewal. Activity levels are up, and we are grateful to all who continue to lead and participate in RCA’s many offerings. We also need your help in continuing the renewal of RCA for the 21st century! As outlined below, RCA is on the move in 2024, please join us!!

RCA: FOSTERING WIRELESS INNOVATION

RCA has a legendary reputation for bringing together a rare and unique group of highly talented and gifted people, our members, who enjoy sharing time and their interests. RCA is about YOU.

Our mission is fostering wireless innovation We broadcast our activities through our marketing materials, website, publications, and other venues, but never forget that we are focused on wireless innovation. Since 1909, RCA has been providing a collegial, supportive, and non-commercial environment to share information, friendships, and ideas among those who love the art and science of wireless.

RCA’s membership encompasses professionals, entrepreneurs, academics, and amateurs. Our members are interested in RF wireless applications, including radio, television, computers, paging, land mobile radio, public safety, internet, telephone, astronomical research, wireless, cellular, satellite, and digital communications. We celebrate innovation!

115 YEARS OF RCA AND 110 YEARS OF THE PROCEEDINGS

It has been 115 years since the Radio Club of America (RCA) commenced operations. We started as the Junior Aero Club of the U. S. in 1907. The group reorganized on January 2, 1909, as a new entity with a new focus, the Junior Wireless Club Limited. Two years later, on October 21, 1911, we were renamed The Radio Club of America. RCA celebrates 1909 as its birth year and hosts its annual banquet and awards program in November of each year.

The year 2023 marked the 110th anniversary of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America. We celebrate that milestone by publishing a Ten-Year Update to the Centennial Index that was released in 2013. The Ten-Year Update encompasses 2014–2023. This issue of the Proceedings includes a special section with coverage of the past decade, recognizing the contributions of our members and introducing the Ten-Year Update. The Centennial Index and the Ten-Year Update are available on the RCA website. Congratulations to everyone who has contributed to these pages for over a century and especially the past ten years! You have left an amazing record.

We will provide more coverage of RCA’s 115th anniversary celebration in the fall.

RCA INDUSTRY EVENTS

RCA is participating in many industry events. We have a new booth, new marketing materials, and a renewed presence. So far in 2024, we have been well represented at Orlando Hamcation, IWCE, and Connect(X), and we will be participating in the upcoming Dayton Hamvention in May. We will be at APCO in August. We also plan to participate in the Women in Wireless forum at MTUG in August, and WISPALOOZA in October. See the RCA calendar for more information. Don’t forget that our RCA Technical Symposium and Banquet takes place in November. See the RCA website for more information. Thank you to our many volunteers for joining us to help at the booth, and welcome to our many visitors!

We are continuing to evaluate RCA’s industry involvement. What shows do you want to see RCA participate in? Which shows should we drop? We need your input. Please contact Amy Beckham at amy@radioclubofamerica.org or me at jbart1964@gmail.com to discuss your ideas.

RCA’S 2024 CELEBRATIONS IN NEW YORK CITY

RCA’s 115th birthday will be celebrated in its hometown, New York City, in November 2024. Planning is very much underway. See the related announcements about our featured speaker, Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert Wilson. Join us in celebrating the discoveries of Bell Laboratories and especially the discovery of evidence confirming cosmic microwave background radiation and the Big Bang. We are currently planning two days of tours, the technical symposium, and the awards banquet on November 21-23 at the Westin Times Square. We have a room block, but all indications are that we may fill it early since there is considerable interest in this year’s activities. Information is available on the RCA website

GROWTH AT RCA

RCA is experiencing growth and energy in 2024 following a very successful 2023. The board and administration are moving forward with exciting plans to modernize RCA. This year we are:

• focusing on website modernization and improvement, updating pages, adding internal links and improving functionality, and changing background operating systems to increase speed.

• improving email distribution systems by migrating to new software and improving contact/member management.

• increasing the automation of many functions to simplify and make easily accessible more member services and internal accounting processes.

• accelerating the planning calendar, providing more opportunities for better coordination, earlier marketing, and more time to refocus on our corporate partnerships and involvement with industry leaders.

• continuing and expanding our participation in industry shows and activities as we reorient our targeted events for 2024 and 2025.

We are innovating in 2024! Come and join us!

PROGRAM EXPANSION

RCA continues to host the Women In Wireless events and the RCA Interviews series. RCA sponsored and hosted a Women in Communications panel at IWCE.

RCA is forming an Innovation Council at the request of our members. The Innovation Council will launch in May. It will foster and promote innovation by providing a combination of live and online programs, addressing how to create, develop, protect, manufacture, and distribute wireless innovations, whether they are products or ideas. See the related article about programming ideas.

Please stay tuned by reading the RCA ENews, and the RCA Website for current information about these opportunities. Get involved, bring us more people to meet, and share your knowledge and contacts. You will enjoy the valuable networking!

YOUTH, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND MENTORSHIP

RCA’s commitment to youth and young professionals has never been stronger. RCA’s Youth Activities, RCA Scholarships, and the RCA Mentorship Program are all flourishing. RCA offers support, guidance, and scholarships that can shepherd someone from grammar school through graduate school and into their careers. These programs are amazing and generous offerings to the next generations of wireless innovators. Many people are truly making a difference and leaving a legacy through RCA. We need you on these teams! For more information, please see the website.

NEW SPONSORS

RCA’s programs would not be possible without the generous support of our many sponsors. We thank you, but we also seek new sponsors to support annual operations, the banquet and technical symposium, industry booths, special programs, publishing, and other services. Please contact Amy Beckham and Karen Clark for more information. Thank you for stepping up!

PUBLICATIONS

RCA provides ENews, email announcements, website content, and the Proceedings. We have increased the frequency, scale, and scope of these publications in different ways. They have never been better, but we need your help, so please contribute material for future issues. It is up to you to develop and share new ideas and content. We welcome your comments, recommendations, and suggestions.

THANK YOU AND WELCOME

Each year, on January 1, RCA’s board of directors renews itself. We welcome, and bid a fond farewell, to the people who lead and direct RCA’s activities.

I want to thank Ernie Blair, V. G. Duvall, and Bruce McIntyre for their many contributions to the RCA Board. Your generosity and leadership have left a mark on all of us, and we are grateful for your efforts these past years.

Thank you to Denis Marin and Paul Scutieri who are departing the board but remaining as committee leaders of the Banquet and Membership committees, respectively. Thank you for your service and ongoing contributions to the RCA Board.

Please welcome Richard Biby, Bob LaRose, Andrew Maxymillian, Nick Pennance, and Dr. Ajay Poddar to the RCA Board of Directors. We look forward to your participation and your leadership in 2024.

We look forward to the ongoing leadership and board participation from Jon Paul Beauchamp and Carole Perry as directors and Ron Jakubowski, Margaret Lyons, Ed Ryan and

Bruce McIntyre

V. G. Duvall

Ernie Blair

Paul Scutieri Denis Marin

Nick Pennance

Bob LaRose

Richard Biby

Andrew Maxymillian

Dr. Ajay Poddar

Barney Scholl as officers in 2024. Thank you for returning and continuing to lead RCA.

Remaining directors on the RCA board are elected on a rotating basis subject to nominations and elections later in 2024. We thank you all for your ongoing work so generously provided for the benefit of RCA’s members.

AN INVITATION

Congratulations to everyone involved in RCA. It is an honor to serve as your president. For 115 years, RCA has developed through friendship, teamwork, and generosity. Our historic organization is, ultimately, what you, the members, make of it. RCA is a place to meet, share ideas, celebrate accomplishments, and develop lifetime friendships stimulated by the art and science of wireless innovation. Please bring a friend and get more involved at RCA. The future is bright. We look forward to seeing all of you in New York City this November.

DAVID BART, KB9YPD President

The Radio Club of America Inc.

www.comsoc.org/membership

We’ll See You There! 2024 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM AND 115 TH AWARDS BANQUET

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2024

WESTIN TIMES SQUARE

RCA Tours NIST and the Wings Over The Rockies Museum

Prior to the 2023 awards banquet and technical symposium, Radio Club of America (RCA) members toured NIST Boulder Laboratories operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

NIST Boulder is located near the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder and collaborates with industrial, academic, and government laboratories throughout the nation and the world. NIST and CU-Boulder jointly operate JILA, a world leader in atomic, molecular, and optical physics and precision measurement.

NIST Boulder has more than 350 scientific, technical, and support staff, and more than 300 visiting researchers, students, and contractors. NIST Boulder and NIST/ JILA scientists have been awarded three Nobel Prizes in

physics, a National Medal of Science, and two MacArthur Fellowship “genius grants.”

NIST Boulder is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland. NIST has an annual research and measurement budget of about $100 million.

RCA’s activities included tours of several NIST buildings, focusing on public safety communications research, physics, acoustic anechoic chambers, and the atomic clock.

Later in the day, RCA toured the Wings Over The Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver. The museum is located on the former Lowry Air Force Base. The museum preserves the history of Lowry AFB’s operations from 1938 to 1994 in its collections, archives, and research library. The museum is Colorado’s official air and space museum and the site of the Colorado Aviation Historical Society’s Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame.

Congratulations To RCA’s 2023 Banquet Participants and Award Recipients

RCA’s 114th annual banquet and awards ceremony were a great success! We commemorated the 50th anniversary of the first public demonstration of the Motorola handheld mobile phone by Dr. Marty Cooper. That historic walk in April 1973, on Sixth Avenue in New York City, marked an epoch-making change in the way mankind communicates. Dr. Cooper and his wife Arlene Harris, the first lady of wireless, were warmly welcomed by an admiring audience of friends and colleagues from RCA. Congratulations and thank you to the banquet planning committee and to Amy Beckham and the entire Sapphyre team for pulling off a wonderful celebration!

This year, our donation auction was outstanding, and RCA realized more than $2,500. Thank you to all our donors, and to those who purchased these items; your generous contributions help enable RCA to continue providing our programs and services.

Thank you to all who participated and thank you to a team of presenters that included:

Featured Speaker: Dr. Marty Cooper with Motorola mobile phones

Master of Ceremonies: Ed Ryan, Esq., RCA Vice President/ Co-Counsel, Patent attorney at Tutunjian & Bitetto, P.C.

Presenters: David Bart, Ed Ryan, John Facella, Arlene Harris, Stephen Hatfield, Charles Kirmus, Stephen Meer, Robert LaRose, Carole Perry, Harlin McEwen, Peter Moncure, Mercy Contreras, Michael Kalter, and Alan Spindel. Thanks also go to Amy Beckham who led the administrative coordination.

The entire ceremony was recorded and can be viewed on RCA’s YouTube channel.

We invite everyone to return for the next award banquet and Technical Symposium that will be held in New York City on November 23, 2024.

RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA’S 2023 AWARDS

Congratulations to all of RCA’s 2023 award recipients and a new class of RCA Fellows who received recognition at the banquet last November. Each of the recipients deserves recognition for their many individual contributions to radio and wireless communications. Their work has helped lead the way to creating and preserving the arts and sciences in wireless communications that bring forth new technological advances for the benefit of the wireless industry and mankind.

ARMSTRONG MEDAL

Dr. Ajay Poddar

For excellence and lasting contributions to radio arts and sciences.

LEE DE FORESTAWARD

Charles J. Soulliard

For significant contributions to the advancement of radio communications.

Dr. Marty Cooper Ed Ryan, Esq.

THANK YOU 2023 SPONSORS

The Radio Club of America Board of Directors and its members would like to thank the generous 2023 sponsors. Be sure to tell them that you saw their company mentioned in the Radio Club of America Awards Program.

2023 AWARDS PROGRAM SPONSORS

PLATINUM

Cocktail Reception

BRONZE

Keynote Sponsor

MEMBER DONORS

Ernie Blair | James Breakall | Mercy Contreras | Margaret Lyons | Stan Reubenstein Charles & Mary Soulliard | Nancy Smith | Stephen A. Nichols

ANNUAL RCA SPONSORS

SARNOFF CITATION

Steve Floyd

For exceptional contributions of a technical or non-technical nature to the advancement of electronic communications.

RCA BUSINESS AWARD

Tim Duffy and DX Engineering

In recognition of many contributions made to both the Radio Club of America and the wireless industry.

JERRY B. MINTER AWARD

Dr. Eugene Tan

For innovative work in instrumentation, avionics, and electronics.

JAY KITCHEN LEADERSHIP AWARD

Todd Schlekeway

For significant success leading a wireless association, government agency, or commercial enterprise.

RCA SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

Allan Tilles

For dedicated service to the Radio Club of America.

RALPH BATCHER MEMORIAL AWARD

Lynn Bisha

For significant work in preserving the history of radio and electronic communications.

ALFRED H. GREBE AWARD

Ted Henry

For significant achievements of excellence in the engineering and manufacturing of radio equipment.

RCA SPECIAL SERVICE AWARD

Ray Novak

For significant work to advance the goals and objectives of the Radio Club of America.

NPSTC’S RICHARD DEMELLO AWARD

D. Terry Hall

In recognition of a public safety communications individual who has demonstrated the highest levels of personal and professional conduct and performance in local, state, and national public safety communications.

CAROLE PERRY YOUNG PROFESSIONAL AWARD

Ruth Willet

To honor a Young Professional who was part of the RCA Youth Activities Program in their formative years and who has gone on to a career in wireless science.

RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA’S 2023 FELLOWS

EDGAR F. JOHNSON PIONEER CITATION

Stephen A. Nichols

In recognition of noteworthy contributions to the success of RCA or the radio industry.

Angela R. Batey

For contributions made while working in public safety for more than 35 years, serving on APCO’s board of directors, and as the Director of the Office of Professional Standards at the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council.

RCA PRESIDENT’S AWARD

Karen Clark

For service and dedication to the Radio Club of America.

Cheryl Giggets

For contributions to Public Safety

Communications consulting for local, state, and federal governments, for services to the Project 25 Technology Interest Group (PTIG) Board of Directors, and participating in multiple developmental working committees and panels for APCO International, NENA International, iCERT, and NIST.

Jeff Bratcher, Fellows Respondent

For services to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) and leadership in developing the FirstNet Authority and the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN).

Walter “Tom” Loughney, Jr.

For contributions to amateur radio, training, and technical consulting regarding antenna design and low-power communications.

Chester “Barney” Scholl

For services to the Amateur Radio Relay League, Hamvention, and the Radio Club of America.

Phillip Kirmuss

For contributions to interoperability, range extension, and advanced functionality such as mapping and sensor control, across Land Mobile Radio (LMR), Satellite, and LTE domains, involving public safety and military applications.

Jon Paul Beauchamp

For leadership and contributions to RCA (board member), Enterprise Wireless Alliance (board member), National Wireless Communication Council, Communications Marketing Association, APCO International, and several other organizations.

Michael J. Pappas

For contributions to audio processing in the development of new products, new markets, and new business opportunities for radio, TV, and Internet streaming made at Orban Labs, Inc., a division of DaySequerra.

2024 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM AND 115 TH AWARDS BANQUET

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2024

WESTIN TIMES SQUARE

RCA’s 2023 Technical Symposium Was A Huge Success!

The Technical Symposium held in Denver on November 18, 2023, was a smashing success. RCA’s annual opportunity to learn about innovative wireless technology had significant participation. The all-day symposium is indeed one of the wireless industry’s premier events.

RCA presented nine sessions plus poster presentations. Presentations covered antennas and signal generation processing, LTE high-power user equipment, preservation of phonograph records, professional development from amateur experiences, shared spectrum, youth activities, rapid DNA analysis using optics and digital conversion, and an introduction to RF hacking and its impact on satellites. The presentation slides and a video of the presentations are available on the RCA website, and presentations can be seen on the RCA YouTube channel. 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.

Thank you to Dr. Jim Breakall, Dr. Julio Urbino, John Facella, and Dr. Nathan Cohen for organizing this terrific annual event.

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

1st Place

Ruth Willet: Amateur Radio and Acoustics –he Frequencies That Connect My Life

2nd Place

Rachel Jones: Introduction to RF Hacking and Impacts on Satellites

Preparations are already underway for the 2024 Technical Symposium in New York City. 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 2024!

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 TECHNICAL

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM PRESENTERS

Dr. Ajay Poddar (Synergy Microwave Corp.) presented with assistance from Alan Spindel — Antennas & Microwave SGSP (Signal Generations Signal Processing) Electronics, Sensors, and SDR (Software-Defined Radio) for the applications in current and later generation communication systems and Sustainable Developments

Robert “Bob” LaRose (Assured Wireless Corporation) — The Road to LTE HPUE (High Power User Equipment)

Charles B Kirmuss (Kirmuss Audio) — When “Old” is “New” Again

Stephen Floyd (Former WUVT AM/FM Student Chief Engineer) — Engineering My College Radio Station, WUVT, Provided a Diverse and Practical Engineering Experience That Is Key to My Professional Success

Richard Lee (iPosi Inc.) — The Next Generation of Shared Spectrum

Carole Perry (RCA) — RCA’s Youth Activities

Eric Permut (BARC Jr.) — Youth Presentation: BARC Jr.

Ruth Willet (Dept. Acoustics, Penn State University) — Amateur Radio and Acoustics – The Frequencies That Connect My Life

Dr. Eugene Tan (ANDE Corporation) — Rapid DNA: Combining Microfluidics, Optics, and Analog to Digital Conversion to Make the World a Better Place

Rachel Jones (Savannah River National Laboratory) — Introduction to RF Hacking and Impacts on Satellites

John Facella — Moderator

SYMPOSIUM POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Spectrum Sensing Using Dispersive Delay Line Structure in Real-Time –Sri Tarun Reddy Chilukury (University of Colorado Denver and NIST Communications Technology Laboratory) and Dan Kuester (NIST Communications Technology Laboratory)

Radio Club of America Helps Invent Radio (the 1920s) – David Bart (RCA and AWA) and Felicia Kreuzer (Antique Wireless Association)

2023 Technical Symposium Photos

2023 BANQUET RECAP

RCA’s 2023 Armstrong Medal Acceptance

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Ajay Poddar received RCA’s Armstrong Medal at the 114th Radio Club of America banquet and awards ceremony. The first medal was presented to Major Edward H. Armstrong for his invention of circuits that made AM and FM radio possible and for Major Armstrong’s lifetime championing the work that established the foundation for modern radio technology. The award, now known as the Armstrong Medal, is only bestowed when an individual has demonstrated excellence and made lasting contributions to the arts and sciences of radio. The following text presents Dr. Poddar’s acceptance speech.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, and like-minded enthusiasts, I am humbled and honored to accept the highly coveted Armstrong Medal from the illustrious Radio Club of America. This coveted award recognizes not only my accomplishments but also the remarkable contributions of countless innovators and pioneers in the field of radio communication who have helped shape our society as we know it today.

The Armstrong Medal holds a special place in my heart since it is named after the renowned Edwin Howard Armstrong, whose revolutionary work transformed radio technology. Armstrong’s groundbreaking inventions, such as the regenerative circuit and frequency modulation (FM), paved the way for modern radio communication, which has had an indelible impact on our lives. Radio communication has always been an essential part of society.

Radio communication has been connecting people across vast distances since its early days. It has played a vital role in emergency radio links, modern telecommunications, and commerce and has been a source of entertainment and information. With advancements in technology, such as software-defined radio, cognitive radio, and the Internet of Things (IoT), radio communication is becoming even more powerful

and versatile. It is an exciting time to be involved in radio communication, and I feel privileged to contribute to its advancement.

Dr. Ajay Poddar, recipient of RCA’s 2023 Armstrong Medal.

I am extremely grateful to Dr. James Breakall for nominating me for this prestigious award, and to the Radio Club of America Award Committee for acknowledging my work. I also express my gratitude to my graduate school teacher, retired Professor Ms. Bharthi Bhatt from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India who was my mentor during my early career as a research scientist at Defense Research & Development organization (DRDO) in India. I also thank the late Dr. APJ Kalam, Scientific Advisor and President of India, and my boss and friend, Dr. Ulrich L. Rohde, Partner of Rohde & Schwarz, Munich, Germany, and Chairman, Synergy Microwave Corp, New Jersey for their invaluable guidance and support throughout my career. Furthermore, I would like to thank my friends and family members for their unwavering support and encouragement.

Thank you all for this honor.

ABOUT THE AWARD RECIPIENT

Dr. Poddar graduated from IIT-Delhi, India; receiving a Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) from Technical University Berlin, Germany; and a Post-Doctorate (Dr.-Ing. habil) from Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus, Germany. From 1991 to 2001, he was a Senior Scientist, responsible for many scientific research projects, including RADAR, guidance systems, and sensors for mine detection and underwater communication. He is currently a Chief Scientist with Synergy Microwave; a Full Professor with Oradea University, Romania; a Guest Lecturer with Technical University Berlin; and an Academic Advisory Board Member of the Don Bosco Institute of Engineering, Mumbai, India.

He has published over 350 scientific papers in journals and international conferences and has authored/coauthored six technical books. For the past 30 years, he has been serving on several scientific committees, professional societies, and voluntary organizations. He holds more than forty patents. He has received over two dozen awards for technological innovations and meritorious services.

Radio Club of America Armstrong Medal.

RCA’s 2023 Lee de Forest Award Acceptance

EDITOR’S NOTE: Charles Suillard received RCA’s Lee de Forest Award at the 114th Radio Club of America banquet and awards ceremony. Lee de Forest is credited with inventing the audion, a vacuum tube that enabled signal amplification in radio circuits. He held over 180 patents, pioneered motion picture sound, and popularized the word “radio” in the U.S. instead of the European term “wireless.” The Lee de Forest Award, originated in 1983, is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to the advancement of radio communications. The following text presents Charles Suillard’s acceptance speech.

Thanks to all and thank you to Charles Kirmuss for nominating me for the Lee de Forest Award. I would like to thank all the board members for your approval. It is quite an honor to receive this award, especially when you consider where would we be without Lee de Forest. There would be no amplifiers, no mixers, and no oscillators. So, I would like to show you something. When I first heard about this award, Mercy Contreras called me and told me something was going on in the radio club, but she would not tell me what it was. Eventually, Charles Kirmuss sent me a text telling me that he had nominated me for the award. I went down in my ham shack and I pulled out this old tin can that an old friend of mine gave me about 45 years ago. This is a Lee de Forest audion dry cell type DV3 detector and amplifier. Inside the can, I have the old vacuum tube. I just thought this was kind of special.

I also wanted to show you something else tonight. About a month after I learned about this award, Mercy called me and told me that the keynote speaker tonight would be Marty Cooper. I have never met Marty until tonight, but I have known about all his work with Motorola, IMTS, and the old formats. Mercy sent me a copy of his book (Cutting the Cord). Last year I tried to bid on it in the silent auction, but somebody here outbid me. So, I now have his book, and I have studied it. It was interesting to see all the work that he had done in the radio-telephone business. One of the things he mentioned in his book was a Rube Goldberg device built like a primitive watch. This is one of the old SECODE mechanical decoders. Does anybody here remember these? I got out of the Navy and

went to Niles Radio Communications in Tucson in 1971. These used to be 600 and 1500 Hertz decoders. We converted them by pulling out both coils and converting them to 2805 Hertz. After I left Niles Radio, I developed a 2805 Hertz decoder on a postage stamp, kind of following in Marty’s footsteps. He put his in a box. I also put it in a smaller size to make it portable.

I was hoping Ted Henry would be here tonight because I have down here our IMTS portable (IMTS/DTMF radiotelephone encoders-decoders) using his radio. I thought it would be fun to show that to him tonight.

It has been an honor to follow in Marty’s footsteps. I would like to also thank my wife for putting up with me for 40-some years. I know it has been tough. I had quite a surprise yesterday when my wife kept insisting that we meet Mercy for drinks downstairs. When I arrived, there was my little boy, my son Michael. Michael worked in our business for about 15 years, and he took over. He went to university, and while he was going to college, he worked part-time. Eventually, when he got his degree in marketing, he took over sales. Michael doubled our business, in particular with the TVS rolling code scramblers (e.g. Midian Electronics’ TVS series of tactical high-security rolling code voice scramblers) with Motorola TPS pro (e.g. Motorola Professional Series European Portable Radios) and commercial series radios.

I would like to tell you about all the other people at Midian who spent twenty 30–40 years with me. We have now given the company to them to take over. They made the last 50 years so special. Thank you very much. I appreciate this. It is quite an honor.

Charles Suillard showing a Lee de Forest DV3 audion.

ABOUT THE AWARD RECIPIENT

Charles Suillard started Midian Technologies in 1975. The first products were tone signaling modules for land mobile radio, and later covered DTMF, pulse tone, two-tone, and five-tone encoders, and decoders. Midian was the first to design these products, and these modules were adopted by many radio manufacturers to install in their radios. Midian was the first to design and manufacture after-market 2805/1500 Hz and 600/1500 Hz MTS pulse tone decoders, and also the

well-known SECODE SMART/IMTS/DTMF radio-telephone encoders-decoders with ANI.

In 1981, Midian entered the voice security market by introducing the world’s first voice scrambler small enough to fit inside a portable two-way radio. He also made telemetry and GPS modules and tracking systems for LMR and HAM accessory company Pryme with a proprietary version of APRS.

Mr. Souliard is a multiple patent holder. Now retired, he is a long-standing member and Fellow of The Radio Club of America with call sign K7JTJ.

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RCA’s 2023 Sarnoff Citation Award Acceptance

EDITOR’S NOTE: Steve Floyd received RCA’s Sarnoff Citation Award at the 114th Radio Club of America banquet and awards ceremony. David Sarnoff was a pioneer in American radio and television. A protégé of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi, Sarnoff was president of the powerful Radio Corporation of America and established the National Broadcasting Co. (NBC), America’s first commercial radio network. The Radio Corporation of America was a leader in radio and television manufacturing and instrumental in ushering in the age of broadcast radio and television. The Sarnoff Citation, established in 1973, recognizes exceptional contributions of a technical or non-technical nature to the advancement of electronic communications. The following text presents Steve Floyd’s acceptance speech.

Thank you and good evening everyone. I am truly grateful and honored to get this high award from RCA. You know, I can’t help but think back to when I was a teenager in the early 1970s in Fairfax City, Virginia. I was so excited about radio. I loved radio. I wanted to learn everything about it. I made a promise to myself that I was going to get as much education as possible. I was going to find the best mentors to guide me, and I was going to do something big. Now I didn’t know what that big was going to be, but I wanted to make a difference and contribute to the advancement of radio art and science.

Well, 28 years ago, I found the HAARP program [Highfrequency Active Auroral Research Program]. I live west

of Washington, D.C., and it was right there in Georgetown, a great part of town. So, I joined the program, and I quickly found out that the program was floundering and needed an RF design engineer to guide it. They had tried to subcontract everything out, but it wasn’t working. I quickly was assigned as the chief RF design engineer for the site, and I started regularly commuting up to remote Alaska to start to sort this whole thing out. I quickly realized not only did I take on something big, but I took on something mega big. Many of you may not know about the HAARP facility. It is 5500 acres. It has state-of-the-art research capabilities, from DC to light. It is arguably a national resource. It is the most state-of-the-art radio science facility ever built. Everyone knows about the big HF transmitter, but that is just one instrument of many that reaches an ERP (effective radiated power) of five gigawatts. That’s big, but the design challenges were huge!

Steve Floyd presents his acceptance of the Sarnoff Citation.

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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.

I was blessed with a good design team. Their innovations were off the charts. We beat the specs so well that after 10 years our government customer came to me and said we want to give you some more money. I was stunned. I have never heard that before. He said that we want to give you some extra funding and let you continue to innovate and improve this facility. You have a free license to do what you like, because we like what you are doing. I couldn’t believe it. I have never worked on a contract like that.

So, my team and I did just that. The site has been reliable ever since. It’s busy and it’s well funded and the radio science that is pouring out of it is immense. I could not be prouder of my team and my maintenance staff and what we achieved.

But there was one other challenge that this project brought, and it was a big one. That involves living in Alaska, away from home, where the temperatures in the wintertime routinely get to 40 and 50 degrees below 0 with no wind. I would come home after 12 hours of work at the site to the Gakona Lodge, a beautiful log-built lodge; and uh-oh there’s the sign again, the bathroom is out of action, frozen. Oh no, that meant that at night I would have to get in my parka and get on all my cold weather gear, and go out to the outhouse 100 feet behind the lodge when it’s 40 and 50 below 0. How did radio science get me into this? But I met that challenge too.

I thank you so much for recognizing this accomplishment. Hopefully, you will read up on the HAARP facility. Thank you.

ABOUT THE AWARD RECIPIENT

Steve Floyd became a licensed Amateur Radio operator at 12 years old and is active as W4YHD. He is a BSEE graduate of Virginia Tech, a former student DJ, and Chief Engineer at WUVT-FM in Blacksburg, Virginia. He obtained his MSEE (with emphasis on RF and Microwave Engineering and Radar Systems Engineering) from Johns Hopkins University in 1991.

Steve began his professional career designing high-power RF communications and Radar systems at E-Systems Inc., then became Chief RF Systems Design Engineer for HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program), working at APTI/BAE Systems. As Chief Engineer for the HAARP facility, he was responsible for all hardware systems designs, equipment installation, and site operations until 2014, when he became a part-time consultant to the program.

Steve’s current responsibilities are primarily involved in the design of high-power SDR-based Radar systems, including EW and Communications systems, at Ultra Electronics. He is also active in the broadcast industry. He is a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, DC Chapter 37, and has a lifelong love of radio broadcasting and amateur radio.

2023 BANQUET

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2024 TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM AND 115TH BANQUET & AWARDS PRESENTATION

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23 | NYC

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

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.

Strengthen your network

Join us in New York City and meet industry leaders from across the country. This year you will have the opportunity to run shoulders with Dr. Robert Wilson, the co-discoverer of evidence proving the Big Bang Theory!

Honor the distinguished and deserving

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

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

Participate in tours

Our Thursday tours will focus on the Big Bang, and will include the InfoAge Wireless Museum, a tour of the Holmdel Horn Antenna, and AT&T Middletown Museum. Friday we tour NYU! Join us!

Discover NYC!

We are excited to bring these events back to NYC and are committed to do so every other year or so. Our location at the Westin Times Square provides an excellent base for museums, shows, and everything New York City has to offer.

Register for the 2024 Technical Symposium and Banquet will open July 1, 2024.

RCA 2023 Banquet Reception

Thanks to our sleek new RCA web site, opportunities to host innovative virtual programs and more new ways to connect with RCA members, being an RCA sponsor is a better-than-ever investment in the future.

Contact Karen Clark, Sponsor Committee Chair at kjclark33@comcast.net for more information!

Our organization grows and encourages innovation because of your support. With your support, our organization continues to grow and encourage innovation.

Thank you!

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E-mail: andrew.maxymillian@bluewing.com

ANALYSIS OF HEDY LAMARR’S CONTRIBUTION TO SPREAD-SPECTRUM COMMUNICATION

Posted By: David Rand Irvin

ABSTRACT

Primary source documents archived by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the U.S. Patent Office refute the widely accepted legend that actress Hedy Lamarr and musician George Antheil invented frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) communication. Particular attention is called to the prosecution history of the seventh claim of their original patent application, which claim could well serve as the definition of FHSS. Claim 7 was properly denied by the patent office based on prior art. The six allowed claims of U.S. Patent 2,292,387 describe Lamarr and Antheil’s actual invention – a player-piano-like synchronization mechanism, not FHSS communication.

INTRODUCTION

A legend that actress Hedy Lamarr invented the communication method, now known as “frequency-hopping spread spectrum” (FHSS), is deeply ingrained in our culture. Some versions of the legend assert that her work was sine qua non for Bluetooth, GPS, cell phones, and even the internet and that without her essential contribution, we would not have these. This legend flows from U.S. Patent 2,292,387, “Secret Communication System” filed 10 June 1941 and granted 11 August 1942 to inventors Hedy Kiesler Markey (Lamarr’s legal name, at the time) and George Antheil.

The analysis presented here considers Lamarr and Antheil’s pursuit of their invention, explains the patent that they received, and clarifies what the patent conveys. This analysis is based on primary source documents preserved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History (collectively referred to herein as the “Archive”).1 These documents unambiguously show that Hedy Lamarr did not invent FHSS. In reality, FHSS was already known by 1929, and arguably earlier than that. We begin with a synopsis of FHSS, and continue with a brief overview of the domain of patents for non-specialists, how they come about, and what they mean, since, at minimum, an elementary knowledge of this specialized

domain is a prerequisite to understanding Lamarr and Antheil’s contribution. Attention then turns to the scope of the particular invention conveyed by the Lamarr–Antheil patent, followed by a discussion of inventorship, attribution, secrecy, seizure, and royalties, all of which have become entangled with the legend of Lamarr’s work.

BACKGROUND – WHAT IS FREQUENCY-HOPPING SPREAD SPECTRUM?

The operation of FHSS communication is straightforward in concept. In an FHSS link, the receiver and the transmitter can be tuned over a large set of radio frequencies. At the start of communications, both the transmitter and the receiver operate on the same one of these frequencies. From that point on, as communication progresses, the receiver and the transmitter move together – i.e., hop, repeatedly and synchronously – from one frequency to another. This hopping can be seemingly at random, driven by an algorithm known to both the transmitter and the receiver, but unknown to a potential eavesdropper or jammer. Thus, FHSS provides a level of secrecy and resilience. This method was developed and well-known by those skilled in the art of radio communication long before Lamarr and Antheil filed their patent application in 1941.

PATENT PREPARATION, PROSECUTION, AND EXAMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

The journey leading to a patent starts, of course, with the conception of an invention. Usually, the next steps for the would-be inventors involve writing an invention disclosure describing their work – often an informal document – and engaging an attorney to prepare a patent application from the invention disclosure.

The attorney then files the application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). At this point, the would-be inventors may be called applicants. 2 The USPTO classifies each incoming application according to its technological species and assigns an examiner. Examiners are specialists responsible for their assigned fields of technology and are presumed to be fully competent by courts of law.

An important part of an examiner’s job is to determine whether the purported invention clears several thresholds, including: (1) the invention must be novel, meaning that the same thing is not already known, and (2) the invention must not be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art. The test for obviousness is neither explicitly defined nor straightforward. Rather, the question of obviousness is considered by referencing the USPTO’s Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, which incorporates the body of pertinent case law (court decisions) and regulations.3

To determine whether the purported invention clears these two thresholds, the examiner searches for prior art. Prior art comprises relevant teachings – patents, journal papers, textbooks, commercial offerings, and so forth – that predate the application under examination. In other words, the examiner looks for earlier work along the same lines. Based on the results of the search, the examiner then determines the patentability of each claim of the application under review and communicates this to the applicants’ attorney in a first-office action. The first-office action may allow all of the applicants’ claims, allow only a subset of the claims, or reject all of the claims.

The attorney, with the advice and consent of the applicants, then responds to the examiner, either accepting the examiner’s judgment or presenting a reasoned argument as to why the examiner has erred. The examiner replies with another office action, which may be final (although the process can iterate through further cycles of examination if need be, and is further subject to appeal). Ultimately, if and when the examiner allows any of the applicants’ claims, a patent is issued in the name of the applicants, who may now properly be called inventors. This back-andforth between the attorney and examiner is known as the prosecution of the patent application. Such records of the USPTO are open to the public once a patent is granted – these are the patent’s “prosecution history” or its “file wrapper.”

THE STRUCTURE OF U.S. PATENTS

United States patents comprise three parts: (1) a set of claims, which define the patented invention, (2) a set of drawings when appropriate, and (3) a specification, which explains the claims and drawings.

The specification often makes up the bulk of a patent’s word count. It serves several purposes. The most important of these is to define and circumscribe the language used in the claims. Further, the specification must convey the claimed invention in sufficient detail to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention without undue experimentation. Another purpose is to disclose the applicants’ preferred embodiment or best mode of the claimed invention, to prevent applicants from obfuscating and thereby hiding their real invention by describing only an embodiment that they know to be suboptimal.

Just about anything can be included in the specification. It is critical, however, to understand that the specification provides only descriptive material – it does not define the scope of the invention. For example, specifications may recite prior art to establish context for the claimed invention, to aid in its description, or to provide a point of reference used to illustrate its superiority over what has come before. The inclusion of something in the specification, however, is no indication whatsoever that the applicants invented that something. Rather, the boundaries of an invention are defined solely by a patent’s claims.

Here is an example directly to the point: a mention of FHSS in the specification of the Lamarr–Antheil patent would not necessarily indicate that Lamarr and Antheil invented FHSS. Again, the invention is defined solely by the patent’s claims.

Claims sometimes fall into groups led by an “independent” claim followed by a sequence of progressively narrower dependent claims. Consider the following illustration of a hypothetical invention (not to be taken seriously).

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We claim:

1. A solid-state junction comprising a crystalline base and two alloy beads disposed on said base.

2. The junction of claim 1, wherein said crystalline base comprises germanium.

3. The junction of claim 2, wherein said junction is encapsulated in a metal case having three wires extending therefrom, said three wires connecting to said base and to said alloy beads, respectively.

4. The junction of claim 3, wherein said metal case is blue. Here, in this hypothetical example, claim 1 is the broadest – and therefore the most valuable and generous – statement of the invention. Claims 2 and 3 are narrower than claim 1, and claim 4 is the narrowest of all. In this particular example, claim 4 is intended to read on (to cover) Raytheon’s pioneering CK722 transistor of the 1950s. A casual observer might conclude that claim 4 would consequently be the most valuable of all the claims, as it covers (reads on) a valuable commercial product. This would be quite incorrect: claim 1 covers many transistors including the CK722, not just the CK722, and would therefore be more valuable than the narrower fourth claim.

This arises from the legally-accepted meaning of the word “comprise.” In patent work, “to comprise” means “to include at least.”4 Thus, a patent’s claim for an invention comprising elements A, B, C, and D, would “read on” a commercial product having elements A, B, C, D, and E. In other words, this commercial product would infringe such a patent, despite the presence of the additional element E. On the other hand, a commercial product having elements A, C, and D, but lacking B, would not infringe the patent.

THE GHOST OF CLAIM 7 AND THE DEFINITION OF FREQUENCY-HOPPING SPREAD SPECTRUM

The file wrapper of the Lamarr–Antheil patent includes the original application as filed with the USPTO on 10 June 1941 by the Los Angeles law firm Lyon and Lyon, and six claims that were allowed in their original form (infra). The application also shows a seventh claim, however, which could well serve as the definition itself of frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS):

7. IN A RADIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM COMPRISING A RADIO TRANSMITTER TUNABLE TO ANY ONE OF A PLURALITY OF FREQUENCIES AND A RADIO RECEIVER TUNABLE TO ANY ONE OF SAID PLURALITY OF FREQUENCIES, THE METHOD OF EFFECTING SECRET COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SAID STATIONS WHICH COMPRISES SIMULTANEOUSLY CHANGING THE TUNING OF THE TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER ACCORDING TO AN ARBITRARY, NONRECURRING PATTERN.

In the first office action, dated 13 August 1941, the patent examiner cited U.S. Patents 1,869,659 to Broertjes5 and 2,134,850 to Baesecke6 against the Lamarr–Antheil

application, and rejected claim 7 as “fully met by each of the citations for obvious reasons.”

The examiner’s rejection of claim 7 was clearly on target, given the following excerpt from Broertjes’ specification, which was filed at the USPTO on 14 November 1929:

“THE KNOWN METHODS OF MAINTAINING SECRECY OPERATE, IN MOST CASES . . .WITH A PERIODICALLY MODIFIED TRANSMISSION FREQUENCY, WHICH IS RECEIVED BY MEANS OF RECEIVING APPARATUS, THE TUNING OF WHICH IS MODIFIED IN SYNCHRONISM . . . THE ESSENTIAL FEATURE OF THE INVENTION [I.E., BROERTJES’] RESIDES IN THE FACT THAT MESSAGES ARE TRANSMITTED BY MEANS OF A GROUP OF FREQUENCIES (WORKING FREQUENCIES) KNOWN TO THE SENDER AND RECEIVER ALONE, AND ALTERNATE AT WILL DURING TRANSMISSION OF THE MESSAGE. . .”7

Unfortunately, this excerpt from Broertjes’ specification does not give a sharply focused view of the prior art, as it uses the expression “periodically modified” without specifying the expression’s precise meaning. Here, periodically could be interpreted in two different ways: (1) in a mathematical sense – i.e., at regularly occurring intervals – or, (2) in the less definite sense meaning from time to time or occasionally.

CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THE LAMARR–ANTHEIL PATENT

The Lamarr–Antheil file wrapper includes the attorney’s response on 31 October 1941 to the USPTO examiner’s first office action. As documented, this reasoned response was intended to cancel the broad claim 7. The Smithsonian Museum’s archive is more extensive than the file wrapper, however, and it includes material that would often be considered confidential. This content would not be included in the USPTO’s records; namely, the correspondence between applicants Lamarr–Antheil and their attorney. A letter on 3 October 1941 from the Lyon and Lyon attorney to Lamarr and Antheil says “. . . we rather doubted at the time that method claim 7 would be considered patentable, since the invention appears to reside more in a new apparatus than in a new method.” Thus, the attorney representing the applicants agreed with the patent examiner that the evidence was against Lamarr–Antheil’s definitive method claim to FHSS, which was claim 7.

The letter of 3 October 1941 further states, “We are very much surprised that the Patent Office did not discover more pertinent patents than those cited.” This remark is quite apropos, indicating that the attorney himself may have been well acquainted with the prior art.8 A recent search reveals prior art – early U.S. patents in this case – which the examiner should have found and cited during the examination of the Lamarr–Antheil application, but did not. Searches can be “forward” and “backward” in scope. For example, the USPTO’s examination leading to U.S. Patent 2,707,208, “Secrecy Facsimile System,”9

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which was granted to James Smith after the Lamarr–Antheil patent (and therefore not prior art to Lamarr–Antheil), cited the Lamarr–Antheil patent as prior art against Smith (the “forward” component). The same examination of Smith also unearthed an earlier work that predates both Smith and Lamarr–Antheil (the “backward” component): U.S. Patent 1,598,673, “Secrecy Communication System,” to Blackwell, et al. (filed 18 December 1920). Blackwell teaches:

“IN THE PRESENT INVENTION SECRECY IS OBTAINED BY THE TRANSMISSION OF SIGNALS ON A PLURALITY OF WAVES OF DIFFERENT FREQUENCIES, SUCCESSIVE PORTIONS OF A MESSAGE BEING TRANSMITTED ON WAVES OF DIFFERENT FREQUENCIES WHEREBY A STATION TUNED TO ONE OF SAID WAVES RECEIVES ONLY A PARTIAL AND THEREFORE UNINTELLIGIBLE DISCLOSURE OF THE COMMUNICATION.”10

Blackwell and several other patents found in this way are important and have a material impact on the patentability of Lamarr–Antheil’s rejected claim 7. Moreover, these references provide further evidence that the basics of FHSS were known well before Lamarr and Antheil’s efforts. Nevertheless, these references were not cited during the examination of Lamarr–Antheil. Perhaps the examiner simply missed them. Perhaps the examiner was satisfied with the Broertjes reference, which was right on target, and saw no need to dig any deeper. We have no way to know. Although allowance of claim 7 would have legitimately enshrined Lamarr and Antheil as the inventors of FHSS, this was not the case, since, for good reason, claim 7 was not allowed. Rather, in the judgment of the USPTO’s examiner and the applicants’ attorney, Lamarr–Antheil invented only apparatus for attempting to synchronize a frequencyhopping transmitter and receiver, i.e., the invention described in their claims 1-6, rather than frequencyhopping itself.

The first allowed claim of the Lamarr–Antheil patent is as follows (emphasis added):

We claim: 1. In a secret communication system, a transmitting station including means for generating and transmitting carrier waves of a plurality of frequencies, a first elongated record strip having differently characterized, longitudinally disposed recordings thereon, record-actuated means selectively responsive to different ones of said recordings for determining the frequency of said carrier waves, means for moving said strip past said recordactuated means whereby the carrier wave frequency is changed from time to time in accordance with the recordings on said strip, a receiving station including carrier-wave receiving means having tuning means tunable to said carrier wave frequencies, a second record strip, record-actuated means selectively responsive to different recordings on said second record strip for tuning said receiver to said predetermined carrier frequencies, and means for moving said second strip past its associated record-actuated means in synchronism with said first strip, whereby the record-actuated means at the transmitting station and at the receiving station, respectively, are actuated in synchronism to maintain the receiver tuned to the carrier frequency of the transmitter.

Claims 2, 3, and 6 are dependent upon claim 1 and are therefore narrower. Claims 4 and 5 restate claim 1, wherein the transmitter is deployed in a control station and the receiver on a movable craft.

All of these allowed claims, claims 1–6, recount a mechanism that conceptually resembles the inner workings of a player piano. Thus, the actual Lamarr and Antheil invention is a particular, specific, player-piano-like apparatus (i.e., a mechanism, hardware) based on a record strip (like a player-piano’s roll) for controlling frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), not the method of FHSS itself. Tellingly, the patent office classified the Lamarr–Antheil invention as “Encryption being effected by mechanical apparatus, e.g., rotating cams, switches, key tape punchers” (H04L9/38).

Andy Maxymillian, PMP Principal Consultant

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It is interesting to note the attorney’s further comment to Lamarr and Antheil in the correspondence of 3 October 1941: “We are inclined to believe that . . . a new apparatus claim [should be] inserted that is not limited to a record strip. We estimate that the cost of preparing a suitable amendment will be $25, and we will be glad to proceed with it upon receiving your authorization to do so.” As far as the archived correspondence and the granted patent show, however, applicants Lamarr and Antheil did not follow through with this. One explanation could be that they lacked the knowledge required to generalize their work.

DETERMINING INVENTORSHIP

Each person listed as an inventor on a U.S. patent must have contributed conceptually to at least one of its allowed claims. According to the USPTO:11

“THE DEFINITION FOR INVENTORSHIP CAN BE SIMPLY STATED: THE THRESHOLD QUESTION IN DETERMINING INVENTORSHIP IS WHO CONCEIVED THE INVENTION. UNLESS A PERSON CONTRIBUTES TO THE CONCEPTION OF THE INVENTION, HE IS NOT AN INVENTOR. … INSOFAR AS DEFINING AN INVENTOR IS CONCERNED, REDUCTION TO PRACTICE, PER SE, IS IRRELEVANT . . . ONE MUST CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONCEPTION TO BE AN INVENTOR.”

Numerous accounts suggest (correctly) that Hedy Lamarr posed the problem to be solved and suggested using the well-known technique of FHSS. Nota bene: (1) Posing a problem to be solved by an invention is not the same as conceiving an invention, and (2) The use of a known technique for its intended purpose does not constitute an invention. These points are important, as FHSS was indeed well known at the time of the Lamarr–Antheil patent application, and the long-established purpose of FHSS was to provide secure communication.12

Given George Antheil’s knowledge of player-piano mechanisms, a question arises: “What inventive concept did Hedy Lamarr contribute to their efforts, and if she contributed anything, which claim of their patent reflects that contribution?” Unfortunately, there is no way to answer this question authoritatively. In reality, the question was probably never asked, as there would be no practical need to do so if Lamarr and Antheil were agreeable to joint inventorship. Patent examiners are not normally involved in sorting out these kinds of questions. Rather, when a serious conflict arises, the matter is ultimately settled in Federal court.

CONCLUSION FROM THE ARCHIVED EVIDENCE

The following has now been established from primary sources:

• Broertjes’ specification (U.S. Patent 1,869,659) clearly shows that frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) communication was well known at least twelve years before Lamarr and Antheil’s patent application was filed, and clearly shows that the intended purpose of FHSS was to provide secure communication.

• Based on Broertjes’ specification, the USPTO rejected Lamarr and Antheil’s claim to having invented FHSS by rejecting their claim 7, which claim is the very definition of FHSS.

• The patent attorney at Lyon and Lyon concurred with the examiner’s rejection.

• Applicants Lamarr and Antheil implicitly agreed with the rejection based on their unwillingness or inability to attempt to refute the examiner’s argument.

The unavoidable conclusion is that Lamarr and Antheil did not invent frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication. Earlier inventors had already mapped this out.

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF INVENTORSHIP AND ATTRIBUTION

Determining inventorship raises an interesting aspect of the Lamarr–Antheil patent: another person helped them reduce the invention to practice.13 This person was Samuel Stuart Mackeown. The word “help” suggests that Mackeown was simply a technician employed to work under the inventors’ direction. In reality, Mackeown knew far more about these kinds of things than either Lamarr or Antheil. He earned a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in 1923, and by 1941 was an associate professor at California Institute of Technology (CalTech) teaching radio and communication engineering. Shortly thereafter, he achieved the rank of full professor.14

An article in American Scientist suggests that “Considering the familiarity with patent conventions and the technical radio concepts on display, it seems likely that Mackeown wrote the patent itself.” 15 This is an interesting idea. According to a letter in the CalTech archives provided by Dr. Mauro Piccinini, Professor Mackeown “is considered as one of two of the best patent law experts in the country, his services being very much in demand in litigation of this kind.” 16 The letter was written by Robert Andrews Millikan, a renowned physicist and Nobel Laureate (1923 – physics) and Chairman of CalTech.

Moreover, Professor Mackeown and patent attorney Leonard Lyon were well acquainted, with a history of working together on other matters for CalTech. This raises another possible scenario. Did Mackeown write the invention disclosure for Lamarr and Antheil from which attorney Leonard Lyon prepared the formal patent application? Some information can be gleaned by comparing Antheil’s notebook in the Smithsonian Museum’s archive to the specification within the Lamarr–Antheil patent application. Antheil’s notebook addresses only mechanical aspects, whereas the specification and drawings of the Lamarr–Antheil patent include detailed radio apparatus, suggesting that this radio apparatus was developed entirely by Professor Mackeown.17

If Mackeown’s only involvement in the project included reducing Lamarr and Antheil’s thoughts to practice by contributing some conventional radio apparatus, then he would not be entitled to claim inventorship, as explained above in the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. But given the immense difference in knowledge between a professor at CalTech working in his field of expertise, and a pair of uneducated amateur inventors, it may be only natural to ask just exactly how much – if anything –Professor Mackeown contributed to the invention beyond the routine work of a skilled technician. This question seems never to arise in the literature concerning the Lamarr–Antheil patent. Unfortunately, we shall probably never know the answer.

Be that as it may, popular literature often refers to the Lamarr–Antheil patent as “Lamarr’s patent,” giving scant recognition to co-inventor George Antheil and none to the

role of Professor Mackeown. Since the actual invention is a player-piano-like mechanism, and since experimental musician George Antheil had expertise in the inner workings of player pianos, and further since Hedy Lamarr evidently had no such expertise, it may be more appropriate to call the Lamarr–Antheil patent “Antheil’s patent.”

CITATIONS AND INFLUENCE

As of early April 2024, the Lamarr–Antheil patent had been cited 76 times in the examination of other patent applications since it was granted in 1942. What does this mean? As mentioned earlier, the examiner searches for prior art to determine the patentability of new applications under examination. Prior art – when it is relevant to the question of patentability – is formally cited by the examiner.

Note the difference between patent citations and journalpaper citations. The author of a journal paper who cites an earlier work has presumably read the earlier work or at least has passing familiarity with it. This is not normally the case with inventors, as an examiner – a third party – provides the citations, rather than the inventor.18 Thus, inventors are often unaware of earlier patents in the same field, and do not knowingly build upon a foundation laid by earlier patents.

Citation counts are, of course, cumulative, and a count of 76 is not at all remarkable for a patent as old as Lamarr–Antheil. Moreover, even a high citation count does not –unlike in the case of journal papers – suggest any special importance. Consider, for example, U.S. Patent 7,010,332, “Wireless headset with automatic power control,” granted 7 March 2006. This work has been cited 196 times in the examination of other patent applications (April, 2024). Nevertheless, the invention itself is not a technological breakthrough of any special importance, although it may well have practical and economic value.

Although Lamarr and Antheil do not merit any credit for the invention FHSS, they should be recognized for inspiring an important design. This was the “Sonobuoy” by engineer Romuald I. Scibor-Marchocki, who was tasked by the United States Navy in the mid-1950s to develop a system for detecting underwater sounds like those emitted by submarines.

Scibor-Marchocki’s Sonobuoy proposal involved the use of FHSS controlled by a mechanical mechanism similar to the Lamarr–Antheil strip reader. The principal difference between the two seems to be that the Lamarr–Antheil mechanism is more like a player piano in concept, whereas the Sonobuoy mechanism is more like a music box (protrusions on a rotating cylinder activate switches). Because of this difference, it is unclear whether the Sonobuoy infringed the Lamarr–Antheil patent. Such a determination, if it ever arose, would have been settled in court under the equitable doctrine of equivalents. This never came to pass, since Scibor-Marchocki’s Sonobuoy never made it past the prototype stage. According to Scibor-Marchocki, the system “was not practical,” since

“the mechanical frequency-hopper of the receiver . . . required constant maintenance.” 19

Nevertheless, Scibor-Marchocki was directly inspired by the Lamarr–Antheil patent, and explicitly credited Lamarr and Antheil.20 This means only that Scibor-Marchocki was not entirely familiar with the state of the art at the time. The Lamarr–Antheil patent called his attention to earlier work. Put more simply: When something in a textbook, for example, later inspires a sophisticated design, this does not mean that the author of the textbook invented that something, whether or not the author believes that he or she was indeed the inventor.

SECRECY ORDERS

A secrecy order may be imposed during the examination of a patent application that pertains to an aspect of national security. When a secrecy order is imposed, prosecution of the application continues until an agreement is reached on which claims, if any, are to be allowed. At this point, the application is put in abeyance – a patent is not issued, and a patent number is not assigned, even though claims have been allowed. When the secrecy order is lifted, the patent is passed to issue, with a patent number that is current at the time of its issue.

For example, U.S. Patent application 317,454 was filed on 5 February 1940, but the resulting U.S. Patent 4,155,659, “Printing and Coding Machine,” was not issued until 22 May 1979. Another example is patent application 02/568,368, “Control Circuits for Electric Coding Machines,” filed 15 December 1944, issued as U.S. Patent 6,175,625 on 16 January 2001. These decades-long delays were imposed by secrecy orders because of the nature of the inventions – they were cryptographic machines in the spirit of the German Enigma. Note that the filing dates of these two patents bracket the filing date of the Lamarr–Antheil application, thereby showing that secrecy orders were indeed being imposed at the time the Lamarr–Antheil application was under examination.

During the prosecution of the Lamarr–Antheil application, the attorneys of record at Lyon and Lyon asked the USPTO and the National Inventors Council to review the Lamarr–

Antheil invention for potential use in national defense and specifically asked whether a secrecy order would be imposed. In response, a letter from the Patent Office Defense Committee (7 June 1941) explained that “Should any secrecy order be issued in the application to which you refer, the inventor, attorney of record, and assignee will be duly notified.” 21

No such order was ever issued, despite numerous unsubstantiated reports to the contrary in the popular press. Simon, et al., note (correctly) that “the Lamarr–Antheil patent appears to have been routinely issued and published, curiously without imposition of a secrecy order.” 22 The banality here is clearly illustrated by the filing dates and patent numbers of the patents that immediately precede and follow Lamarr–Antheil (all three issued 11 August 1942): U.S. Patent 2,292,386, U.S. Patent 2,292,387 (Lamarr–Antheil), and U.S. Patent 2,292,388; filed 2 July 1940, 10 June 1941, and 23 May 1941, respectively. Simply put, Lamarr–Antheil was granted without secrecy-order delay, and received the next available patent number, just like any other patent.

Title section from the front page of U.S. Patent 2,292,387. (Courtesy Google Patents)

Moreover, on 13 November 1941, the USPTO sent Lyon and Lyon a letter noting, inter alia, that six claims had been allowed, and that copies of the issued patent would be made publically available for ten cents each, pending payment of fees due to the USPTO. The delay between this date, 13 November 1941, and the issue date of the patent, 11 August 1942, was due to procedural obstacles concerning legal names, signatures, and payments. Neither the invention nor the patent were “classified.”

SEIZURE OF THE LAMARR–ANTHEIL PATENT

Much has been written about the U.S. government’s seizure of the Lamarr–Antheil patent. A typical comment, although not the most extreme of such comments, is: “Despite Lamarr helping to sell $343 million in WWII bonds, the U.S. government seized her invention in 1942...” 23

“Seizing a patent” meant transferring – from the inventor (or assignee) to the government – the right to grant licenses for the patented invention. It did not mean that the invention was sequestered and hidden away. Rather, patents were seized “to make these patents freely available to American industry . . . for the general use in the national interest.” 24 The seized Lamarr–Antheil patent was not “thrown into a vault” as is sometimes claimed; the invention was openly offered to any legitimate American interest for a licensing fee of $50.

The law of the land in 1942 was clear:

“ACTING UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE TRADING WITH THE ENEMY ACT, AS AMENDED BY THE FIRST WAR POWERS ACT OF DECEMBER 18, 1941, THE PRESIDENT ESTABLISHED THE OFFICE OF ALIEN PROPERTY CUSTODIAN IN MARCH, 1942 . . . THE ALIEN PROPERTY CUSTODIAN HAS THE FUNCTION OF TAKING TITLE TO OR CONTROLLING PROPERTY IN THE UNITED STATES WHICH IS OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY ENEMY NATIONALS . . . SUCH PROPERTY INCLUDES . . . PATENTS . . . AN ENEMY NATIONAL [IS] A NATIONAL OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY WITH WHICH THE UNITED STATES IS AT WAR…”25

Hedy Lamarr was a citizen of Austria at the time, which was part of the German Third Reich, and therefore an enemy national. The law applied to her, just as it applied to everyone else then present in the United States, regardless

Illustrations from U.S. Patent 2,292,387. (Courtesy Google Patents)

of how many war bonds she sold. All told the U.S. Alien Property Custodian seized some 50,000 patents, covering a wide range of technologies.26 There was nothing special about the seizure of the Lamarr–Antheil patent.

ROYALTIES: LAMARR AND ANTHEIL WERE NOT UNFAIRLY DENIED COMPENSATION

Many instances of the popular literature, in the extreme, claim that Lamarr and Antheil were unfairly denied royalties on their patented invention, which, these sources claim, is essential to a $30 billion market. Less extreme reports float the idea that the United States Navy unfairly used the Lamarr–Antheil invention without compensating the inventors. In any case, the point is raised that Lamarr and Antheil never received a dollar in royalties for their work. This is correct; they did not.

But as explained above, anything that infringes a patent must include at least all of the elements of a claim. Note that every allowed claim of the Lamarr–Antheil patent includes the elements “a first elongated record strip” and “a second record strip.” Thus any device that infringes the Lamarr–Antheil patent must necessarily include “record strips.” Any device that does not include record strips does not infringe the Lamarr–Antheil patent. Neither the U.S. Navy nor anyone else has ever made, used, or sold such a device for controlling FHSS radio communication using record strips and thereby infringed the Lamarr–Antheil patent. Thus, Lamarr and Antheil were not entitled to receive anything for their patented work. They were not unjustly deprived.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The legend that Hedy Lamarr “invented spread spectrum” is simply wrong. Unfortunately, this bad history is being propagated vigorously.27 Lamarr did not invent FHSS and may have contributed little to the invention taught by the Lamarr–Antheil patent. FHSS was well known by 1929, if not earlier. There is no record of Lamarr’s invention ever having been used, although it did inspire the design of the Sonobuoy prototype. The invention certainly was not used by the U.S. Navy to control torpedoes during WW2 as is sometimes claimed. Although Antheil may well have contributed more than Lamarr to their joint enterprise, he is almost forgotten. There is no mention of what Professor Mackeown might have contributed. More importantly, exaggerating the significance of Lamarr and Antheil’s work gives an unrealistic view of how spread-spectrum technology evolved, and how technology progresses in general. A plausible argument can be made that the journey to today’s FHSS began with one of Nikola Tesla’s inventions.28 From Tesla’s starting point, professionals working at AT&T, Bell Labs, Western Electric, RCA, Siemens, Sylvania, and the like, were the real innovators who carried things forward, step-by-step, not Hedy Lamarr or George Antheil.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to Dr. Tony Rothman and Dr. Nathan (Chip) Cohen for their thoughtful and generous review comments, and to Dr. Mauro Piccinini for providing the letter regarding Professor Samuel S. Mackeown.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Rand Irvin was admitted to practice before the United States Patent Office as an agent in 1998. In recognition of his earlier work as an engineer, he was honored by the Ericsson Laboratory at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, with the Master Inventor’s Award, having received 44 U.S. patents with numerous foreign counterparts. David is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University (Phi Beta Kappa), North Carolina State University (National Science Foundation trainee), and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He has published many papers, including one of particular relevance, “Recognizing Inventors as Contributors to Knowledge” (Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society; Vol. 82, No. 10, Oct. 2000).

SOURCES

1 Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil Papers; repository: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Archives Center; edan.si.edu/slideshow/ viewer/?eadrefid=NMAH.AC.1590_ref7

2 The use of the word “applicant” here is appropriate for independent inventors like Lamarr and Antheil. However, in the case where an inventor transfers rights to an assignee such as a corporation, the assignee is often listed as the applicant.

3 Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP); uspto.gov/ web/offices/pac/mpep/index.html.

4 “Comprising” is in contrast to the occasionally used “consisting of,” which means “having exactly – nothing more, nothing less” in patent practice.

5 Method of Maintaining Secrecy in the Transmission of Wireless Telegraphic Messages; U.S. Patent 1,869,659 to Willem Broertjes of Amsterdam, Netherlands; filed 14 Nov 1929 (USA), granted 2 Aug 1932 (USA).

6 Signal Transmission, U.S. Patent 2,134,850 to Martin Baesecke of Berlin; filed 14 Sept 1935 (USA), granted 1 Nov 1938 (USA); assigned to Siemens & Halske Aktiengesellschaft (Germany).

7 Supra Note 5, Broertjes patent, page 1, col. 1, lines 6–11, 33–38, and 44–47.

8 Attorneys admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) must have a degree in engineering or science, must be a member of the appropriate state bar and therefore (normally) have

a law degree, and must pass a rigorous examination administered by the USPTO that extends well beyond the state bar’s general examination. In the course of their work, patent attorneys often specialize, and thereby accumulate knowledge of various fields of technology.

9 Secrecy Facsimile System, U.S. Patent 2,707,208 to J. E Smith; filed 31 March 1945, granted 26 April 1955; assigned to Radio Corporation of America.

10 Secrecy Communication System, U.S. Patent 1,598,673 to Otto B. Blackwell, et al.; filed 18 Dec 1920, granted 7 Sept 1926; page 1, col. 1, lines 20–28; assigned to American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

11 Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, 2109 Inventorship [R-07.2022].

12 See the patents of Broertjes (Supra Note 5), Baesecke (Supra Note 6), and Blackwell (Supra Note 10).

13 Tony Rothman. “Random Paths to Frequency Hopping,” American Scientist, Vol. 107, January-February 2019, pp. 46–53. Follow-up by Dr. Rothman: “The Seventh Claim,” https://www.americanscientist.org/blog/the-long-view/theseventh-claim, 15 March 2024.

14 Bulletin of the California Institute of Technology; Pasadena, California; 1937 and 1944.

15 Rothman, 2019 and 2024.

16 Robert Andrews Millikan, Letter of 6 June 1942 regarding Professor Samuel S. Mackeown, et al.; provided by Dr. Mauro Piccinini, who is a scholar of musical history, especially the work of George Antheil.

17 The Lamarr-Antheil specification does not address the critical problem of recovery when synchronization is lost between the transmitter and receiver, except to say “the use of synchronizing impulses for correcting the phase relation of rotary apparatus at a receiving station is well known and highly developed in the fields of automatic telegraphy and television.” These solutions are not applicable when frequencies hop, however, as once synchronization is lost, the receiver cannot hear the transmitter’s signals – the transmitter and receiver are then operating on different frequencies. For this reason, and other reasons as well, whether the Lamarr-Antheil patent gives an enabling description is problematic.

18 Inventors are required to disclose relevant prior art that they are aware of to the examiner but are not required to search for prior art themselves. Usually, the law firm handling a patent application on the inventors’ behalf searches (but is not required to do so) and discloses the findings to the examiner and the applicants. In all cases, however, the final responsibility for finding and citing prior art lies with the patent examiner.

19 Ibid. See “subsequent developments” paragraphs.

20 See, for example, Scibor–Marchocki’s tribute to Hedy Lamarr, which can be found by Google search pointing

to the “Wayback machine”: https://web.archive.org/ web/20041026223647/http://www.rism.com/atribute.htm

21 Archive: letters of (1) Leonard Lyon to Commissioner of Patents, 6 June 1941; (2) Leonard Lyon to Lawrence Langner (National Inventors Council), 17 June 1941; (3) H. H. Jacobs (USPTO) to Lyon and Lyon, 17 June 1941; and (4) Lawrence Langner to Leonard Lyon, 19 June 1941.

22 Marvin K. Simon, et al. Spread Spectrum Communications Handbook. (McGraw-Hill, 1994) p. 64.

23 Bruce Berman, Chair of the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding, New York; “Torpedo invention laid foundation for WiFi and more,” IAM Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018, p.18 (IAM-media.com).

24 The Alien Property Custodian of the United States. Patents at Work: A Statement of Policy. (Washington, D.C., January, 1943); letter from Leo T. Crowley, Alien Property Custodian, to Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, 7 Dec. 1942; policy reprinted in its entirety by Forgotten Books, Classic Reprint Series, London, 2018.

25 Ibid, pp. 3–4.

26 Supra Note 24, letter to President Roosevelt.

27 See, as examples:

(1) How the Pianola Played a Part in Hedy Lamarr’s Invention. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story; U.S. Public Broadcasting System; program aired 18-19 May 2019; limited text available at http://pbs.org/wnet/ americanmasters/blog/bombshell-hedy-lamarr-storypianola-played-part-hedy-lamarrs-invention/. This text claims that Lamarr “invented and patented a concept that changed the course of history” (emphasis added).

(2) “Hedy Lamarr,” Britannica Online Encyclopedia, article 709741, found at: http://britannica.com/biography/ Hedy-Lamarr. This work claims that Lamarr’s invention is “a component of present-day satellite and cellular phone technology,” which is most assuredly incorrect –these technologies do not employ any player-piano-like apparatus.

(3) Matteo Sabattini, PhD., MBA, Director IPR Policy of Ericsson; Austrian actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr inducted into the IP Hall of Fame; ericsson.com/en/ patents/articles/hedy-lamarr-ip-hall-of-fame); 2 May 2019. This communique credits Lamarr with inventing FHSS, and goes on to say that her work “found applications in radio-controlled torpedoes,” that her work is a “foundational technology for modern mobile communications,” that FHSS is “based on musical concepts,” that Lamarr’s invention contributed in some way to the Allied victory in WW2, and that absent her “pioneering work,” other innovators would “probably not have benefited.” All of this is incorrect.

29 Supra Note 13. Rothman suggests such an argument with reference to Method of Signaling; U.S. Patent 723,188 to Nikola Tesla; filed 14 June 1901, granted 17 March 1903.

RCA SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE

ANNOUNCES THE DR. TED RAPPAPORT ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

RCA (the Radio Club of America, the world’s most prestigious society of wireless professionals), is proud to announce the unveiling of the Dr. Ted Rappaport Honorary Academic Scholarship program. This scholarship is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying Electrical Engineering or an equivalent major who wish to make a lasting contribution in the field of next generation wireless technology. Application forms will be available on the RCA website beginning in the 2025 academic year. Applicants must demonstrate that they intend to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Rappaport and are planning to make a contribution researching advanced next-generation wireless technologies for the benefit of industry or medical science.

ABOUT THE NEW CENTURY FUND

Recently RCA consolidated all of its named honorific scholarship funds into the The Captain Bill Finch Legacy Scholarship Fund in order to streamline financial management of the endowments and to return better value for our scholarship donors. Traditionally RCA’s scholarship committee has granted scholarship funds directly to our served institutions which then select worthy candidates among their student bodies. The New Century Fund was created as an alternative to allow students to apply directly to RCA for scholarship awards in order to help train the next generation of wireless professionals as RCA moves into its second century. The charter of the New Century Fund serves as a mandate to help wireless industry students in high school, graduate school, vocational schools, and those attending international schools and universities.

ABOUT THE RCA SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE

The Radio Club of America scholarship program was founded decades ago by inventor, wireless pioneer and RCA fellow Captain Bill Finch to fulfill the mandate set out by the RCA charter which states that the purpose of the organization is:

… to study and contribute to the development of radio communication programs and provide a scholarship fund for needy and worthy students for the study of radio communications.

Over the years, club members and/or their families have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to create named

funds in honor of loved ones that help students committed to the development of their studies pursuing degrees in the related fields of wireless communications. Scholarship funds are completely separate from the club’s general operating fund and only the interest/dividends from these funds are used for grants to RCA served institutions. Donations are tax-deductible and an endowment of ten thousand dollars or more allows the donor to create a named scholarship fund and to choose the institution destined to receive committee scholarship grants. Our goal is to encourage and help create the next generation of wireless innovators, engineers, broadcasters, and executives.

Recipients of RCA scholarship grants also receive a free 2-year student membership in the club. Students from

all over the country have benefited from our scholarship program. Some of the schools whose students are currently receiving RCA scholarship committee grants include Capitol Technology University, Cooper Union University, Georgia Tech, Michigan Technological University, Montclair State University, North Dakota State, the State University of New York, Virginia Tech, and the University of Texas.

ABOUT DR. TED RAPPAPORT

Theodore (Ted) S. Rappaport, PhD is the David Lee/Ernst Weber Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering and is a professor of computer science at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Dr. Rappaport is a pioneer in the fields of radio wave propagation for cellular and personal communications, wireless communication system simulation, analysis and design, and broadband wireless communications circuits and of site-specific radio frequency (RF) channel modeling and design for wireless network deployment–a technology now used routinely throughout the wireless industry. More recently, his work has explored the millimeter wave (mmWave) bands for future broadband access such as with 5G technology.

Dr. Rappaport has over 100 U.S. or international patents issued or pending and has authored, co-authored, and coedited over 200 papers and 20 books in the wireless field,

including Wireless Communications: Principles & Practice (translated into seven languages), Principles of Communication Systems Simulation with Wireless Applications, and Smart Antennas for Wireless Communications: IS-95 and Third Generation CDMA Applications.

ABOUT RCA

Founded in 1909, RCA (the Radio Club of America) is the most prestigious group of wireless communications professionals in the world. Members are dedicated to the wireless art and science for the betterment of society. RCA is a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, visit www. radioclubofamerica.org.

NEW LOGO MERCHANDISE!

[The following invited article is reprinted with permission of the author and IEEE: T. S. Rappaport, “Crucible of Communications: How Amateur Radio Launched the Information Age and Brought High Tech to Life: Part 2: Hams Bring Real-Time Communications To The World Invited Article,” in IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 61, no. 11, pp. 10-23, November 2023, © 2023 IEEE doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2023.10328195.]

COMMUNICATIONS

CruCible of CommuniCations: How amateur radio launCHed tHe information age and brougHt HigH teCH to life

Part 2: Hams bring real-time CommuniCations to tHe world invited artiCle

Theodore. S. Rappaport, N9NB, IEEE Fellow, Lee/Weber Chaired Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Founding Director of NYU WIRELESS, New York University

AbstrAct

Until the birth of wireless at the end of the 19th century, the world had never known real-time ubiquitous communications. Printed newspapers of the day contained information that was often days, if not weeks, old with little hope of widespread verification of reported events. Part 1 of this series [1] gave an overview of the fascinating hobby of ham radio, and showed how the grass roots effort of hobbyists and the sinking of the Titanic opened up the airwaves for the world’s first amateur radio operators. Now, in Part 2, we see how amateur radio was at the forefront of the wireless revolution that brought AM and FM radio broadcasting, television, and mobile communications to the world. As shown here, it was the ingenuity and tenacity of hams that brought forth the information age in all of its forms.

Universities spAwn the Art of rAdio

When Prof. Jerome Green of the University of Notre Dame published the first easy-to-build wireless transmitter and receiver circuits in 1899 [1, 2] the potential for ubiquitous real-time communication among citizens presented itself for the first time in history. Although free space optical communications using smoke signals and semaphore existed for very specific applications for centuries, at the dawn of the 20th century, a person had to be within earshot or in plain sight of an event to instantly know any of the particulars. Before 1900, information was communicated globally through telegraph relay lines, or through postal carriers, or via the fledgling and extremely sparse telephone networks. It was the tinkerers and experimenters — the first ham operators — that harnessed the potential of wireless communications and spread it across the world.

President Taft of the United States in 1912 signed into law the world’s first legislation that gave amateur radio operators their own spectrum at the unexplored wavelengths below 200 meters (frequencies above 1.5 MHz), and other governments around the world, particularly Great Britain, Germany, Brazil and Australia, were moving quickly to foster the ham radio hobby in their own countries. Indeed, there was keen awareness, after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, that a trained citizenry of wireless experts would be of great value to any country, and to society as a whole [1].

Pioneering physicists and experimenters such as Heinrich Hertz, Guglielmo Marconi, Sir Oliver Lodge, and John Ambrose Fleming had discovered electromagnetic waves, and had begun to perfect their transmission and detection through air by creating the early foundational devices for harnessing wireless for end users in the late 1800s (Fig. 1).

These electronic developments paved the way for wireless at the turn of the 20th century, and spawned the development of radio. The somewhat supernatural ability to transmit information invisibly and ubiquitously through air captivated the world’s attention at a time when Alexander Graham Bell’s wired telephone, discovered in 1876, was just being deployed aggressively by AT&T throughout the USA and by other upstart telephone companies around the globe.

Not surprisingly, universities became hosts for exploration of this new medium of radio, with hobby clubs sprouting up on campuses world-wide. Just as so many of today’s internet and networking giants such as Alphabet (previously known as Google), Meta (previously known as Facebook), Cisco and Akamai can trace their roots to founders who tinkered on the college campuses of Stanford, Harvard and MIT, it was universities at the turn of the 20th century that enabled students — the bulk of the earliest amateur operators - to explore and develop the radio art which brought forth the information age.

One of the first faculty members to promote the hobby of ham radio was Reginald Audrey Fessenden. Born in Quebec, Canada in 1866, Fessenden was hired in 1892 by Purdue University as a professor of Electrical Engineering, but was soon lured to the Western University of Pennsylvania (now University of Pittsburgh) in part because of the electrification and wireless research being sponsored by Westinghouse. Fessenden remained an active professor until 1900, at which point he left academia to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in the revolutionary concept of voice transmission over wireless, something that was not believed to be possible at the time. He always remained dedicated to students and universities throughout his life, as evidenced by his life-long use of the title “professor,” and his willingness to help clubs such as the Junior Wireless Club (e.g, Radio Club of America, for which he was a club advisor) [1, 4].

The world’s earliest collegiate amateur radio stations were built at Harvard University in the 1905-1908 timeframe [5]. In 1905, Harvard upperclassman Robert F. Gowen (Fig. 2) built an apparatus in Quincy Hall, and was a leader of the amateur radio movement at Harvard. By 1906, five stations in various dormitories and buildings had been built by students around the Harvard campus, and many more were under construction. On April 2, 1906, the enterprising young ham radio enthusiasts formed a company, The Weld Phonepterogram Company (Limited), involving over a dozen students, and they began to offer the entire student body a service of sending telegraph messages to other students throughout the Harvard campus using the slogan “Wireless Messages to all Parts of the Yard and Vicinity.” The new company was headquartered at 37 Weld Hall on the Harvard campus, and derived its name from the term “phonepterogram” which meant “to write with winged sounds.” It is remarkable to consider the fact that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg initiated his now ubiquitous company, The Facebook, in 2004 on the very same campus with a similar intent to connect students — almost 100 years after the first student ham stations set out to pursue a similar mission across “The Yard.” This stunning fact further demonstrates how ham radio was the world’s first social media enterprise, a century before it became commonplace over the internet.

In 1907, a young Harvard professor named George W. Pierce taught a new course, Physics 17, that dealt with high frequency currents and wireless telegraphy, and was named honorary president of the Harvard Wireless Club 1AF in 1909 after building a 5 kilowatt station in Jefferson Hall to teach the new class with experiments in wireless. This same professor would soon revolutionize the world with his discovery of the crystal oscillator.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

Many articles and internet postings assert that the Harvard amateur radio club 1AF was founded by students Albert S. Hyman, Bob Almy, and Peggy Murray in 1909, and that the first letters of their three last names were used to create the term “ham,” but this cannot be verified by the author and is refuted by evidence. In private communication with Harvard historian Paul Burchsted who consulted the “Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates” [6], Harvard student Albert Solomon Hyman was born in Boston in 1893 and obtained a B.A. degree in 1915 and a M.D. degree in 1918, implying that he would not have likely been a student at Harvard in 1908. Hyman became a cardiologist in New York City and in 1928 was the first to introduce the use of a pacemaker to revive a heart that had stopped beating [7]. Robert Forbes Almy was born in New Bedford, MA in 1901 and would have been seven years old at the time of the founding of Harvard’s radio club. Almy attended Harvard for his MA and Ph.D. degrees, which he obtained in 1925 and 1935, respectively, and became a beloved English professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he studied American writers. While he enjoyed sailing and woodworking, no evidence can be found regarding his involvement with radio [8].

Regarding Peggy Murray, women were not admitted to Harvard until 1920, so it would have been odd for a woman to be a member of the Harvard radio club in 1908 (at that time, women attended Radcliffe University, its sister campus). Furthermore, a 1902 publication refers to “hams” as poor operators of the telegraph key, further dispelling the myth that student initials were used to form the term. It is possible, however, that the term “ham” was created by a shortening of the term “home amateur,” as a disparaging comparison to professional telegraph operators at the turn of the century [1, 9].

Two other very early college amateur radio clubs include the Wireless Telegraph Club of Columbia University in New York City, which was launched in 1907 and 1908 with 25 student members and with the strong support of Professors Pupin and Crocker. In November 1908, students of Columbia’s ham club made headlines in The Sun newspaper by stringing a 300’ wire antenna at a height of 100’ between the smoke stacks of University Hall and Havemeyer Hall [10]. This was just a year before its most famous wireless student, a lad by the name of Edwin Howard Armstrong, became a part of that campus club.

Meanwhile, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) established the MIT Radio Society in 1909 using callsign 1MX, and liberally shared ideas and compared notes with the hams at Harvard. College ham radio clubs with on-campus radio stations began to spring up throughout the United States, including stations at Texas A&M University (1912), University of California (1914), Union College (1915), University of Arkansas (1916), and Purdue University (1919).

In Australia, radio enthusiasts young and old began meeting in Melbourne and Victoria between 1905 and 1910, forming the New South Wales Institute of Telegraphy in 1910 and the Wireless Institute of Victoria in 1911 (these eventually merged into the Wireless Institute of Australia). In Europe, the British Wireless Relay League and the Manchester Wireless Society had members before 1911, and the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) was formed in 1913 from the London Wireless Club. All of these English clubs likely had college student members, but records are thin.

It is highly probable that Tohoku Imperial University became the home of Japan’s first amateur radio club in the early 1920’s, when Dr. Hidetsugu Yagi joined that school as an electrical engineering professor with vast experience and hands-on knowledge. While the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) was launched in 1926 by 37 hams, it is likely that the research and experiments led by Prof. Hidetsugu Yagi and his graduate student Shinatro Uda planted the seeds for amateur radio at Tohoku several years before then.

Yagi, born in Osaka, Japan in 1886, learned electrical engi-

of the

valve, the world’s first

tube invented in 1904 by

Figure 1: A photograph of the Fleming valve, the world’s first vacuum tube invented in 1904 by John Ambrose Fleming. These tubes were used to receive radio waves by rectifying the current from the receiver antenna, and were also the first thermionic diodes. The tubes used an evacuated glass bulb that contained two electrodes: an extremely hot wire filament cathode that carried current within the tube, and a flat metal plate or coil which served as the anode. Functioning as the world’s first tube diode, electrons flowed only in one direction, from filament to anode [3]

Ambrose Fleming. These tubes were used to receive radio waves by rectifying the current from the receiver antenna, and were also the first thermionic diodes. The tubes used an evacuated glass bulb that contained two electrodes: an extremely hot wire filament cathode that carried current within the tube, and a flat metal plate or coil which served as the anode. Functioning as the world’s first tube diode, electrons flowed only in one direction, from filament to anode [3].

These electronic developments paved the way for wireless at the turn of the 20th century, and spawned the development of radio. The somewhat supernatural ability to transmit information invisibly captivated the world’s attention at a time when Alexander Graham Bell’s wired telephone, discovered in 1876, was being deployed aggressively by AT&T throughout the USA and by other upstart telephone companies around the gl

Not surprisingly, universities became hosts for exploration of this new medium of radio, with hobby clubs sprouting up on campuses world- as so many of networking giants Alphabet (previously known as Google), Meta (previously known as Facebook) founders who tinkered on the campuses it was universities at the turn of the 20 enabled students – - to explore and develop the radio art which brought forth the information age.

by student Robert F. Gowen in 1905 at Quincy Hall at Harvard University [5].

[5]

Many articles and internet postings assert that the Harvard amateur radio club 1AF was founded by students Albert S. Hyman, Bob Almy, and Peggy Murray in 1909, and that the first letters of their three last names were used to create the term “ham,”, but this cannotbe verified by the author and is refuted by evidence. In private communication with Harvard historian Paul Burchsted who consulted the “Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates”[6], Harvard student Albert Solomon Hyman was born in Boston in 1893 and obtained a B.A. degree in 1915 and a M.D. degree in 1918, implying that he would not have likely been a student at Harvard in 1908. Hyman became a cardiologist in New York City and in 1928 was the first to introduce the use of a pacemaker to revive a heart that had stopped beating [7]. Robert Forbes Almy was born in New Bedford, MA in 1901 and would have been seven years old at the time of the founding of Harvard’s radio club. Almy attended Harvard for his MA and Ph.D.degrees, which he obtained in 1925 and 1935, respectively, and became a beloved English professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he studied American writers. While he enjoyed sailing and woodworking, no evidence can be found regarding his involvement with radio[8].

Regarding Peggy Murray, women were not admitted to Harvard until 1920, so itwould have been odd for a woman to be a member of the Harvard radio club in 1908 (at that time, women attended Radcliffe University, its sister campus). Furthermore, a 1902 publication refers to “hams” as poor operators of the telegraph key, further dispelling the myth that student initials

neering by first traveling to Europe, where he studied under the celebrated physicist and first German professor of electrical engineering, Heinrich Barkhausen. Barkhausen began his academic career in Dresden in 1911 and had just pioneered the generation of continuous wave (CW) oscillations by electric arcs. Later, Yagi joined the research program of Professor J.A. Fleming, the inventor of the vacuum diode pictured in Fig. 1. Fleming was also the creator of the “right hand rule” to describe how the E-field and H-field propagate in free space, having been a student of James C. Maxwell (creator of Maxwell’s equations). 1 After working with Fleming, Yagi then traveled to Harvard University to work with Prof. George W. Pierce who was in the midst of inventing his famous single-stage crystal oscillator that generated a continuous wave. The Pierce oscillator is a mainstay of telecommunications, even to this day. Yagi returned to Japan and earned his doctorate from Tokyo Imperial University in 1921, while teaching and building a wireless laboratory at Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai. Yagi was inter-

1 John A. Fleming, the creator of the first vacuum tube, was a valued consultant at Edison Electric and Marconi, as well as a popular teacher at University College in London.

FIGURE 1. A photograph

Fleming

vacuum

John

FIGURE 2. Believed to be the first amateur radio station on a college campus, this wireless set was built

Figure 2: Believed to be the first amateur radio station on a college campus, this wireless set was built by student Robert F. Gowen in 1905 at Quincy Hall at Harvard University

6

single-stage crystal oscillator that generated a continuous wave. The Pierce oscillator is a mainstay of telecommunications,even to this day. Yagi returned to Japan and earned his doctorate from Tokyo Imperial University in 1921, while teaching and building a wireless laboratory at Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai. Yagi was interested in creating directional antennas, and found a particularly clever graduate student by the name of Shintaro Uda who was a tireless and brilliant experimenter. It was Uda who discovered the world’s most popular directional antenna in Yagi’s lab in 1924, and perfected it in 1925 [11].

COMMUNICATIONS

electronic skills as college students at college amateur radio stations, and as shown subsequently, perhaps none so famously as Edwin Howard Armstrong, the world’s most influential wireless engineer who attended Columbia University from 1909–1913. froM spArK GAp to continUoUs wAve to voice trAnsMissions

Professor Reginald Fessenden and Lee de Forest had successfully pushed the wireless art away from its origins in Morse code and spark gap to a medium that could communicate voice and music. In fact, Fessenden, a Canadian radio pioneer, ham radio enthusiast, and inventor, had been working on voice transmissions by modulating a radio frequency wave since 1900, and reportedly stunned the world when he transmitted voice and music on December 24, 1906 from his radio station in Brant Rock, Massachusetts to boats at sea. Additionally, he had told newspapers he had made telephonic transmissions as early as 1900 as well as in 1905 [13, 14]. Such transmissions used amplitude modulation, since detectors in those days relied purely on rectification (e.g. envelope detection using devices such as shown in Fig. 1). Note that frequency tuning, filtering, and the use of mixers (also known as “heterodyning”) were not well understood until around 1917 after Armstrong’s first two major inventions.

Patented in 1926, the Yagi-Uda antenna(or more commonly called the Yagi, see Figure 3 and 4) uses a driven dipole element and various parasitic elements called directors (positioned in front of the dipole and of slightly shorter length than the dipole) and reflectors (positioned behind the dipole and of slightly longer length than the dipole). The mutual coupling and phase differences

ested in creating directional antennas, and found a particularly clever graduate student by the name of Shintaro Uda who was a tireless and brilliant experimenter. It was Uda who discovered the world’s most popular directional antenna in Yagi’s lab in 1924, and perfected it in 1925 [11].

Patented in 1926, the Yagi-Uda antenna (or more commonly called the Yagi, see Fig. 3 and Fig. 4) uses a driven dipole element and various parasitic elements called directors (positioned in front of the dipole and of slightly shorter length than the dipole) and reflectors (positioned behind the dipole and of slightly longer length than the dipole). The mutual coupling and phase differences caused by the parasitic elements focus the energy in a major boresight direction while creating broad nulls in other directions. The Yagi is still today the most commonly used directional antenna for HF, VHF, and UHF frequencies, and is used extensively for over-the-air television reception, police radio, utility communications, public safety, wireless internet service, HF communications at embassies and remote locations, as well as throughout the amateur radio hobby.

A fascinating account of the very slow adoption of the Yagi antenna inside of Japan after its discovery, the surrender of Singapore to the Japanese army in 1942, and the adoption of the Yagi and its use by allied forces in radar systems for advantage in World War II, is given by Prof. Sato of Sophia University in his article “A secret story about the Yagi Antenna,” which appeared in the June 1991 issue of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine [12].

The Yagi is used extensively by hams throughout the radio spectrum as it can be easily steered by a mechanical rotator to point to a particular direction for maximum gain with good front-to-back and sidelobe rejection (see Fig. 4 for a typical installation of Yagi antennas, as used by the author at his amateur radio station, N9NB, located on a ridge-top of the Blue Ridge mountains in Riner, Virginia).

The experiences of Yagi and Uda, and the pilgrimage of students and engineers worldwide who flocked to universities with active ham clubs and engaged professors to learn about the emerging field of radio, were a common theme in the early part of the 20th century. Thousands of young pioneers, inventors, and entrepreneurs honed their wireless communications and

During his historic radio broadcast on the eve of Christmas in 1906, Fessenden played “O Holy Night” on his violin, creating the world’s first radiotelephone and symphonic broadcast, and ushering in the concept of radio broadcasting that would eventually take the world by storm until the advent of television decades later. Meanwhile, Lee de Forest, an avid tinkerer and showman, followed closely the work of the early pioneers, and filed a patent in 1906 on his Audion tube, the world’s first triode vacuum tube which became the mainstay of radio circuits for most of the 20th century, even after the invention of the transistor in 1947. With the Audion, it became possible to move beyond simple rectification or switching, thus enabling amplifiers with a wide range of amplitude and phase characteristics to be manufactured, although de Forest didn’t necessarily understand how to harness these capabilities at the time [15–17].

Lee de Forest sold his patents, including his pioneering Audion tube patent, to AT&T in 1913 just as the telephone company was rapidly expanding its national coverage. Not only did AT&T need the Audion to efficiently amplify voice signals across the thousands of miles of its cables, but it was also weary of the possibility that radio could displace its capitally-intensive wired telephone infrastructure. Even in these early days, AT&T was intrigued about the idea of using wireless to replace wires for long distance communication to lower its infrastructure costs, something that has indeed happened over the course of history. As shown subsequently, AT&T would soon rely on the breakthrough work of hams to provide the first international long-distance telephone service using high-frequency (HF) ionospheric propagation across the Atlantic Ocean.2

By the mid-1920s long distance lines connected every part of the United States, and were popping up in developed nations across the world [18].

The most spectacular wireless innovator and ham radio operator, who contributed the most to the global adoption of wireless, was Edwin Howard Armstrong, W2XMN. Born in New York

2 In 1913, a Bell Telephone physicist named H. D. Arnold showed that the vacuum tube dictated the performance of long-distance telephone calls over wire. Arnold and his colleagues designed superior tubes and related circuitry, relying upon patents acquired from de Forest and Fessenden, to amplify long-distance telephone transmissions. Transcontinental telephone service between New York and San Francisco began in 1915, with Alexander Graham Bell making the first transcontinental phone call to Thomas Watson, his pioneering partner who had helped him develop the telephone four decades earlier. This first-of-its kind transcontinental phone line used 130,000 telephone poles, 2,500 tons of copper wire, and three vacuum-tube devices placed along the path to strengthen the signals. A 3-minute phone call cost $20.70 in 1915 ($617 in 2023 US dollars) [18].

FIGURE 3. Professor Hidetsugu Yagi displays an example of the Yagi-Uda antenna that he and Shintaro Uda invented in 1924–25. (Photo copyright of HYS Engineering Services, Inc., used with permission).

Fig. 3 Professor Hidetsugu Yagi displays an example of the Yagi-Uda antenna that he and Shintaro Uda invented in 1924-25.(Photo courtesy of HYS Engineering Service Inc. seeking permission)

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

City in 1890, Howard Armstrong became the most impactful experimentalist and inventor at the dawn of radio, and to this day the world relies upon his many inventions. Armstrong (see Fig. 5) was a member of the Radio Club of America from its very early days, and graduated from Columbia University with an electrical engineering degree in 1913.

Working with Professors John Morecroft and Michael Pupin at Columbia during his undergraduate studies, Howard Armstrong became an expert on vacuum tube technology and wireless communications, and in his junior and senior years of college, became the first to realize that de Forest’s Audion tube was not only useful as a detector or rectifier, but importantly, that it could also be used as an amplifier when positive feedback was applied to the input. This discovery catapulted the radio field virtually overnight, as tubes could now be used to amplify weak wireless signals by hundreds or thousands of times. Armstrong’s invention, known as regeneration, or the regenerative circuit (see Fig. 6), was awarded US patent 1,113,149 in October 1914, and was to become the first of Armstrong’s 42 patents which greatly aided the wireless revolution that was to come. The Radio Corporation of America, the Marconi company, and Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing all eventually licensed Armstrong’s patents, which allowed radio equipment to be reduced from the size of a squash court to a small vacuum tube [17].

While serving as a major and captain in the US Signal Corps in France during World War I, Armstrong made his second great discovery in 1917 — the supersonic heterodyne, shortened to superheterodyne — which is still the mainstay of wireless transmitters and receivers today. Howard Armstrong’s superheterodyne invention, US Patent 1,342,885, used an oscillating Audion tube to mix together signals of two different frequencies, resulting in a high- gain multiplication effect that produced sum and difference frequencies of the two applied signals. German inventor Walter Schottky independently discovered the same effect and received Deutsche Reich Patent 368,937 within the same year. With the invention of the superheterodyne, radios could now be adjusted in frequency and filtered for ultra-sensitive and very selective frequency tuning for both radio transmission and reception.

Throughout his lifetime, Armstrong made headlines due to his ingenuity, inventions, entrepreneurship, spectacular perseverance, and, ultimately, his tragic death. As discussed subsequently, Armstrong invented Frequency Modulation (FM) in 1933 and convinced the Federal Communications Commission to open up what are now globally known as the commercial FM radio bands, first allocated in the US to the very high frequency range (at the time) of 42–50 MHz, and later moved to 88-108 MHz after World War II. In the non-technical realm, Howard Armstrong was known for his death-defying acts of climbing large radio towers without using a belt or harness. While in his 20’s, he famously proposed to his wife Marion while climbing atop the tallest radio towers in New York City, and sometimes celebrated major events throughout his career by perching himself atop the tallest tower steeples owned by the Radio Corporation of America in New York City [17]. In the end, Armstrong took his own life after suffering severe stress from decades-long patent litigation against Lee de Forest and AT&T, which became all-consuming and caused his marriage to deteriorate. He jumped to his death from his 13th floor Manhattan apartment building in 1954.

E. Howard Armstrong was the first person ever to receive electrical engineering’s highest honor, the Medal of Honor (originally known as the “Gold Medal”) from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE, formerly known as the Institute of Radio Engineers, or IRE) in 1917, based on his earth-shattering regenerative and superhetrodyne discoveries. Because of restrictions on travel and meetings during World War I, his medal was not awarded in person until 1919. No medal was given in 1918, and Ernst Alexanderson, pioneering creator of a high-power

FIGURE 4. Installation of four Yagi antennas on the author’s amateur radio tower on a ridge- top at station N9NB in Riner, Virginia. The lowest Yagi is a 4-element tri-band Yagi (10 m, 15 m, and 20 m bands) fixed towards Europe (NE direction), and the largest Yagi (by number of elements) is a rotatable tri-band Yagi at a height of 65’ (shown here beaming towards Asia in the NW direction). The smallest Yagi is a dual-band VHF/UHF (6 m and 2 m bands) at a height of 68’ that is also rotatable on the same mast, and the tallest Yagi is a rotatable two element mono-band 40 m Yagi at a height of 70’, also rotated on the same mast. The height of a Yagi above ground and the nearby ground slope both impact the elevation angles with the greatest antenna gain. (Photo (c) T. S. Rappaport).

Fig. 4 Installation of four Yagi antennas on the author’s amateur radio tower on a ridgetop at station N9NB in Riner, Virginia. The lowest Yagi is a4-elementtri-band Yagi (10m, 15 m, and 20 m bands) fixed towards Europe (NE direction), and the largest Yagi (by number of elements) is a rotatable tri-band Yagi at a height of 65’ (shown here beaming towards Asia in the NW direction). The smallest Yagi is a dual-band VHF/UHF (6 m and 2 m bands) at a height of 68’ that is also rotatable on the same mast, and the tallest Yagi is a rotatable two element mono-band 40 m Yagi at a height of 70’, also rotated on the same mast. The height of a Yagi above ground and the nearby ground slope both impact the elevation angles with the greatest antenna gain.(Photo (c) T. S. Rappaport).

alternating generator for radio wave transmissions, received the honor in 1919 at the same time Armstrong was given his 1917 award. Guglielmo Marconi, a licensor of Armstrong’s patents, became the 3rd recipient of the Medal of Honor in 1920, and was most likely nominated or selected by a committee that included Armstrong. Reginald Fessenden received the honor in 1921, and in 1922 Lee de Forest, most likely nominated or supported by Fessenden (as both had sold patents earlier to AT&T), received the medal. John Stone Stone, an early telephone and radio inventor who sold patents to Lee de Forest and AT&T more than a decade earlier, was honored with the medal in 1923, having likely been nominated or selected by a committee that included de Forest and Fessenden. Armstrong’s professor, Michael Pupin, received the honor in 1924. These early winners of the very top prize in electrical engineering belie the influence and rivalry that existed between Armstrong and de Forest, and between AT&T (the acquiror of de Forest and Fessenden patents) and the Radio Corporation of America and Marconi Company (who had licensed Armstrong’s patents at the dawn of the wireless revolution).

Amateur radio operators rapidly adopted the new inventions of the Fleming valve, the Audion, the Pierce oscillator, and Armstrong’s revolutionary discoveries, and began to incorporate regenerative receiver circuits and superheterodyning concepts

was Edwin Howard

W2XMN. Born in New York City in 1890, Howard Armstrong became the most impactful experimentalist and inventor at the dawn of radio,and to this day the world relies upon his many inventions. Armstrong (see Fig.5) was a member of the Radio Club of America from its very early days, and graduated from Columbia University with anelectrical engineering degree in 1913.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

rapidly disseminated the designs of new circuits [20, 21]. The pioneering inventors, themselves, such as Fessenden, Armstrong, and Marconi, met with amateur radio clubs on college campuses and in cities across the world to explain their inventions and the circuits that could use them. Hams had easy access to the very latest in radio innovation, and employed these new findings in their radio stations.

world wAr i And the wireless AGe

World War I erupted suddenly when Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by a Bosnian Serbian nationalist during an official visit to Serbia’s capital, Sarajevo, on June 28, 1914. For the next five years, the global war effort would lean heavily upon the expertise of amateur radio operators, with governments enlisting ham radio operators to serve as military communications specialists, navigators, and researchers at government and industrial laboratories that were developing radio systems and jamming technologies at a feverish pace. Yet, the fledgling hobby would face challenging times as governments moved to assure no radio transmissions could be used by the enemy.

1921, and in 1922, Lee De Forest, most likely nominated or supported by Fessenden (as both had sold patents earlier to AT&T), received the medal. John Stone Stone, an early telephone and radio inventor who sold patents to Lee De Forest and AT&T more than a decade earlier, was honored with the medal in 1923 having likely been nominated or selected by a committee that included De Forest and Fessenden. Armstrong’s professor, Michael Pupin, received the honor in 1924. These early winners of the very top prize in electrical engineering belie the influence and rivalry that existed between Armstrong and De Forest, and between AT&T (the acquiror of De Forest and Fessenden patents) and the Radio Corporation of America and Marconi Company (who had licensed Armstrong’s patents at the dawn of the wireless revolution).

Amateur radio operators rapidly adopted the new inventions of the Fleming valve, the Audion, the Pierce oscillator, and Armstrong’s revolutionary discoveries, and began to incorporate regenerative receiver circuits and superheterodyning concepts in their homebrew equipment.

Magazinesgeared to hams and electronics hobbyists, such as The Model Engineering and American Electrician, Amateur Work, Electrical Review, Western Electric, Scientific American, QST, Modern Electrics, The Electrical Experimenter, and Popular Science advertised the new radio products, as amateur radio clubs touted the new inventions and rapidly disseminated the designs of new circuits [20] [21]. The pioneering inventors, themselves, such as Fessenden, Armstrong, and Marconi,met with amateur radio clubs on college campuses and in cities across the world to explain their inventions and the circuits they could be used in. Hams had easy access to the very latest in radio innovation, and employed these new findings in their radio stations.

The electronics companies that had sprung up to serve the rapidly growing hobby and the new technology of wireless were immediately redirected to provide supplies and innovations for the war effort. Governments around the world suspended or terminated licenses for all amateur radio stations, requiring existing ham stations to be dismantled, and mandating a blanket of radio silence so that enemy eavesdroppers could not intercept messages or detect radio signals of any kind. Just two years earlier, the hobby of ham radio had become legitimized and was growing rapidly after President Taft in the United States signed the Radio Act of 1912 giving ham operators their own spectrum below 200 meters. Now, the hobby came to a dead stop because of WWI.

Working with Professors JohnMorecroft and Michael Pupin at Columbiaduring his undergraduate studies, Howard Armstrong became an expert on vacuum tube technology and wireless communications, and in his senior years of college, became the first to realize that Audion tube was not only useful as a detector or rectifier, but importantly, that it could also be used as an amplifier when positive feedback was applied tothe input. This discovery catapult the radio field virtually overnight, as tubes could now be used to amplify weak wireless signals by hundreds or thousands of times. Armstrong’s invention, known as

Given the rapid escalation of WWI, governments did not have time to train radio operators, and in a most fortuitous set of circumstances for the ham radio hobby, military units were forced to issue broad open calls for volunteers with radio skills to join the war effort. The skills and knowledge base of amateur radio operators of the day proved immense and effective, providing an instant talent pool. As an example, when the United States entered the war in 1917, it faced an extreme shortage of, and urgent need for, radio officers, instructors, operators, wireless engineers, and technicians. The US Navy, which had earlier been against the budding amateur radio enthusiasts before the Radio Act [1], now found itself in desperate need for help, at a time when there were about 6,000 US amateur operators. In a desperate plea, officials from the US Navy asked the newly formed national amateur radio club, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), if it could immediately find 500 radio operators within a 10-day period. A last broadcast went out over the amateur radio airwaves across the US, just days before all ham stations were dismantled under the executive order for radio silence, and — voila — the Navy had its operators! It is estimated that over half of the US amateur radio operators, as many as 3,500–4,000, saw service in WWI, as the total number of Navy radiomen increased from 979 on January 31, 1917 to a total of around 6,700 at the time of Armistice on November 11, 1918.

FIGURE 6. While a college undergraduate student at Columbia University, Armstrong invented the Regenerative Circuit that revolutionized wireless communications [19].

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in their homebrew equipment. Magazines geared to hams and electronics hobbyists, such as The Model Engineering and American Electrician, Amateur Work, Electrical Review, Western Electric , Scientific American , QST , Modern Electrics , The Electrical Experimenter , and Popular Science advertised the new radio products, as amateur radio clubs touted the new inventions and

Guglielmo Marconi, who became Commendattore of radio signaling for the Italian Army during the war, said “America is fortunate in having perfected its organization in the amateur field,” while the US Secretary of Commerce William C. Redfield commented at war’s end: “The officers in charge of the wireless operations of our armies in France commend highly the skill, ingenuity, and versatility of the licensed amateur radio operators who volunteered in large numbers for military service and served in dangerous and responsible positions” [16]. It is widely

FIGURE 5. Photo of E. Howard Armstrong [19].

Fig 5. Photo of E. Howard Armstrong [19]

Fig. 6. While a college undergraduate student at Columbia University, Armstrong invented the Regenerative Circuit that revolutionized wireless communications [19].

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

believed that the advances made in the relatively new discovery of wireless during WWI set the stage for strategies for air and sea communications used in WWII [22].

rAdio Goes MAinstreAM

After WWI, wireless communications became a fundamental part of society, as radios quickly filled homes, businesses, and vehicles throughout the world. In fact, the purchase of radios made them the world’s most rapidly adopted technology in history at the time. In the early 20th century, the term “wireless” was used to describe over-the-air communications, but that term soon gave way to the word “radio,” as broadcasting and the sale of radios became mainstream after WW I. Interestingly, it wasn’t until the early 1990’s, more than 75 years later, that the term “wireless” was used regularly by this author and came back into widespread use by mainstream society and the engineering and scientific communities, and we have been using “wireless” ever since [23, 24]. Amazingly, as now shown, the phenomenon of mainstream adoption of radio broadcasting was initiated exclusively by the commercialization of amateur radio stations and their operators.

From a ham radio station created originally by amateur operator Frank Conrad, with call sign 8XK in 1916, the world’s first publicly celebrated amplitude modulated (AM) radio station, KDKA of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, made its commercial broadcast debut on November 2, 1920 by announcing the results of the US Presidential election between Warren Harding and James Cox. Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, a major wireless and power company headquartered in Pittsburgh, had acquired the ham station and saw the medium of radio as a new vista for growth. H.W. Harlin was hired as the world’s first permanent radio announcer, later termed a “disc jockey,” for playing phonograph records over the air at KDKA. Lesser known is the fact that there were at least two other AM stations that preceded KDKA as the world’s earliest broadcast station, including a ham station in 1912 operated by Charles “Doc” Herrold and his wife Sybil, owners of the Herrold College of Wireless and Engineering. The Herrolds operated an experimental station and taught radio operators beginning in 1909 in San Jose, California, using callsigns FN, SJN, 6FN, (which eventually became KQW, and finally the west coast CBS flagship station KCBS). This station was the world’s first broadcasting station, and Doc Herrold is credited with coining the term “broadcast,” that has been used in common language for over a century [25]. In Detroit, Michigan, ham station 8MK was called the “Radiophone’ station, making broadcasts as early as August 20, 1920. Radiophone was purchased by the Detroit News to became station 8ZZ, later assigned callsign WBL, until it finally became known as it is today — Detroit’s venerable all-news AM radio station WWJ [26, 27].

As was typical in the early days of radio, and still holds true today, young hams would tinker with components and build receivers to listen to these new AM broadcast stations that were popping up on the airwaves. Dubbed short wave listeners (SWLs), would-be ham radio enthusiasts would often first design and construct a receiving station to listen to far away broadcasters before applying for their “ticket” (e.g. amateur radio license). In fact, in 1920 during its first year of broadcasting, WWJ was the radio station that a boy named John Kraus listened to after making his first crystal radio set at the age of 10. That boy became the legendary Professor John Kraus, W8JK, a world-renowned researcher, educator, author, and ham radio operator in the field of antenna engineering. Kraus spent his entire career at Ohio State University, and stated often that his early experiences in building his first crystal radio set and listening to WWJ ignited his life-long interest in antennas, wireless and amateur radio [28]. As described in [1], a vast number of entrepreneurs and notable

communications pioneers have similarly found their life-long interest in communications to be kindled from their early experiences as children when dabbling in amateur radio or tinkering with electronics. The author is personally aware of pioneering electrical engineers such as Leonard Kleinrock, a father of the Internet, and Henry Samueli, co-founder of Broadcom, as two of the many examples of child tinkerers, and this author similarly was captivated by his grandfather’s shortwave radio at the age of 5 — and the passion has never left.

The power of radio ushered in a new era where people could hear news, music, sports, and entertainment in real time, well before anything would appear in the local newspaper. With the end of WWI, military leaders now realized the incomparable and vital capabilities of wireless communications, and the public’s appreciation for wireless communications swelled. Savvy technical bureaucrats also realized the importance of the amateur radio hobby for the national good, particularly during war-time, and fostered public policy that would allow the amateur radio hobby to grow. Following WWI, almost overnight, radio became the most popular personal entertainment medium in the world, only to give way to television by the 1950s. Most of society had no idea of the role ham radio had played, and was yet to play, in this wireless revolution. In the 1920s, households around the world were purchasing radio receivers to listen to broadcasts being sent over the air in cities across the world. In fact, Westinghouse Corporation reported that in the USA alone, it could not keep up with demand for radio sets, producing 25,000 receivers a month in 1921, as revenues for receivers and radio parts in the USA ramped from $60 Million in 1922 to $358 Million in 1924 ($6.3 Billion in 2023 dollars). The golden age of radio was born [29]. While it is a little-known fact, history shows that the early commercial AM broadcast industry was spawned from individual amateur radio stations which were engineered, designed and often operated by hams. As AM broadcast stations began to spring up around the globe, ham operators began to explore the potential of long- distance wireless communications (DX) that would ultimately connect the planet.

hAMs Go GlobAl

Until 1921, no common citizen had ever communicated in real time with another person across an ocean. Sending messages overseas through ocean cables or radio telegraph using companies such as the Marconi Company was expensive. This all changed when a grand challenge was issued to the amateur radio community. In 1920, the fledgling periodicals and ham radio organizations that were springing up throughout the world were eager to foster experimentation in the hobby, while equipment vendors — the sponsors of these publications and organizations — wanted to advertise their latest electronic components in hopes that hams would purchase them to build superior radio stations [1]. Wireless World magazine and ARRL publicized the idea of transatlantic tests throughout 1920, in an effort to spur on focused efforts of hams to communicate across the Atlantic (Fig. 7). While Marconi had heard the letter “S” sent in 1901 from across the Atlantic, this was done with extremely high power and tall antennas, and there was skepticism that entire messages could ever be communicated over such distances by modest means. The amateur radio transatlantic tests were heralded as the unifying event that would allow the hobby to perfect the radio art for greater capabilities.

On a few well-publicized winter weekends from 1920 through 1922, certain evenings were set aside for amateur operators all over the USA and Europe to attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The first contests were to have stations in the USA transmit in Morse code continually for hours, while stations in Europe were to log what they received. At the same time, hams throughout the world were encouraged to make long distance

communicate across the Atlantic (See Fig. 7). While Marconi had heard the letter “S” sent in 1901 from across the Atlantic, this was done with extremely high power and tall antennas, and there was skepticism that entire messages could ever be communicated over such distances by modest means. The amateur radio transatlantic tests were heralded as the unifying event that would allow the hobby to perfect the radio art for greater capabilities.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

two-way contacts with as many stations as possible, and as far away as possible. These transatlantic tests were sponsored by the American Radio Relay League and the Wireless Society of London (later renamed the Radio Society of Great Britain, or RSGB) [30, 31] and set the stage for competitive contesting, an aspect of the hobby which is still very popular today. Although the contests in 1920 and the week of February 1921 failed to provide any concrete one-way transatlantic contacts, the second test of 1921, conducted in December, unequivocally proved to the world that intercontinental real-time communication was viable with modest amateur radio stations [32, 33, 34].

Paul F. Godley, 2ZE, a young American engineer employed with the American Radio Relay League (or simply called “the League”), was viewed to be one of the world’s best radio operators, and was sent to England by boat by his employer in the Fall of 1921. At the young age of 23, Godley had earlier helped build an “Amazon to the Andes” radio service for Brazil in 1913, and had established his own electronics components business under the name Paragon Paul. Now, at age 32, Godley was working for the League using his custom-designed 9-tube superhetrodyne receiver and flexible receiving circuits for the 200–250 meter bands, and was sent on a mission by the ARRL to detect the first-ever transatlantic transmission by ham operators in the second transatlantic test held in the winter of 1921–22. On the ship to England, Godley happened by chance to meet a young engineer who worked for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). This engineer, Harold H. Beverage, also a ham, had just invented a traveling wave antenna that provided

remarkable long-range low-noise reception — the ideal antenna for DX reception! Beverage shared his design with Godley on the boat, hoping with confidence that it would enable successfully reception of many ham stations across the Atlantic ocean.

H. H. Beverage’s breakthrough antenna, a wave antenna made of just a simple piece of wire that is several wavelengths (several hundreds of meters) long and runs in a straight line along the direction of desired reception situated only a couple of meters above ground, is still used by hams around the world more than 100 years later, and is still the gold standard antenna for low noise High Frequency (HF) reception. Godley used this directional antenna, which has become famously known as the “Beverage Antenna” for his receiving station that he used in Scotland with great success for the second contest [15].

Harold Beverage’s antenna was later used by AT&T, RCA, and telephone companies around the world to facilitate long distance telephone calls throughout much of the 20th century (until the deployment of undersea coaxial cables in the late 1950s, satellites in the 1970s, and undersea fiber optic cables in the late 1980s) [35, 36]. Long distance telephone companies such as AT&T would purchase dozens of acres of land near the sea to fabricate miles and miles of Beverage antennas which were oriented to point towards the continent of desired interest, in order to receive ionospheric telephone transmissions throughout much of the 20th century. Large vertical transmitting antenna arrays were often deployed on the same plot of land, but several acres away from the receiving system in order to provide isolation when operated in full duplex mode to support two-way telephone calls.

Working with RCA, Beverage helped engineer the famous RCA Radio Central station at Rocky Point, Long Island, New York, which was inaugurated on November, 5 1921, as the world’s most powerful transoceanic radio facility at the time (Fig. 9 shows an antique radio shack from this site). Located at Rocky Point and Riverhead, New York, its Alexanderson 220 kW, 18.3 kHz transmitters and Beverage long-wire receiving antennas provided reliable worldwide radio communications. In succeeding years, RCA’s research laboratory also developed diversity radio reception, rhombic and folded-dipole antennas, the first transoceanic single side-band (SSB) channels, and commercial facsimile service.

Yet, through his career at RCA, and even when serving as president of the IRE in 1937, Harold “Bev” Beverage, 2BML remained a ham at heart and was an active member of the venerable Radio Club of America [37], spending free time experimenting and talking with other ham radio operators who desired to improve their stations.

As the telephone industry was just building out equipment and vast transmitter and receiver systems to test, improve, and establish voice telephone circuits that would cross the globe using wireless communication over shortwave frequencies, hams were already conducting regular transatlantic communication with each other using very modest stations and antennas. The first regular successful two-way transatlantic communications occurred with Connecticut USA station 1MO and French station FAB. The hams conducted regular, hour-long Morse code twoway communications. After the transatlantic tests of December 1921 and January 1922 showed remarkable success, the hobby of amateur radio had a new quest — to more reliably communicate over long distance (DX) paths using even smaller wavelengths (higher frequencies) and more modest stations [38].

The ionosphere had not yet been formally discovered or explained, but it was found and already used by hams! It wasn’t until 1924, when Edward Appleton conducted foundational experiments to show that radio waves could refract, and bend around earth thanks to an ionized layer of the atmosphere several hundred kilometers above earth, that the ionosphere would become known and understood. Appleton developed the theory

FIGURE 7. The cover of the December 1921 QST Magazine, promoting the transatlantic ham radio contest of late 1921 and early 1922.

Fig. 7 The cover of the December 2021 QST Magazine, promoting the transatlantic ham radio contestof late 1921 and early 1922.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

of the ionosphere, still used today, that showed how the particular radio frequency and the time of day (which dictates the ionization density and height above earth due to the relative strength of sun) can facilitate global shortwave communications. Appleton received the Nobel Prize for his ionospheric work in 1947, yet hams had conquered the ionosphere years before its discovery.

Global radio broadcasts sprung onto the scene once it was revealed by hams that global communication was viable with modest equipment. The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was founded on October 18, 1922 with the backing of leading wireless manufacturers including Marconi. Shortwave stations used the newly discovered global reach of wireless to beam programming into homes around the world at a time when electricity, indoor plumbing and running water was not available in most homes. Radio receivers of the time were powered primarily by batteries purchased at the local hardware store. Global shortwave stations sprung up throughout the world to broadcast news, music, entertainment, religious teachings, and propaganda, following on the footsteps of the rapid adoption of commercial AM radio. Radio receivers began incorporating both AM and shortwave bands in their offerings, as the world began to tune in for real-time global news, sports and entertainment [29].

hAMs to the rescUe

The dramatic rescue at sea of 700 of the 2,200 passengers of the HMS Titanic in 1912 opened the world’s eyes to the value of wireless communications and the capabilities of ham radio. Now, with a proven ability to communicate around the world, hams served a vital early role for long distance and global communications when commercial services either did not exist or were not readily available.

The discovery of the ionosphere in the 1920s led to deep knowledge of how the various ham bands would work at different times of day and in different seasons of the year. Night time was ideal for local and regional communications of up to a few hundred km on the low bands after sunrise (e.g. frequencies below 7 MHz, or wavelengths greater than 40 meters) since the ionosphere collapsed in density and height above earth. Broad daylight was best for local and regional communications up to several hundred km on 7 MHz (i.e., 40 meters), whereas long distance (DX) global communications was best supported on the high bands (e.g. 14 MHz and above, which are at wavelengths of 20 meters or shorter) when the sun was shining over half the earth and the ionosphere was rapidly expanding. Remarkable but albeit somewhat rare long-distance contacts could also be achieved via the grey line, a propagation path made across the circumference of the earth which divides sunlight and darkness.

Hams continually improved their stations, their knowledge of HF propagation, and engaged in new antenna designs to maximize their ability to communicate anywhere in the world, with good likelihood they could communicate wherever they wanted, as long as the ionosphere and their equipment cooperated. Regularly scheduled message passing networks, called “traffic nets” were set up between hams throughout the world on the various ham bands, to maintain a regular forum to relay messages (called “traffic”) that citizens, or hams themselves, might wish to send. The regularly scheduled nets across the world gave assurance to the ham community that if there was ever a local, regional, national, or global disaster, there would always be scheduled times for amateur radio operators to maintain communications throughout the world.

The children’s book Radio Rescue is based upon true-life experiences and describes how in 1923 a young boy with the call sign 2AKZ used ham radio to rescue a family caught in a flood 1000 miles away. It gives a very realistic account of the world of communications in the 1920s and how ham radio played a vital role in emergency situations [39]. Since the advent

of the hobby, hams have been famous for providing support for rescue operations, or providing emergency communications (known as EmComm) when commercial means were non-existent or unavailable. Today, hams can be found providing support of community and sporting events throughout the world, as well as for emergencies of all kinds.

In the United States and Canada, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is an extensive organization of volunteer hams throughout North America who participate in on-line training, and then offer free EmComm services for virtually any cause that needs non-business communications support, using the copyrighted motto “When all else fails” [40]. Countries all over the world have well organized EmComm groups of amateur operators dedicated to providing voluntary and emergency communications.

Another of the many facets of amateur radio, closely related to EmComm at the formation of the hobby, is known as contesting, also called radiosport. Contesting evolved in the 1920s as the number of amateur operators around the world began to swell. Contests were held over one or several weekends, in a non-stop 48-hour period per weekend, and were generally announced through global ham publications and at ham clubs a year in advance. These days, contests do not last longer than 48 hours over a single weekend.

Contests allow any amateur radio operator in the world to make as many radio contacts with other amateur radio operators, using a very brief, emergency-like message exchange for each contact during the contest. Winners are those with

FIGURE 8. In January 1922, the cover of QST Magazine proclaimed the early successes of transatlantic communications by ham operators.

Fig. 8 In January 1922, the cover of QST Magazine proclaimed the early successes of transatlantic communications by ham operators.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

incentivize the design and construction of improved equipment and antennas. Mults boost the score with greater points per contacts made on particularly difficult frequency bands (such as the low bands of 7 MHz, 3.5 MHz or 1.8 MHz, where static is greatest at night and high gain antennas are more difficult to build). Duplicate contacts (“dupes”), where the same station is contacted more than once on a particular band, are not included in the scoring, and in the early days created scoring penalties, since volunteers had to manually cross check by hand all of the submitted paper logs for accuracy and adjudication — today, computers handle this chore, and logs are submitted electronically immediately at the end of the contest by email or over an internet webpage. Amateur radio contests of a wide range of varieties can be found on the airwaves virtually every weekend of the year, and are extremely helpful in allowing amateurs to test and improve their station design while improving their operating prowess under difficult conditions, with little sleep, on crowded bands (e.g, with a great deal of QRM due to widespread participation on the band). The CQ World Wide (CQWW) contest is one of the most popular global DX contests today, with over 50,000 amateurs participating during the last full weekend of September using radioteletype (RTTY), the last full weekend of October for SSB, and end of November for CW. The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is known as the “ham radio Olympics.” WRTC typically involves the top 100 contesters in the world who compete every 4 years during the global International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) radiosport contest [41]. WRTC was most recently held in Bologna, Italy in July 2023, delayed a year by the Corona virus epidemic.

Hams in amateur radio clubs around the world also hone their EmComm and operating skills by participating in an annual field day . Field day is a special weekend for every amateur radio operator, as well as would-be hams, as it offers a chance to set up and operate virtually every communications mode and frequency band during a simulated emergency event, using tents, emergency power, and hastily erected antennas. The first national field day is believed to have been held during a summer weekend in 1933 in the United States, and amateur radio clubs throughout the world have been setting up in the field every year since. The public is always encouraged to participate in field day operations, and special stations at most field day sites are created to allow the public to try their hand at operating a radio and making a contact while learning about the hobby.

The use of the amateur radio spectrum for emergency communications is and has always been a main theme of the hobby since inception. It is simply impossible to account for all of the ways that amateur radio has played a vital role in protecting the health and safety of citizens, but there are a few legendary examples that are noteworthy, as they vividly demonstrate how the decentralized, non-commercial nature of ham radio offers unique capabilities when commercial or military means are not available.

9 A photo of Guglielmo Marconi (L) and Edward Howard Armstrong taken by Harold Beverage in 1933 at RCA’s Babylon Shack in Rocky Point, NY. The photo shows the two pioneers standing at the famous wireless shack originally constructed for Marconi’s company in 1902, and subsequently purchased by Armstrong, who gave it to David Sarnoff as a gift when Sarnoff was president of Radio Corporation of America [35] (Photo Courtesy of North Haven Historical Society, used with permission).

the greatest number of contacts and the greatest number of unique or farthest away countries. Various categories allow different types of stations (e.g. high power, low power, single operator, multi-operator) to compete with similarly-designed stations in their own country and throughout the world. From the very early contests, score multipliers (known as “mults”) were provided to bring a strategic element to contesting, and to

One of the earliest and most public display of amateur radio’s amazing ability to offer unique communications to remote regions of the world was during the 1925 American expedition to Greenland sponsored by the US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. The expedition involved airplanes and ships, and was led by Admiral Richard E. Byrd, a famed aviation explorer who would eventually become the first person to fly over both the north and south poles, and Donald Baxter MacMillan, a renowned civilian explorer who had been at the North Pole in 1909 as part of an early expedition to conquer the arctic. Byrd and MacMillan were joined together on a unique military/ civilian expedition, despite objections of some in the Navy to involve a civilian counterparty. MacMillan prepared his famous ships, the Bowdoin and the Perry, to set sail with supplies, dogs and dogsleds, and crew (which included radio operator John L. Reinartz and Admiral Byrd) from Maine in early 1925.

Global radio broadcasts sprung onto the scene once it was revealed by hams that global communications was viable with modest equipment. The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was founded on October 18, 1922 with the backing of leading wireless manufacturers including Marconi. Shortwave stations used the newly discovered global reach of wireless to beam programming into homes around the world at a time when electricity, indoor plumbing and running water was not available in most homes. Radio receivers of the time were powered

FIGURE 9. A photo of Guglielmo Marconi (L) and Edward Howard Armstrong taken by Harold Beverage in 1933 at RCA’s Babylon Shack in Rocky Point, NY. The photo shows the two pioneers standing at the famous wireless shack originally constructed for Marconi’s company in 1902, and subsequently purchased by Armstrong, who gave it to David Sarnoff as a gift when Sarnoff was president of Radio Corporation of America [35] (Photo Courtesy of North Haven Historical Society, used with permission)

Fig.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

The plan was for the Bowdoin to make daily radio reports to the U.S. Naval radio station as it sailed to and around Greenland, but because of atmospheric problems, the Navy receiving station in Washington, D.C., was unable to consistently receive transmissions from the Bowdoin. Ham radio came to the rescue, and made global headlines when a 15-year-old boy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa by the name of Art Collins, the grandnephew of A. Frederick Collins (an early pioneer of wireless [42]), was able to consistently make radio contact with the expedition [43]. Throughout the summer of 1925, the Collins boy accomplished a task that even the U.S. Navy found difficult. Using a ham radio that had built himself, the boy talked by Morse code with Reinartz in Greenland, consistently night after night. His signals reached the expedition more clearly than any other, and after every broadcast, young Collins took the messages from the expedition down to the Cedar Rapids telegraph office, and relayed to Washington the scientific findings that the exploratory group had uncovered that day.

Collins’ exclusive and reliable radio contact with the expedition soon became a nationwide news story that won him acclaim as a radio wizard. The August 4, 1925 Cedar Rapids Gazette told the story:

“The mysterious forces of air leaped the boundary of thousands of miles to bring Cedar Rapids in touch with the celebrated MacMillan scientific expedition at Etah, Greenland, and wrote a new chapter into the history of radio. Sunday, Arthur Collins, 514 Fairview Drive, 15year-old radio wizard, picked up the message from the expedition’s ship Bowdin, at twenty meters (wavelength), at about 3 o’clock and conversed in continental code for more than one hour. It was the first time the expedition and any United States radio station had communicated at that wavelength. Messages were received by Collins for the National Geographic Society, which is sponsoring the expedition, and for others, and were sent out from here by telegraph.

Arthur Collins is the son of Mr. and Mrs. M.H. Collins and is a student at Washington High School. He has been a radio fan for years, and has himself constructed most of his apparatus. His equipment is in a small room on the third floor of the Collins home. His station is known as 9CXX. The local boy told a Gazette reporter today that although he had been in wireless communication with Australia, Scotland, England, India, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Mexico, he never had received a greater thrill than when he talked to his friend on the famous expedition bound northward to explore a mystic continent.”

One week later, a follow-up article in the Gazette concluded: “Though only 15, he is true to his trust. For he hopes to realize great radio ambitions, by and by.”

At the age of 16, Collins was asked to write a technical article for Radio Age which was published in the May 1926 issue. One statement in that article foreshadowed the motivational force which was to lead him to great radio ambitions. The young Art Collins penned: “The real thrill in amateur work comes not from talking to stations in distant lands … but from knowing that by careful and painstaking work and by diligent and systematic study you have been able to accomplish some feat, or establish some fact that is a new step toward more perfect communication.”

Collin’s reputation in the radio world grew dramatically. Radio operators around the country who had heard about his contacts with the MacMillan expedition wrote to him to ask how he did it. Unselfishly, typified by the ham spirit, Art Collins shared eagerly and often his experiences and expertise with anyone who cared to learn, well into adulthood. His passion for improved radio communications drove him to launch the famed Collins Radio Company, which became a global manufacturer of military, aeronautical, space, and amateur radio communications gear.

Collins had a particular fascination in Single Side Band (SSB) voice communications and personally invested time and resources to create a novel mass-produced mechanical filter that made commercial SSB possible, and his amateur radio and military products pioneered the use of SSB throughout the world. Collins Radio was acquired by Rockwell International to form Rockwell-Collins in 1973.

Another fascinating example of ham radio coming to the rescue was on April 2, 1982, when a junta from Argentina led by General Leopoldo Galtieri invaded and held the Falkland Islands for over two months by first taking control of the capital city, Port Stanley. The Falklands is a group of several hundred islands located in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 500 km south of the southern tip of South America. During the invasion and throughout the occupation, amateur operator and farmer Tony Pole-Evans of Saunders Island in the Falklands was able to use his clandestine ham radio station and antenna to maintain the only link that Britain would have to fight and win the war. Pole-Evans would send very brief radio transmissions (so as not to be detected by Argentinian troops) to Les Hamilton, GM3ITN in Scotland over HF frequencies in the ham bands, and Les would relay vital real-time British air and ground troop information to the military [44].

On the day of the invasion, local hams in the Falklands reported on a local net that ground troops and warships were invading the capital yet the world had no idea, and upon hearing this, well-known Falkland ham radio operator Bob McLeod, VP8LP, was able to make contact over HF with Laurie Margolis, G3UML, at the BBC News Service in London. Bob was able to give eye-witness accounts of the invasion, and urged the BBC to alert its listeners as well as the British military of the attack. A video and audio reenactment of the first amateur radio contact after the invasion can be found on the web, simply search for “Falklands invasion contact reconstructed,” or visit https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=9ulDliwfjyQ. Over 1,000 lives were lost during the invasion of the Falklands, but the death count would likely have been much greater had it not been for ham radio.

Hams aided thousands of citizens who were stranded up and down the east coast of the United States in August 1955, when back-to-back hurricanes hit the Delaware Valley [45]. In the face of the fiercest cyclones Idia and Kenneth ever to hit Africa, the government of Mozambique recently turned to investing and encouraging amateur radio for emergency communications services. The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), the World Food Programme’s Technology division in Mozambique, and the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction, have supported the National Institute of Communications in Mozambique (INCM) to set up a prototype ham radio station in the port city of Maputo, capable of connecting with any location in the country. The investment in ham radio stations will follow across Pemba, Beira, Niassa, Lichinga, Tete, Zambezia and Inhambane provinces, with a goal of providing emergency backup communications while encouraging technical exploration and learning [46].

the invention of fM UnleAshes

the Mobile phone indUstry

About a decade after hams had mastered the art of routinely communicating across the globe on HF frequencies, E. Howard Armstrong was about to stun the world with his genius once again. On December 26, 1933, Armstrong, W2XMN, a giant in the world of wireless as well as in ham radio, (https://www.qrz. com/db/w2xmn) received US patent 2,630,497 for his invention of Frequency Modulation (FM) using multiplexing (e.g. left and right stereo channels for each ear). Armstrong by this time was already known as a founding father of wireless through his inventions of the regenerative oscillator circuit in 1913 (US Patent 1,113,149 issued in 1914), and the superhetrodyne cir-

Excerpt from Aug. 4, 1925 Cedar Rapids Gazette Newspaper, describing the heroic radio feats of young Art Collins.

3

Dan Noble away from the faculty of Connecticut State College in 1940 after reading that Noble had developed the first FM radio system forpolice cars in the Connecticut State Police. After joining Galvin, Noble went on to convince the military complex, and then police and public safety users throughout the world, to adopt FM for mobile and portable communication systems. In 2000, the IEEE created the Daniel E. Noble Technical Field Awardby renaming the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award in Noble’s honor.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

tive years of the radio art and the exploits of two other giants at the dawn of wireless, Lee de Forest and David Sarnoff, is found in the book by Tom Lewis, Empire of the Air — the Men who Made Radio [17]. A powerful tribute to Armstrong appeared in Columbia University’s Columbia Magazine in 2002 [48]. The author, to this day, shows the movie rendition of “Empire of the Air,” produced by Ken Burns and Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBS), as the very first lecture in his semester-long college course on wireless communications.

Armstrong’s invention of wideband FM, and his tenacious, in fact relentless, efforts to popularize it with a chain of FM broadcasting stations that he built across the east coast of the USA in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, not only ushered in the era of FM radio broadcasting that we know of today, but also launched the television industry and the embryonic mobile radio industry, both which relied upon FM for high fidelity audio quality. It was FM that became the backbone of all audio transmissions, due to its immunity to amplitude variations created by lightning, car ignitions, or signal fading due to motion. Armstrong’s invention and commercialization of FM came more than a decade after AT&T researcher John R. Carson (of “Carson’s rule” and single sideband fame) had initially discovered narrowband FM and declared it an inefficient modulation. Just like with his invention of superheterodyning and the regenerative oscillator, Armstrong’s new discovery of wideband FM set off another massive frenzy of investment, research, and product development, as the world rushed to understand and commercialize this newfound approach to sending high fidelity voice and music via a radio carrier, albeit with wider channel bandwidths than ever known before.

Figure 10: Motorola (then called Galvin Manufacturing) created the world’s first FM handie-talkies for combat use before WW II. This product was a prelude to the cellphone revolution that amateur radio operators enabled using FM repeaters theydeployed across the world throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Another ham, Al Gross, W8PAL, a teenager at the time, had developed a prototype hand-held walkie-talkie two years earlier in 1938, using miniaturized tubes mounted on special bakelite ceramic substrates and with circuits crafted by Nobellaureate Jack Kilby, W9GTY. Kilby would go on to become the creator of the integrated circuit after the transistor was invented [1] The original Al Gross walkie talkie operated above 250 MHz, quite a feat for the era, and well above

cuit in 1917 (US Patent 1,342,885 issued in 1920), a technique still used in most wireless transceivers to this day. He became wealthy by selling the rights to some of his patents to Westinghouse in 1920 just before Westinghouse launched the operation of KDKA. In 1923, on his honeymoon, Armstrong gave his wife Marion the world’s first portable superheterodyne receiver, which resides in the Henry Ford museum collection [47]. It was Armstrong’s invention of super-regeneration, the ability to control oscillations at great amplitude in both transmission and reception, that made Armstrong a household name, as he sold that patent to Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1922, making him the largest shareholder of RCA at the time.

While RCA was originally founded in 1919 as a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T and United Fruit Company, it was through Armstrong’s involvement that it became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of radios and televisions.3 A fascinating and well-prepared account of the life and ingenuity of Edwin Howard Armstrong, as well as the epic personal and professional trials that surrounded the forma-

Because of the wider bandwidth required of FM, carrier frequencies that were much higher than the existing spectrum had to be used in order to “find space on the bands” and avoid creating interference to incumbent narrowband users. Amateur operators were among the very first to experiment with the new modulation of FM by creating portable handheld devices at the much higher carrier frequencies of UHF or VHF. Miniaturization of equipment in the 1930’s and 1940s required extremely rigorous designs, as vacuum tubes were the key active components of the day. The transistor had not yet been invented — it would not be discovered and adopted until the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Despite the limitations of vacuum tubes, the walkie-talkie came into being, with nicknames such as “handie-talkie,” and “ HT.” These devices had short battery lifetimes with a weight of several pounds primarily due to the battery. It was mostly hams who comprised the engineering teams led by Don Mitchell and Dan Noble at Galvin Manufacturing (later to be named Motorola) that designed the world’s first widely distributed hand-held VHF portable radios in 1940: the SCR-536 (which used AM, led by Mitchell) and SCR-300 (which used FM, led by Noble). These HT’s were used widely during WW II with great success by allied ground troops. Even before WW II, Motorola’s founder Paul Galvin saw great potential in FM and the coming age of mobile and portable communications, and successfully recruited Dan Noble away from the faculty of Connecticut State College in 1940 after reading that Noble had developed the first FM radio system for police cars in the Connecticut State Police force. After joining Galvin, Noble went on to convince the military complex, and then police and public safety users throughout the world, to adopt FM for mobile and portable communication systems. In 2000, the IEEE created the Daniel E. Noble Technical Field Award by renaming the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award in Noble’s honor.

Another ham, Al Gross, W8PAL, a teenager at the time, had developed a prototype hand-held walkie-talkie two years earlier in 1938, using miniaturized tubes mounted on special bakelite ceramic substrates and with circuits crafted by Nobel laureate Jack Kilby, W9GTY. Kilby would go on to become the creator

FIGURE 10. Motorola (then called Galvin Manufacturing) created the world’s first FM handietalkies for combat use before WW II. This product was a prelude to the cellphone revolution that amateur radio operators enabled using FM repeaters they deployed across the world throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

of the integrated circuit after the transistor was invented [1]. The original Al Gross walkie talkie operated above 250 MHz, quite a feat for the era, and well above any known operating receivers at the time, but was kept top-secret and out of the public eye for decades. The original working Al Gross UHF walkie-talkie prototype is on permanent exhibit on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, where he occasionally lectured at the invitation of the author in the latter years of his life [1].

One of the more important developments made by FM enthusiasts in the ham radio hobby was the creation of the FM repeater (also called a digipeater) and the use of an autopatch (an automated phone patch) that would serve a local geographic area the size of a large city or county. Repeaters had already been developed for the commercial land mobile radio industry after the discovery of FM to facilitate mobile fleet and public safety applications, leading to the creation of trunked mobile radio systems [24]. Yet, until the advent of FM, virtually all of the spectrum used by hams had been between the range of 1.8 to 30 MHz (the HF bands, also known as the shortwave bands). FM provided superior audio quality, eliminated the fading that was commonplace on the already popular CW, AM and single-sideband (SSB) modes, and allowed hams to experiment with television and data signals using much greater bandwidths than was allowed at HF. Greater bandwidths required spectrum allocations at much higher frequencies than the existing shortwave bands, causing hams to successfully petition their governments to allocate new spectrum in the VHF, UHF and microwave bands for amateur radio use. In addition to wider permitted bandwidths above HF, hams were granted authority by their governments in the 1960s to use the amateur spectrum to operate remote, automated relay stations for the first time [49].

An amusing account of the exploration and early design of ham radio repeaters in 1963 is given by repeater pioneer Gene Mitchell, K3DSM, when he was a high school and college student [50]. These new amateur radio privileges unleashed a rapid infrastructure development phase with rich technical learning that would catapult the hobby into new realms, changing the world yet again.

With new spectrum and automated remote relay station privileges, VHF and UHF ham radio repeater stations suddenly began proliferating rapidly across the globe. A repeater was typically owned by a local amateur radio club, and provided all hams with open radio access across a large city or county. The repeater allowed hams to use their low power VHF or UHF FM radio sets to communicate over a large geographic area, typically with a range of 25 miles or more. Ham clubs across the world began to set up repeaters in the 2 m band (144–148 MHz) with repeater antennas mounted atop tall buildings, towers, or hilltops. Using very tall repeater stations, a club could facilitate the communications of a wide range of users throughout a city or county, since the repeaters could receive weak signals from a large constituency of mobile or portable ham users in the geographic region, and then retransmit the station’s signal with a powerful signal on a different frequency over the same large geographic region. Ham clubs across the US and other countries in the world blanketed the earth with individually operated repeaters, so that traveling hams could easily remain in communication with other hams while driving in their cars for long distances. In this manner, it became possible for hams from all over a county or city, or newcomers to the area, to acquaint themselves with other hams in the area.

Each repeater base station consisted of a dual frequency (frequency division multiplexing, half- duplex) FM high-power transmitter and ultra-sensitive receiver, and employed cavity resonators to provide strong isolation between the sensitive receiver uplink and powerful downlink transmission frequencies. The most common early repeaters, still in use today, used a 600 kHz frequency split between the uplink and downlink channels,

and operated at a carrier frequency of about 145 MHz. Finding a good repeater site was always a hot topic at amateur radio club meetings, with the goal of finding the very best building or hilltop so that an omnidirectional antenna could be used to provide maximum coverage distance during transmission along with good reception for low power mobile users in all possible directions [51].

The rollout of repeaters allowed any local ham in earshot of the repeater to have instant access to the entire geographic area when transmitting on the repeater’s uplink frequency and listening on the repeater’s downlink frequency. Traveling hams, driving through a particular community, could access the repeater and instantly communicate with other amateur operators who were monitoring the repeater. In this manner, ham operators became accustomed to global mobile communications using portable FM radios and handie-talkies. In just a few years, by the late 1960’s, the entire planet was blanketed with UHF repeaters run by hams sponsored by ham clubs, that allowed any amateur operator, anywhere, to have instant voice communication with local hams over a repeater [52]. One of the truly amazing features about the global ham radio repeater buildout is that many of these repeaters were equipped with an autopatch feature, which allowed ham operators to make automated touch-tone telephone calls from their car or mobile walkie-talkie. The birth of the cellphone industry, and as shown in Part 3 of this series, in fact much more, can be traced to this global repeater buildout by the ham radio community.

Hams had for decades used long distance HF frequencies to provide phone patch capabilities to friends, family members, and strangers. Missionaries, volunteer workers, and other non-business global travelers relied on the international goodwill of amateur radio operators and the free airways of ham radio for global telephone calls, in lieu of paying exorbitant long-distance telephone prices, so they could economically stay in contact with their families while traveling to remote places on earth. A phone patch was a piece of audio switching equipment that a ham operator would use to connect the ham station to his or her landline telephone to enable a two- way audio connection between the ham radio set and the telephone line. The phone patch provided a telephone-to-radio interface to the ham station, allowing a ham radio operator to offer a pivotal relay service for two-way communication between a landline user and a remote ham radio station. A remote traveler could find or call (over the telephone) a ham radio operator in their toll-free vicinity, who could then make an over-the-air DX contact via the ionosphere to a ham radio operator in the traveler’s home country. As long as both ham operators had phone patches in their shacks, and the two hams were each in a toll-free local calling area of the two nonham citizens, the two ham operators could host a phone call QSO between the traveler and the traveler’s family at absolutely no cost, with two ham stations serving as over-the-air relays.

This was one of the many services offered by amateur radio, and was meaningful in its day since international long distance telephone charges could run as high as several dollars per minute before the birth of the internet and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Now, with new regulations that allowed automated remote control, it became possible for hams to use FM repeaters to automatically initiate landline calls while in their car or on the move.

Beginning in 1971, the ARRL began publishing a repeater directory that provided a listing of all the locations and frequencies of FM repeaters in the United States, and other countries had similar publications that gave all hams the access information to any repeater, wherever they traveled. Today, such listings are provided on-line and in cellphone applications by many sources, such as the one hosted by IZ8WNH [53]. This was a game changer for amateur radio, and for the world of mobile communications.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

Using an autopatch on an UHF FM repeater, any operator could make local phone calls over the repeater. Using a dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) touch tone keypad, a ham could bring up the repeater and then use the repeater’s autopatch to place a local telephone call over the air, a harbinger to the cellular telephone revolution that would soon follow. The autopatch allowed the repeater station to automatically initiate an outbound telephone call over a landline telephone connection, thereby allowing any mobile user of the repeater to originate a telephone call that would be carried over the airwaves to the repeater, and then connected over a telephone line to a landline user. In essence, hams had the ability to originate mobile telephone calls wherever they were in the world, using their HTs. There was generally a restriction imposed by the repeater owner that all calls had to be local to the repeater, so that no long-distance landline toll charges were incurred by the repeater operator. Also, since all repeater traffic was broadcast over the entire coverage area of the repeater — open for eavesdropping — and restricted for non-business use, anyone listening to the repeater downlink frequency could hear both sides of the conversation, so the calls were purely for hobby use.

By the late 1960s, hams around the world had embraced mobile phone communications and were using it in their daily lives. It is without question that the global ham radio FM repeater buildout provided a great deal of the engineering prowess and expertise, as well as a certain confidence and “can-do” spirit, while providing the human capital that enabled the rapid buildout of the world’s first cellular telephone networks of the 1980s and 1990s. To this day, virtually all of the very early engineers who got their start in the cellphone revolution can trace their roots to exposure to ham radio and the early use or development of FM repeaters. We shall see in Part 3, the final article in this series, how the incredible infrastructure buildout of FM repeaters and the use of mobile communications by hams around the globe played a major role in launching breakthroughs in the fields of digital communications, computing, packet radio, satellite communications, and environmental sensing. This major adoption of a mobile communications architecture — the FM repeater, and a mobile communications device, the HT — by the global amateur radio community was just the start of an entirely new phase of innovation for the hobby that would shape our world today and for decades to come.

conclUsion

Part 2 of this series has demonstrated the immense impact that the hobby of amateur radio and its enthusiastic cadre of operators have had in the creation and establishment of real-time wireless communications throughout history. The ham spirit of experimentation, a quest for knowledge, and a passion for sharing ideas and tinkering with, and then adopting, the most recent technological developments, is seen to have brought us the information age that we enjoy today. Were it not for hams around the globe, and their indominable spirit, the adoption and use of radio would have been much greatly delayed, and certainly not likely to have happened in such a grand and ubiquitous manner.

As with most high-tech breakthroughs, universities, with their youthful, engaged students and visionary faculty, played a vital role as crucibles for the creation and dissemination of the principles and practice of wireless. Yet, it was the ham radio inventors and pioneers, and the innumerable ham radio clubs who made themselves available to others and shared their insights, that perpetuated the fundamental understanding and adoption of realtime communications using the medium of wireless. This article has attempted to document how radio, and the allure of its invisible magic, captivated the hearts and minds of all hams throughout history, no matter what their status, their station in life, their country of origin, or their perceived importance on the world stage.

We have seen in Part 2 the triumphs of just a sliver of the many ham radio pioneers who persevered and labored tirelessly, relentlessly, to understand and then to master the electronic breakthroughs that comprise the myriad communication devices and architectures that we take for granted in our daily lives. By understanding the ingenuity and impact that past pioneers, many of them ham radio operators, have had on the electrical engineering field, we begin to better understand in a larger context just how their ingenuity enabled new realms of innovation and new waves of investment, all which have continued to propel the information age. We also are able to better understand the significance of the individuals named on the various major technical awards given by the IEEE and other technical societies as a means to honor modern day innovators.

As discussed in the final article, Part 3 of this series, the global buildout of FM repeaters by hams not only created the workforce and technical knowledge that enabled the cellular telephone revolution, but also gave great confidence to the ham community as it continued to lead the way, as pioneers, in packet radio networking, digital communications, computing, satellite communications, software defined radios, ionospheric sounding, and space weather, all which have a prominent impact on our daily lives today and into the future.

references

[1] T. S. Rappaport, “Crucible of Communications: How Amateur Radio Launched the Information Age and Brought High Tech to Life; Part 1: The Birth and Breadth of the Ham Radio Hobby,” (Invited Article), IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 60, no. 10, Oct. 2022, pp. 6–10; https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp. jsp?tp=&arnumber=9928087.

[2] J. Green, “The Apparatus for Wireless Telegraph,” American Electrician, July 1899.

[3] IEEE Milestone, Fleming Valve, 1904. See: https://ethw.org/Milestones:Fleming_Valve,_1904 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleming_valve#/media/ File:Fleming_valves.jpg.

[4, J. S. Bellrose, “Fessenden and Marconi: Their Differing Technologies and Transatlantic Experiments During the First Decade of this Century,” Proc. 1995 Int’l. Conf. 100 Years of Radio, 5–7 Sept. 1995

[5] R. A. Morton, ‘11, “The Wireless at Harvard,” Harvard Illustrated Magazine , 1909, vo. 10, p. 131–35; https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433076016132 see also: https://web.archive.org/web/20220216171322/http://w1af.harvard. edu/php/history.php.

[6] Author Correspondence with Paul Burchsted, Research Librarian for Harvard University, Aug 7-10, 2023.

[7] “ALBERT HYMAN, 79, CARDIOLOGIST, DIES,” New York Times, Dec. 9, 1972.

[8] “Memorial to Robert F. Almy,” The University Senate of Miami University, Feb. 6, 1969.

[9] G.M. Dodge, The Telegraph Instructor, self-published by the author, c. 1903, Valparaiso, Indiana, USA.

[10] “Wireless Club at Columbia: Disputes with the Aero Club the Monopoly of Morningside Air,” The Sun, New York, NY, Nov. 25, 1908. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress; https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1908-11- 25/ed-1/seq-2/.

[11] M. Ishuguro et al., “Highlighting the History of Japanese Radio Astronomy: 1: An Introduction,” J. Astronomical History and Heritage, Nov. 2012, vol. 15, no. 3, 2012, pp. 213–31.

[12] G. Sato, “A Secret Story About the Yagi Antenna,” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 33, no. 3, June 1991, pp. 7–18. DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.14402807.2012.03.06.

[13] “Wireless Telephone Has Been Perfected,” Pittsburgh Press, May 20, 1902, 9.8.

[14] D. Halper, C. Sterling. “Fessenden’s Christmas Eve Broadcast: Reconsidering an Historical Event,” Antique Wireless Association Review, vol. 19, 2006, p. 127.

[15] R. A. Bartlett, The World of Ham Radio, 1901–1950, McFarland and Company, Inc., c. 2007

[16] C. B. DeSoto, Two Hundred Meters and Down, The Story of Amateur Radio, The American Radio Relay League, Inc, c. 1936

[17] T. Lewis, Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio, Harper Collins, New York, 1991.

[18] G. Constable and B. Somerville, A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Innovations that Transformed our Lives, Telephone History Part 3 — Long Distance, Joseph Henry Press, c. 2003, see also http://www.greatachievements. org/?id=3633.

[19] E. H. Armstrong, Radio Broadcast, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1922

[20] T. H. White, United States Early Radio History, an on-line book about the early history of radio in the United States. www.earlyradiohistory.us

[21] A. F. Collins, “How to Construct an Efficient Wireless Telegraph Apparatus at a Small Cost,” Scientific American Supplement, Feb. 15, 1902, pp. 21,849–21,850, and also in Scientific American, Sept. 14, 1901.

COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY

[22] H. J. S. Tworek, “Wireless Telegraph,” Int’l. Encyclopedia of the First World War , Version 1, Oct. 14, 2014, online encyclopedia https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/wireless_telegraphy.

[23] T. S. Rappaport, “The Wireless Revolution,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 29, no. 11, Nov. 1991, pp. 52–71.

[24] T. S. Rappaport, Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, 1st Edition, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, c. 1996.

[25] R. L. Hillard and M. C. Keith, The Broadcast Century and Beyond, 5th Edition, Focal Press, 2010.

[26] T. L White, “The Broadcaster’s Desktop Resource: High Powered History, WWJ’s Beginnings, 95 Years Ago,” Aug. 2015; https://www.thebdr.net/wp- content/uploads/PDF/Profiles/Broadcast-History/wwjs-beginnings-95-years-ago.pdf.

[27] C. B. Young, “WWJ — Pioneer in Broadcasting,” Michigan History, Dec. 1960, vol. 44, no. 4.

[28] J. D. Kraus, Big Ear, 1976, Cygus-Quasar Books, Powell, Ohio, USA, c. 1976.

[29] S.J. Douglass, Listening In, Radio and the American Imagination , Chapter 2 “Ethereal World,” University of Minnesota Press, c. 2004.

[30] “Transatlantic Sending Tests,” QST Magazine, Feb. 1921, ARRL, p. 20.

[31] “QRV for the Transatlantics?,” QST Magazine, Nov. 1921, ARRL, p. 10.

[32] P. F. Goldely, “Official Report on the Second Transatlantic Test,” QST Magazine, Feb. 1922, p. 14.

[33] Transatlantic Tests, RSGB; https://rsgb.org/main/activity/transatlantic-tests/.

[34] M. Marinaro, WN1M, “The Transatlantic Tests,” QST Magazine , May 2014, pp. 72–73.

[35] A. I. Wallen, Genius at Riverhead, A Profile of Harold H. Beverage , North Haven Historical Society, North Haven, Maine, c. 1988.

[36] G. Huston, “At the Bottom of the Sea: A Short History of Submarine Cables,” Feb. 12, 2020, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC); https://blog.apnic.net/2020/02/12/at-the- bottom-of-the-sea-a-short-historyof-submarine-cables/.

[37] Proc. Radio Club of America , Diamond Jubilee issue, 75th Anniversary of the Radio Club of America, 1984. In this issue, it shows that H. H. Beverage became a member of the Radio Club of America in 1920, a Fellow in 1926, a Life Member in 1971, received the club’s prestigious Armstrong Award in 1938, and the rarely issued Pioneer Award in 1976.

[38] Transatlantic Tests, Part 4, RSGB; https://rsgb.org/main/activity/transatlantic-tests/tests-4/.

[39] L. Barasch, “Radio Rescue,” Frances Foster books, c. 2000.

[40] Emergency Communications, American Radio Relay League, Newington, Connecticut, USA; https://www.arrl.org/emergency-communications-training.

[41] J. K. George, Contact Sport: A Story of Champions, Airwaves, and a One-Day Race around the World, c. 2016.

[42] A. Frederick Collins, “The Collins Wireless Telephone,” Scientific American, July 19, 1902, pp. 37–38.

[43] A. Perry, “Riding the SHORT WAVES,” Radio Age, Nov. 1925, pp. 11–12; https://earlyradiohistory.us/1925col.htm.

[44] “Clydebank Radio Ham Helped to Win Back the Falklands,” The Scotsman, March 24, 2002.

[45] G. Hart, W1NJM, “The Great Flood of 1955: Amateurs by the Thousands Come to the Aid of Stricken Communities,” QST Magazine , Oct. 1955, pp. 11–18.

[46] E. Millership, “Tuning in to ‘Amateur’ Radio Airwaves in Mozambique: Ham Radio Strengthens Emergency Telecommunications Preparedness in Disaster-Stricken Mozambique,” World Food Program; https://www.wfp.org/stories/ tuning-amateur-radio-airwaves-mozambique.

[47] THF156549, “ First Portable Superheterodyne Radio Receiver, “Made by Edwin Howard Armstrong, 1923, Gifted to The Henry Ford by Marion Armstrong;” https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/256388/

[48] Y. Tsividis, “Edwin Armstrong: Pioneer of the Airwaves,” Columbia Magazine, April 1, 2002, Columbia University.

[49] The History of the Northeast FM Repeater Association; http://nfmra.org/ nfmra-history/.

[50] Gene Michael, K3DSM; http://www.g-c-o.com/k3dsm/repeater.htm

[51] K. W. Sessions, “The Radio Amateur’s F-M Repeater Handbook,” Editors and Engineers, Ltd; c. 1969.

[52] B. Pasternak, The Practical Handbook of Amateur Radio FM & Repeaters , c. 1980, TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit.

[53] WWW.IZ8WNH.IT: “Let’s Map Together Ham Radio Repeaters and Beacons;” https://www.iz8wnh.it/.

bioGrAphy

T heodore S. r appapor T (tsr@nyu.edu) is the David Lee/Ernst Weber Professor at New York University (NYU). He founded the NYU WIRELESS research center and the wireless research centers at the University of Texas Austin (WNCG) and Virginia Tech (MPRG). His work has provided fundamental knowledge for wireless system design and radio channels used to create the IEEE 802.11 standard, the first U.S. digital TDMA and CDMA standards, the first public Wi-Fi hotspots, and more recently proved the viability of millimeter wave and sub-THz frequencies for 5G, 6G, and beyond. He founded two businesses that were sold to publicly traded companies — TSR Technologies, Inc. and Wireless Valley Communications, Inc., and was an advisor to Straight Path Communications which sold 5G millimeter wave spectrum to Verizon. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and is in the Wireless Hall of Fame, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and a life member of the American Radio Relay League. His ham radio call sign is N9NB.

Look for Leading RCA Members!

RCA members play an important leading role at Hamvention. This year is no different. Look for these people at programs and booths.

• Youth Forum (Carole Perry)

• Instructor Academy (Gordon West)

• DX Engineering (Tim Duffy)

• Ham Nation and Friends (Gordon West)

• ICOM (Jon Paul Beauchamp)

• Hamvention Leadership: Jack Gerbs, Michael Kalter, Jim Storms

CURRENT PERSPECTIVES: HAVANA SYNDROME: EVALUATING THE MICROWAVE WEAPON THEORY

By David Witkowski

A good portion of the work we do at Oku Solutions, the company I founded in 2007, relates to the question of electromagnetic safety. This is an ongoing topic of concern for a small but vociferous segment of the population, and their concerns have passthrough effects on local government administration and politics. As you might imagine, major news items related to electromagnetic fields and health effects can make life at Oku Solutions very interesting.

60 MINUTES NEWS COVERAGE

The first half of 2024 was notable for airing a 60 Minutes television segment on Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs), popularly called “Havana Syndrome”.”

“Havana Syndrome” refers to a series of unexplained health incidents experienced by U.S. and Canadian diplomats, intelligence officers, and their families, initially reported in Havana, Cuba, in late 2016. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, nausea, hearing loss, cognitive difficulties, and other neurological problems. The cause of these AHIs remains unclear, with speculation ranging from sonic or electromagnetic attacks to environmental factors or psychological triggers. Investigations by an intelligence agency task force, the military, and medical experts have yielded inconclusive results, leaving the origins and nature of AHIs a subject of ongoing debate and research. Some have speculated that these attacks are accomplished by a new kind of directed-energy weapon, possibly using microwaves or lasers. Indeed, the 60 Minutes segment inferred that there is some kind of novel directed-energy technology behind these attacks, wielded by agents of the Russian government or their allies. And yet, the causes of AHIs have eluded investigators and defied scientific explanations.

60 Minutes originally aired a segment on Havana Syndrome in 2019, followed by a segment in 2022, and the most recent segment in 2024. In the 2019 segment’s opening monologue, Scott Pelley stated that two dozen people in the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, and another fifteen U.S. government employees working in China, had suffered brain injuries. One of the victims, a technical

agent who works with radios and communications gear, stated that he believed the attacks originated from a high-power microwave source. 60 Minutes bolstered this claim by referencing an unclassified National Security Agency (NSA) memo that considered the possibility of a “…high-powered microwave system weapon that may have the ability to weaken, intimidate, or kill an enemy over time without leaving evidence” — but failed to emphasize this description was speculative, and that the NSA has no evidence such a weapon exists.

Adding complexity to the investigation AHI’s patients report a wide variety of symptoms. Some patients present with symptoms similar to mild concussion, others assert that these attacks caused them to develop Parkinson’s Disease. Some describe their symptoms increasing over time, others describe a sudden and intense onset of symptoms including rapid onset of disorientation, sensory effects, and mental confusion. There are similarities among patient symptoms, but also notable differences. Some patients state that following the onset of symptoms, the symptoms followed them from location to location. In one case, a Commerce Department employee and his family were medically evacuated from China, but later his wife experienced symptoms in a Philadelphia apartment. They moved to a hotel, but his family continued to experience symptoms at the hotel.

FREY EFFECT

As a member of the IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES), I have the honor and privilege to work with living legends in the field of electromagnetic safety, including Kenneth Foster, a physicist known for his work in the fields of electromagnetism and bioelectromagnetics. Foster has conducted research on the biological effects of electromagnetic fields, including the “Frey Effect”, also known as the microwave auditory effect or microwave hearing, which refers to the phenomenon where people perceive auditory sensations, such as buzzing, clicking, or hissing sounds, in the presence of modulated microwave energy. This effect was first described by Allan H. Frey, an American scientist, in the early 1960s. Frey’s research demonstrated that individuals exposed to certain microwave frequencies, typically between 2.4 GHz and 3.6 GHz, could perceive sounds without any actual sound waves reaching their ears. Instead, microwave energy interacts with tissues in the human head, leading to the perception of sound. The exact mechanism behind this phenomenon is not fully understood, but it is believed to involve thermal and mechanical effects on the auditory system. Some have speculated that the Frey Effect could support the microwave energy theory and help explain Havana Syndrome, but there are issues with drawing a direct line between them. The sounds perceived by Frey’s test subjects were barely audible and required significant RF incident power at close range to induce any sound perception. The patients reporting Havana Syndrome almost always describe the sound as loud, intense, and debilitating.

JASON STUDY

In response to government agency concerns about Havana Syndrome, the MITRE Corporation produced the JASON Study. This study examined the theoretical causes of AHIs in light of known physics and medical science. They looked at possible attack technologies, including acoustic and electromagnetic sources, and concluded that neither methodology supports the description of AHI patients.

60 Minutes reiterated the microwave directed-energy theory in their 2022 segment, based on conclusions from David Relman, MD, a microbiologist at Stanford University who co-chaired an expert panel that studied Havana Syndrome for the intelligence community, and Dr. James Benford, an IEEE Fellow and scientist whose company focuses on microwave-related research. In the 2022 segment, 60 Minutes showed grainy photos and diagrams of portable microwave emitters, annotated with Cyrillic text, purportedly collected via covert means from Russia or an allied nation.

One of JASON’s main concerns with the microwave energy hypothesis, based on the Frey Effect, is that the loud and debilitating auditory effects and severe ear pain described by some AHI patients would require very high

electromagnetic power levels. In turn, these power levels would require large antennas, high-power RF sources, and a substantial electrical power source. The RF power levels needed to produce a Frey Effect after passing through windows, brick walls, and building materials, and to do so effectively at a distance, would be even higher. Benford asserts in the 2022 60 Minutes segment that a weapon could be carried in a suitcase, but Relman conceded that there is no peer-reviewed science showing a portable microwave device capable of producing loud, intense, and debilitating effects at a distance is feasible with current technologies.

The JASON Study also noted that the necessary RF levels intense enough to induce a loud sound in the human ear and mental debilitation would also disrupt electronic devices in the area, yet none of the AHI patients presenting with auditory or cognitive symptoms reported effects to electronics.

Most importantly, JASON noted that the levels of RF energy needed to induce a loud sound and mental debilitation would also induce ancillary burns on the side of the head and likely other biological side effects. None of the AHI patients presenting with auditory or cognitive symptoms show signs of ancillary burns. Indeed, aside from their self-reported symptoms, and some observed symptoms related to balance and eye movement, there is no clinical evidence of harm. The 60 Minutes segment in 2022 mentioned, without reference, damage to the innerear and vestibular system; however, the National Institutes of Health published findings showing no evidence of damage based on MRI scans.

JAMA STUDY

Dr. Ragini Verma and a team at the University of Pennsylvania published a 2019 study in JAMA showing changes statistically significant differences in brain volume, tissue properties, and connectivity between the patients [who presented with AHI, and who had been stationed in Cuba] and healthy control group. This study noted some limitations, critically, in their ideal control group that should have been healthy people who had been stationed in Cuba but who did not present with AHI. Unfortunately, the authors were unable to form this control group. Thus, the only thing Verma et al. can conclude is that there must be an unknown environmental factor affecting brain volume, tissue properties, and connectivity in human bodies and that these differences show up in people who have lived in Cuba. Factors could include water contamination, air pollutants, food allergies, insect bites, viruses, cigar smoke, or other physical stressors. To link Verma’s findings to microwaves, we would have to prove the existence of a biological mechanism by which microwave energy changes brain volume, tissue properties, and connectivity in human bodies, and this link is not evident in peer-reviewed medical or academic literature.

PERSPECTIVES

In conclusion, while the symptoms of Havana Syndrome are real and distressing for those affected, the microwavedirected-energy theory, as presented by 60 Minutes and others, is fraught with inconsistencies and lacks scientific evidence to support it. The investigation into the true cause of these Anomalous Health Incidents must continue, but it should be guided by rigorous scientific inquiry and a balanced examination of all plausible explanations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Witkowski is an author, advisor, and strategist who works at the intersection between local government and the telecommunication industry. He is a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, an IEEE Senior Member, the Founder and CEO of Oku Solutions LLC, and the Executive Director of Civic Technologies Initiatives at Joint Venture Silicon Valley. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard and earned his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Davis. He held leadership roles for companies ranging from Fortune 500 multi-nationals to early-stage startups, and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Deployment Working Group at IEEE Future Networks, as a member of the IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety, and as a member of the IEEE Committee on Man and Radiation. He is the author of several books and many articles about the state of the industry.

SOURCES

1 Pelley, Scott. 60 Minutes. March 31, 2024, Havana Syndrome mystery continues as a lead military investigator says bar for proof was set impossibly high. A joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel https://www.cbsnews.com/news/havana-syndrome-culpritinvestigation-new-evidence-60-minutes-transcript/.

2 Ibid., June 26, 2022, Havana Syndrome: High-level national security officials stricken with unexplained illness on White House grounds, https://www.cbsnews. com/news/havana-syndrome-white-house-cabinet-60minutes-2022-06-26/; Farmer, Britt McCandless. March 17, 2019, Is an invisible weapon targeting U.S. diplomats? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-an-invisibleweapon-targeting-u-s-diplomats-60-minutes/

3 JASON, Acoustic Signals and Physiological Effects on U.S. Diplomats in Cuba (McLean, VA: The MITRE Corporation, November 29, 2018), https://irp.fas.org/ agency/dod/jason/havana.pdf

4 Verma R.; Swanson, R.L.; Parker, D.; et al. Neuroimaging Findings in US Government Personnel With Possible Exposure to Directional Phenomena in Havana, Cuba. JAMA. 2019;322(4):336–347. doi:10.1001/ jama.2019.9269.

PAPER COPIES OF RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA TECHNICAL PROCEEDINGS – FREE (while they last)

Just pay shipping - or to eliminate shipping charge, come to AWA in Bloomfield, NY and pick them up

 Acoustics and Microphone Placement in Broadcast Studios Part I Dreher May 1928

 Acoustics and Microphone Placement in Broadcast Studios Part II Dreher June 1928

 THE A-B-Cs of Amplifier Circuits Crom Sept 1928

 Measurements on Broadcast Receivers Hull Oct 1928

 Measurement & Design of Audio Frequency Transformers Johnson Nov 1928

 High Power Output Tube Weaver Dec 1928

 Characteristics of Filament Type Rectifiers Wise Jan 1929

 Servicing Radio Receivers Aceves Jun 1929

 Characteristics of Audio Transformers Turner Sept 1929

 Grid Suppressor Circuit Harris Oct 1929

 Circuit Combinations that Provide Uniform Signal Selection Uehling Nov 1929

 Screen-Grid Tubes for Audio Frequency Amplifiers Glauber Feb 1930

 Pentode Tube Henney Mar 1930

 Practical Television System Replogle May 1930

 Equipotential Indirectly Heated Cathode for Receiver Tubes Allen July 1930

 Adjustable Tone Compensation Improves Audio Amplifiers Aceves Sept 1930

 Broadcast Program Protection Brown Oct 1930

 Proving Lab for Radio Receivers Reinken Nov 1930

 The “Stenode” Robinson Dec 1930

 Multicoupler Antenna System for Apartment Buildings Amy April 1931

 Design & Construction of Standard Signal Generators Franks May 1931

 Design of a Complete Television System Huffman July 1931

 Synchronization of Westinghouse Radio Stations WBZ & WBZA Gregory Aug 1931

 Continuity Testing in Radio Service Work Rider Nov 1931

 Auditorium Sound Adsorption Balance Schlenker Dec 1931

 Portable Speech Input Eqpt for Remote Control Broadcasting Lyon July 1932

 Voice Recording for Industrial & Social Uses White Sept 1932

 Short-wave Transoceanic Telephone Receiving Eqpt Polkinghorn Nov 1932

 Antenna Transmission Line Systems for Transmission Reception Brigham Jan 1933

 Radio Servicing Instruments from Engineering Viewpoint Miller May 1933

 Correlations on Class C Radio Amplifiers Davis Nov 1933

 Photronic Cell & Control Pierce Jun 1934

Continued on next page.

 Carrier Deviation in FM Transmitters Thomas Aug 1941

Includes Orbital Beam Multiplier Tube for 500 MC Amplification Ferris “ Includes Inductive-Output Tube Applications Dow “

 Impedance Measurements over a Wide Frequency Range Packard Apr 1942

 Wire Transmission of News Pictures Hancock Dec 1942

 Taming the High Frequency Signal Generator Van Beuren Dec 1943

 Cathode Ray Tube Applications Christaldi Nov 1945

 Audio Distortion in Radio Reception Minter Jan 1946

 Radio Detector Operating Characteristics Armstron year 1948

 Saturable Reactor Considerations Shepard year 1950

 Direct Drive Horizontal Scan System Thalner year 1950

 Traffic Capacity of Distance-Measuring-Equipment Hirsch year 1950

 RF Transmission Lines & Wave Guides Winlund year 1951

 Multiplexed Transmission of FM Broadcast Signals Armstrong year 1953

 Armstrong – The Hero as Inventor (Article from Harpers) Dreher Apr 1956

 Teleglobe Pay-TV System Kamen Apr 1963

 Reliability & Maintainability of Electronic Devices Calabro Jul 1963

 New York Fire Communications Rheinhardt Nov 1963

Name:

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FCC APPROVES NEW RULES FOR SATELLITEDIRECT-TO-PHONE COMMUNICATIONS

By Donny Jackson

FCC commissioners today voted unanimously to approve new rules designed to let commercial wireless carriers more easily partner with satellite companies to provide supplemental coverage from space (SCS) services that could eliminate coverage gaps when users are outside.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel outlined the importance of SCS—also known as satellite-direct-to-phone technology—which allows users to maintain LTE or 5G communications when outside a carrier’s terrestrial network by accessing a satellite, which many industry experts have compared to a cell tower in space.

“In this decision, … we bring satellite and wireless communications together,” Rosenworcel said during the FCC meeting, which was webcast. “We do this because the convergence can accomplish more than either network can do on its own. Together, they can end dead zones. Together, it means that—when disaster strikes and destroys groundbased systems—we’re going to have a backup in space.”

And SCS services can become useful quickly, because they work with existing smart devices and do not require new spectrum that must be cleared and auctioned, according to Rosenworcel.

“We’ve developed a framework that allows a satellite operator to partner with a terrestrial mobile carrier to get access to their terrestrial spectrum,” Rosenworcel said. “The satellite system can provide service directly to the subscribers of the wireless carrier in the areas where the carrier lacks coverage.

“So, there is no need to wait for new spectrum or a new generation of devices. Satellite operators and their carrier collaborators can use terrestrial spectrum that is already in the market to bring these services to the phones we already have today.”

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr echoed this sentiment.

“We have long had the capacity from space to get highspeed to get Internet service directly to a standalone dish,” Carr said during the FCC meeting. “We’ve also had the ability to go directly to the handset historically … with lowbandwidth technologies. The ability to unlock the capacity to blend the two of them and high-speed service directly to a smartphone device is a really exciting technology

development, and I am glad we are moving forward with this decision.”

Of course, the expanded geographic connectivity provided by SCS service promises to have significant implications for public safety and other criticalcommunications users. In addition to potentially making smart devices usable in locations outside of terrestrialnetwork coverage, SCS is expected to let consumers call 911 to get emergency help from even remote areas that are beyond a carrier’s terrestrial footprint—something the new rules note.

“The rules also establish, on an interim basis, a requirement that terrestrial providers must route all SCS 911 calls to a Public Safety Answering Point using either location-based routing or an emergency call center,” according to an FCC press release on the matter. “The Commission also adopted a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek further comment on this and other critical public-safety issues to ensure these services adequately meet consumers’ needs and expectations for critical services.”

SCS capability has been one of the hottest topics in the critical-communications sector in recent years, with industry analysts and users noting the potential for making LTE and 5G devices much more reliable in missioncritical and business-critical scenarios, citing the potential for expanded outdoor coverage and redundant satellite connectivity.

In addition, the business model employed by AST SpaceMobile, Lynk and SpaceX—partnering with commercial wireless carriers, instead of competing against them—has many industry analysts believing that the economics associated with the LEO-based services could be more economically sustainable than previous satellite services.

Officials for AST SpaceMobile and Lynk applauded the FCC’s action today.

“Today’s FCC ruling is truly a huge win for the USA, the USA consumers, and the entire industry,” AST SpaceMobile CEO and founder Abel Avellan said in a prepared statement provided to IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We have worked with the FCC for many years and supported the ongoing evolution of the satellite regulatory framework that will support the commercialization of standards-based direct-to-device services to everyday smartphones.

“The fact that we now have a framework that includes premium low-band spectrum is a huge step in the right direction. Additionally, the ruling is supportive of our plans to deploy with AT&T in an expedited way. Satellite direct-todevice is here to stay.”

All three co-founders for Lynk—a LEO satellite provider that is scheduled to launch SCS service with Rogers Communications in Canada later this year—expressed similar optimism about the FCC vote and for the future of satellite-direct-to-phone (sat2phone) technology.

“This is a good news story that highlights America’s continued role in developing and delivering technology that makes a difference in the lives of people around the world,” Lynk CEO and co-founder Charles Miller said in a prepared statement. “We believe sat2phone technology has the potential to help pull the next billion people out of poverty by extending affordable access to mobile connectivity around the globe.”

Lynk CTO and co-founder Tyghe Speidel noted some of the key challenges the company had to overcome to make the SCS vision a reality.

“By April of 2017, we solved three key problems—showing the link budgets could close, figuring out how cellular spectrum could be used by satellites without interference to terrestrial networks, and developing our patented solution that allowed satellites to connect directly to unmodified, standard mobile phones,” Speidel said in a prepared statement.

Lynk COO and co-founder Margo Deckard reflected on the fact that the FCC in 2019 gave Lynk an experimental license that allowed it to prove that SCS could work

in a real-world environment, without creating harmful interference.

“The FCC deserves credit for giving us a chance, and for creating a process to safely encourage innovation,” Deckard said in a prepared statement. “After we proved it, we were granted what we believe to be the world’s first commercial sat2phone license. The Commission decided sat2phone was so promising that it should create a larger framework— which they call ‘Supplemental Coverage from Space’—to support growth of the sat2phone industry and services in the United States.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donny Jackson is editor of IWCE’s Urgent Communications, generating content about the critical-communications arena for almost two decades and contributing to the annual IWCE conference program. Jackson won the 2013 Jesse H. Neal Award in the “Best Subject-Related Series” category for public-safety broadband coverage associated with the establishment of FirstNet. Before joining Mobile Radio Technology--the previous name for IWCE’s Urgent Communications —in 2003, he covered telecommunications for four years as a freelance writer and as news editor for Telephony magazine. Prior to that, he worked for suburban newspapers in the Dallas area, serving as editor-in-chief for the Irving News and the Las Colinas Business News in the 1990s.

SOURCE

Jackson, D., “FCC Approves New Rules For SatelliteDirect-to-Phone Communications,” IWCE’s Urgent Communications, Mar. 15, 2024.

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2024

WESTIN TIMES SQUARE

A NEW DR. ROBERT WILSON PARK PRESERVES THE HOLMDEL HORN

On April 20, Holmdel Township held a ceremony officially designating the Crawford Hill location of the legendary Holmdel Horn Antenna as the future site of Dr. Robert Wilson Park. The horn itself is a National Landmark. The park will preserve the horn as part of a real estate development of the hilltop.

Dr. Robert Wilson, who lives in Holmdel, participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new park. Numerous elected local and regional government officials joined him. Bell Laboratories and Drs. Wilson and Arno Penzias were recognized for their contributions to the community and scientific discovery.

The hilltop site was in jeopardy of being redeveloped, but officials rallied to preserve it for a public park and educational center. The park will encompass 35 acres, funded by $3.3 million in commitments from Monmouth County, $500,000 in federal funding, and the commitment of the developer, Rakesh Antala of Crawford Hill LLC. Holmdel paid a net $4.75 million for the site. The horn antenna site fulfills the township’s goals to preserve land, honor technical achievement, and expand its unique role in the county. Crawford Hill is 391 feet above sea level, the highest point in Monmouth County.

Holmdel Mayor Rocco Impreveduto stated the park and horn are intended to foster curiosity, knowledge, understanding, and the thirst for discovery embodied in the work of Drs: Wilson and Penzias and all those at Bell Laboratories. Penzias and Wilson received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978 for discovering evidence of cosmic microwave radiation using the horn antenna,

thereby developing evidence of the Big Bang theory of the universe’s creation 13.7 billion years ago.

Several hundred attended the ceremonial ribbon cutting, toured the site, and had an opportunity to step inside the horn antenna’s control booth. Dr. Wilson spoke, thanking everyone for naming the park in his honor and recognizing the efforts of all those involved. He acknowledged Antala for maintaining the property and Greg Wright for maintaining the horn antenna. He spoke about the history of radio astronomy, life at Bell Labs, and the reasons radio astronomers were hired by Bell Labs to support its early satellite work, concluding that “It has been a wonderful ride.”

Antala still owns the former Bell Laboratories building at the entrance to the Crawford Hill property. Antala is evaluating developing the building into a center for innovation.

SOURCES

Hood, D. Horn Antenna used to discover evidence of Big Bang theory celebrated in Holmdel, Asbury Park Press, April 20, 2024, https://www.app.com/picture-gallery/ news/2024/04/20/robert-wilson-park-dedication-for-hornantenna/73397469007.

McDaniel, P. $3.5M Promised By County For Wilson Park, Site Of Horn Antenna, Patch News, Mar. 20, 2024, https:// patch.com/new-jersey/holmdel-hazlet/3-5m-promisedcounty-wilson-park-site-horn-antenna.

Prabhu, S. Holmdel Park Honors Dr. Robert Wilson with Horn Antenna Ribbon-Cutting, Two Rivers Times, April 25, 2024.

Dr. Robert Wilson. (Courtesy Kit August)

Dr. Wilson presenting with other officials in front of the Holmdel Horn Antenna. (Courtesy Kit August)

A large crowd was present at the ceremony. (Courtesy Kit August).

DR. ULRICH L. ROHDE NAMED A FELLOW

Dr. Ulrich L. Rohde was elected a Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA) in March 2024. He is a top scientist with outstanding achievements in the area of microwave systems. AAIA aims to build a broad AI industry to promote the development and application of AI in different fields of science and technology.

In January 2024, Dr. Rohde was appointed “Fellow of Industry Academy” in the high-profile “International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance” (IAIIA) based in Hong Kong. The IAIIA has a network of strong partnerships across the world to promote the development of and innovation for applications of artificial intelligence. Their membership of over 3,000 academicians and scientists possesses extensive expertise and a wealth of research achievements. They offer cutting-edge technological insights and drive innovative research forward. The IAIIA provides educational programs and events worldwide to drive research and innovation.

Dr. Rohde received the Radio Club of America Lifetime Achievement Award and is a Fellow of RCA. He is an IEEE Life Fellow; Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE); IETE Fellow; A Partner of Rohde & Schwarz, Munich, Germany; Chairman of Synergy Microwave Corp., Paterson, New Jersey; An honorary member of the Senate of the University of the Armed

Forces Munich, Germany, as well as an honorary member of the Senate of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg, Germany; Professor of Radio and Microwave Theory and Techniques at the University of Oradea and honorary professor at several other universities worldwide: Professor of Microwave Technology at IIT-Delhi, Honorary Institute Chair Professor for Microwave Technology at IIT-Jammu, Professor of Microwave and RF at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg University of Technology, and professor at the German Armed Forces University Munich (Microwave Systems, Technical Informatics).

SOURCES

“AAIA Elects Dr. Ulrich L. Rohde as Fellow,” Microwave Journal, Feb. 20, 2024.

Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association. “Dr. Ulrich L. Rohde Appointed Fellow of Industry Academy,” Microwave Journal, Jan. 26, 2024.

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

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Dr. Ulrich Rohde.

DR. JIM BREAKALL NAMED IEEE LIFE FELLOW

Dr. James K. Breakall, WA3FET, was elevated to IEEE Life Fellow by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in January 2024 for the design of novel antennas for radar, communications, and ionospheric and radio-astronomy research.

Dr. Breakall is an emeritus professor of electrical engineering at Penn State University. His area of specialty is antenna modeling and design. As a student, he worked with the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico. During his career, he has worked with the U. S. Army and Navy, and with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories measuring electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Dr. Breakall worked on the phased array antenna design at the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) ionosphere modification facility in Alaska. He used the Uniform Theory of Diffraction (UTD) to model HF antennas in irregular terrain. Dr. Breakall developed and patented the 3D frequency-independent phased array antenna (3D-FIPA). A full biography follows.

Dr. Breakall serves on the board of directors, is a fellow, and has received the Radio Club of America’s (RCA) Sarnoff Citation for individual achievement based upon exemplary technical advances in antenna simulation and antenna design. He is listed as an RCA Wireless Pioneer. He also received the 2023 Hamvention Technical Achievement Award for his work in amateur radio antenna technology, including the Optimized Wideband Antenna (OWA) Yagi. He was the first to use helicopter measurements and Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (GTD) techniques for antennas in terrain at HF which led to software such as TA and HFTA. He used the Arecibo Observatory’s 1000-foot antenna dish for EME and worked on many antenna designs at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the HAARP facility in Alaska.

Dr. Breakall received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He has over 50 years of experience in numerical electromagnetics and antennas. He was a Project Engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)in Livermore, California, and an Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPGS) in Monterey, California. He is an Emeritus Full Professor of Electrical Engineering at Penn State.

Dr. Breakall began his career in both theoretical and experimental research as a graduate student at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, working on antenna analysis and radar probing of the ionosphere. At LLNL, he and his group worked on the development of the Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC), the first sophisticated antenna modeling program. At Penn State, Dr. Breakall was engaged in a project to design and construct the world’s most powerful and sophisticated ionospheric modification facility at the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) near Fairbanks, Alaska. At HAARP, he designed a unique antenna invention, the Three-Dimensional Frequency Independent Phased Array (3D FIPA), which was awarded a U. S. patent.

Dr. Breakall has also led work at Penn State on several programs with the U. S. Navy to study high frequency (HF) antenna sitting in irregular terrain with helicopter measurements, a propagation project named the Polar Equatorial Near-Vertical Incidence Experiment (PENEX), a project named TACAMO for VLF communication to submarines from trailing aircraft 5 mile long wires, a UHF Electronically Scanned Array (UESA) for the antenna design on the E-2C Hawkeye radar dome aircraft, and a National Science Foundation (NSF) project for the design of a highpower HF feed at the Arecibo Observatory’s 1000-foot dish antenna.

Dr. Jim Breakall.

Dr. Breakall has been actively involved in the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) which he helped found in 1985 at LLNL and has been elected to multiple terms on the Board of Directors by the more than 600 worldwide members. He has graduated numerous Ph.D., M.S., EE Honors, and Math Honors students at Penn State.

Dr. Breakall is also a member of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, Eta Kappa Nu, International Union of Radio Science Commission B, IEEE Wave Propagation and Standards Committee, has been an Associate Editor for the Radio Science journal, and has served as an Arecibo Observatory Users and Scientific Advising Committee Member. He has won many prestigious awards and honors, including the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Mainstay Award, the Outstanding Research Award from the Penn State College of Engineering, and has been named the Charles H. Fetter Fellow in Electrical Engineering.

Dr. Breakall has also advised Nittany Scientific, Inc., on several Penn State licensed projects involving new antenna software and hardware sold commercially. He served on the Board of Directors for a company, Star-H, that is involved in antenna design and manufacturing. With Star-H, he has received a patent on his invention of a low-profile AM broadcast radio station antenna. In 2011-2012 he was on sabbatical leave at the U. S. Army CERDEC, Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Maryland and at Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico. He has also been employed as a summer contractor to the U. S. Army in Aberdeen, Maryland, and engaged in off-campus research from Penn State.

Currently, Dr. Breakall is a special part-time employee with Sabre Sytems, Inc. as a senior engineer for projects for the U. S. Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines. Other than his main hobby of Amateur Radio, he has also been an avid audiophile for over 50 years.

THE FIRST AMATEUR RADIO STATION ON THE MOON, JS1YMG, IS NOW TRANSMITTING

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully landed their Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on January 19, 2024. Just before touchdown, SLIM released two small lunar surface probes, LEV-1 and LEV-2.

LEV-2 collects data while moving on the lunar surface, and LEV-1 receives the data.

The JAXA Ham Radio Club (JHRC), JQ1ZVI, secured amateur radio license JS1YMG for LEV-1, which has been transmitting Morse code on 437.41 MHz since January 19. The probe uses a 1 W UHF antenna with circular polarization and is transmitting “matters related to amateur business.”

Radio amateurs have been busy analyzing JS1YMG’s signal, with Daniel Estévez’s, EA4GPZ, blog introducing the method and extraction results for demodulating Morse code from the signal, as well as extracting the code string.

It’s unclear how long signals will be heard. JAXA has said that SLIM was not designed to survive a lunar night, which lasts about 14 days, and is due to return in a few days.

SLIM was launched on September 6, 2023, and landed on January 19, 2024, with the mission of analyzing the composition of rocks to aid research about the origin of the moon. SLIM’s landing made Japan the fifth country to achieve a soft touchdown on the moon. The landing was achieved with exceptional precision -- within 180 feet of its targeted touchdown location.

SOURCE

“The First Amateur Radio Station on the Moon, JS1YMG, is Now Transmitting,” ARRL Letter, Feb. 1, 2024.

RCA SEEKS YOUR HISTORICAL MATERIALS

The Radio Club of America (RCA) and The Antique Wireless Association (AWA) have installed a display in the AWA Museum about RCA. In addition, RCA’s historical documents, publications, papers, pictures and more have been cataloged and filed in the AWA Museum’s archives. Many other displays at the AWA Museum feature RCA members and their innovations.

RCA’s archived historical material is available to the public. There is considerable additional RCA historical material in the possession of past RCA officers and members. We ask that you please donate these items to the RCA historical collection. This is your history, and we want to preserve it for future generations.

Please contact the co-chairs of the RCA Historical Committee, Felicia and Jim Kreuzer, to donate RCA historical items to the RCA archives at the AWA museum. Contact Felicia at feliciaa.kreuzer@gmail.com and Jim@wireless@pce.net.

A rendering of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on the lunar surface. (Courtesy Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

WORLD RADIOCOMMUNICATION CONFERENCE REVISES THE ITU RADIO REGULATIONS TO SUPPORT SPECTRUM SHARING AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) agreed on revisions to the global treaty governing the use of the radio frequency spectrum, both on Earth and in space, at the close of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) today in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The agreement on updates to the Radio Regulations identifies new spectrum resources to support technological innovation, deepen global connectivity, increase access to and equitable use of space-based radio resources, and enhance safety at sea, in the air, and on land.

“WRC-23 puts the world on a solid path towards a more connected, sustainable, equitable and inclusive digital future for all,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU SecretaryGeneral. “Key regulatory achievements on spectrum for space, science and terrestrial radio services build on the momentum of ITU’s ongoing work to achieve universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation.”

A total of 151 Member States signed the WRC-23 Final Acts. The Final Acts constitute a record of the decisions taken at the conference including both the new and revised provisions of the Radio Regulations, all Appendices, and the new and revised Resolutions and ITU-R Recommendations incorporated by reference into the treaty by the conference.

“The agreements reached at WRC-23 are a testament to the unwavering spirit of cooperation and compromise among all of our members,” said Mario Maniewicz, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau. “Navigating the complexities of spectrum sharing to update the Radio Regulations has helped us forge a path that provides a stable, predictable regulatory environment essential for the development of innovative radiocommunication services for all.”

REVISIONS TO ITU’S RADIO REGULATIONS

Among the decisions, WRC-23 identified spectrum for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT), which will be crucial for expanding broadband connectivity and developing IMT mobile services, also known as 4G, 5G and, in the future, 6G. That new spectrum includes the 3 300-3 400 megahertz (MHz), 3 600-3 800 MHz, 4 800-4 990

MHz and 6 425-7 125 MHz frequency bands in various countries and regions.

WRC-23 also identified the 2 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands for using high-altitude platform stations as IMT base stations (HIBS) and established regulations for their operations. This technology offers a new platform to provide mobile broadband with minimal infrastructure using the same frequencies and devices as IMT mobile networks. HIBS can contribute to bridging the digital divide in remote and rural areas and maintain connectivity during disasters.

For non-geostationary fixed-satellite service Earth Stations in Motion (ESIMs), the conference identified new frequencies to deliver high-speed broadband onboard aircraft, vessels, trains, and vehicles. These satellite services are also critical following disasters where local communication infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.

Provisions were included to protect ship and aircraft mobile service stations located in international airspace and waters from other stations within national territories.

To support the modernization of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), WRC-23 took regulatory actions including the implementation of e-navigation systems to enhance distress and safety communications at sea.

The conference provisionally recognized the BeiDou Satellite Messaging Service System for GMDSS use, subject to successful completion of coordination with the existing networks and elimination of interference.

The WRC-23 negotiations were led by conference Chair, H.E. Eng. Mohammed Al Ramsi from the United Arab Emirates with assistance from six committee chairs: Basebi Mosinyi (Botswana); Cindy Cook (Canada); Hiroyuki Atarashi (Japan); Anna Marklund (Sweden); Abdouramane El Hadjar (Cameroon); and Christian Rissone (France).

The conference, which took place in Dubai from 20 November to 15 December, was hosted by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) of the UAE.

“Across the globe, numerous countries, institutions, and companies eagerly anticipate the outcomes of this

ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin explains how radio-frequency management, tech standards, and digital development initiatives make modern life possible. (Courtesy ITU)

conference,” said Al Ramsi, Chair of WRC-23 and Deputy Director-General for the Telecommunication Sector of TDRA. “We have emerged from this conference with significant results that contribute to the advancement of numerous radio services, serving the interests of countries, societies, and humanity at large.”

Overall, WRC-23 approved 43 new resolutions, revised 56 existing ones, and suppressed 33 resolutions. Other key WRC-23 outcomes include:

• Allocation of additional frequencies for passive Earth exploration satellite services to enable advanced ice cloud measurements for better weather forecasting and climate monitoring.

• Allocation of new frequencies to the aviation industry for aeronautical mobile satellite services (117.975137 MHz). The new service will enhance bi-directional communication via non-GSO satellite systems for pilots and air traffic controllers everywhere, especially over oceanic and remote areas.

• Allocation of the bands 15.41-15.7 GHz and 22-22.2 GHz in Radio Regulations Region 1 and some Region 3 countries to the aeronautical mobile service for non-safety aeronautical applications. This will enable aircraft, helicopters, and drones to carry sophisticated aeronautical digital equipment for purposes such as surveillance, monitoring, mapping, and filming, and have the capacity to transfer large data from these applications using wideband radio links.

• Adoption of regulatory actions for the provision of intersatellite links. This will allow data to be made available in near-real time, enhancing the availability and value of instrument data for low-latency applications such as weather forecasting and disaster risk reduction.

• Endorsement of the decision by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) to adopt Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) as the de facto time standard

by 2035, with the possibility to extend the deadline to 2040 in cases where existing equipment cannot be replaced earlier.

• Recognition of the importance of space weather observation in a new Resolution and a new Article in the Radio Regulations to recognize the operation of space weather sensors as part of the meteorological aid service to observe space weather phenomena including solar flares, solar radiation and geomagnetic storms which can interfere with radiocommunication services including satellites, mobile phone services and navigation systems.

• Approval of a recommendation by the Radio Regulations Board to allow 41 countries to acquire new and usable orbital resources for satellite broadcasting. The countries were unable to use their assigned orbital slots in recent years due to factors such as lack of coordination and interference from other satellite networks. The decision aims to enable countries to implement subregional satellite systems.

To prepare for future world radiocommunication conferences, the WRC-23 also adopted several resolutions that mandate the ITU Radiocommunication Sector Study Groups to undertake studies on specified topics that include:

• Possible new or modified space research service (space-to-space) allocations for future development of communications on the lunar surface, and between lunar orbit and the lunar surface.

• The development of regulatory measures to limit the unauthorized operations of non-geostationary-satellite orbit (non-GSO) earth stations in the fixed-satellite service (FSS) and mobile-satellite service (MSS).

• Technical and regulatory measures for fixed satellite systems (FSS) while taking into account the specific needs of developing countries including the need for equitable access to the relevant frequency bands.

• Technical and regulatory provisions necessary to protect radio astronomy operating in specific Radio Quiet Zones from radio-frequency interference caused by systems in the non-geostationary-satellite orbit.

• Possible new allocations to the mobile-satellite service for direct connectivity between space stations and mobile user equipment to complement terrestrial mobile network coverage.

• Spectrum needs and appropriate protection criteria for space weather sensors.

• Potential new frequency allocations and regulatory actions for future development of low-data-rate nongeostationary mobile-satellite systems (small satellites).

• Identification of measures to facilitate the operation of earth stations on board unmanned aircraft, including identification of suitable frequency bands to decide on the appropriate course of action to be taken in 2031 (WRC-31).

WRC-23 also approved the agenda items for the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27) and the provisional agenda for WRC-31.

Over 3,900 delegates from 163 Member States attended WRC-23, including 88 ministerial-level participants. Women made up 22 percent of all WRC-23 delegates, an increase from 18 percent at WRC-19 in 2019.

INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), driving innovation in ICTs together with 193 Member States and a membership of over 900 companies, universities, and international and

regional organizations. Established over 150 years ago, ITU is the intergovernmental body responsible for coordinating the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoting international cooperation in assigning frequencies and, if necessary, associated satellite orbits, improving communication infrastructure in the developing world, and establishing the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems. From broadband networks to cutting-edge wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, oceanographic and satellite-based earth and oceanographic monitoring as well as converging fixed and mobile phone, Internet and broadcasting technologies, ITU is committed to connecting the world. For more information, visit: www.itu.int.

SOURCE

ITU Press Release, Dubai, Dec. 15, 2023, https://www.itu. int/en/Pages/default.aspx

SENATORS ROGER WICKER AND RICHARD BLUMENTHAL INTRODUCE

S.3690 TO ELIMINATE PRIVATE LAND USE

RESTRICTIONS ON AMATEUR RADIO

On January 30, 2024, U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (MS) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) introduced S.3690, the Senate companion bill to H.R.4006, introduced last June. Both bills reflect the Congressional campaign efforts by ARRL to eliminate homeowner association land use restrictions that prohibit, restrict, or impair the ability of an Amateur Radio Operator to install and operate amateur station antennas on residential properties they own.

Amateur Radio Operators repeatedly are relied upon to provide essential communications when disaster strikes, but their ability to do so is being impaired by the exponential growth of residential private land use restrictions that hinder their ability to establish stations in their homes with which to train and provide emergency communications when called upon.

In announcing the introduction of S.3690, Senator Wicker said: “Because communication during natural disasters is often hindered, we should be making every attempt to give folks more options. Reliable access can make the difference between life and death in an emergency. Our legislation removes roadblocks for amateur radio operators looking to help their friends, families, and neighbors.”

In a similar announcement, Senator Blumenthal stated: “Our measure will help clarify the rules so ham radio enthusiasts can successfully continue their communications. In the face of emergency or crisis, they help provide vital, life-saving information that allows listeners to properly and safely respond, but prohibitive home association rules and confusing approval processes for installing antennas have been an unnecessary impediment. The Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act resolves these bottlenecks and ensures that radio operators can function successfully.”

ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, and Director John Robert Stratton, N5AUS, Chair of the ARRL’s Government Affairs Committee, both extended on behalf of ARRL, its members, and the Amateur Radio community their thanks and appreciation for the leadership of Senator Wicker and Senator Blumenthal in their continuing efforts to support and protect the rights of all Amateur Radio Operators.

SOURCE

“Senators Roger Wicker and Richard Blumenthal Introduce S.3690 to Eliminate Private Land Use Restrictions on Amateur Radio,” ARRL Letter, Feb. 14, 2024.

RCA Mentorship Program

A way to share your knowledge and experience, or learn from the best!

The new RCA Mentorship Program is designed to pair RCA members together, providing opportunities for young professionals to learn and emulate the experience of more seasoned RCA members. Several mentoring pairs have already been formed and more are being formed. Learn more on the RCA website.

IEEE FOUNDATION SUPPORTS NEW EXHIBIT ON EDWIN H. ARMSTRONG

By Daniel Jon Mitchell

The IEEE Global Museum, presented by IEEE History Center, is gearing up for its full launch in July 2024 when its flagship traveling exhibit, Unseen Signals: Edwin H. Armstrong’s Radio Revolution, opens to the public. The exhibit, partly funded by an anonymous donor, recounts the incredible life and achievements of Edwin Howard Armstrong, the electrical engineer and wireless pioneer who in 1917 received the Institute of Radio Engineers’ first Medal of Honor (now IEEE’s highest award). It will open at the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology, SAMSAT, in San Antonio, TX, USA, and then travel to other major museums throughout the United States until at least 2027.

IEEE is extremely grateful to the Pavek Museum in Minnesota, and the New Jersey-based collectors and restorers Mike Molnar and Al Klase, for loaning us a number of antique radios; Marsha Simkin, for donating the Jerry and Marsha Simkin collection of radio memorabilia and cultural ephemera; Robert Brecht and Anthony Fiore, for donating a 1912 Audion from Armstrong’s Columbia University laboratory; and Dennis L. Shapiro, for funding the purchase of several key items, including a World War I radio headgear like the type worn by [then] Captain Armstrong.

The mission of the IEEE Global Museum is to promote the profession of electrical and electronic engineering and its impact on society by bringing museum-quality exhibits, from a single groundbreaking artifact to a full collection, to IEEE members and the public. The “global” in Global Museum reflects the reach of the IEEE community of technical professionals, the worldwide

historical impact of electrotechnology, and the ambition to travel exhibits to museums, libraries, and IEEE conferences and events around the world.

With this global vision in mind, on its next project, the IEEE Global Museum has partnered with IEEE Spectrum magazine to create a highly mobile, engaging, interactive traveling exhibit based on the IEEE Spectrum digital Chip Hall of Fame. The Chip Hall of Fame exhibit will explain why integrated circuits or microchips were designed and engineered, and reveal their varied and essential roles, such as signal processing, audio engineering, and telecommunications. It will connect opaque names like Z80, 6502, and ARM1 to products people will remember or recognize from their own lives, such as a favorite home computer or video game console from the 1980s, up to the GPS-enabled smartphones we all carry today. Funding permitting, the Chip Hall of Fame exhibit will launch in North America in late 2025. A plan to travel the exhibit worldwide is under development.

A pilot version of “ Unseen Signals: Edwin H. Armstrong’s Radio Revolution” on show for the soft launch of the IEEE Global Museum at the IEEE Board Series held at the Sheraton Hotel, New York City, in February 2023. (Courtesy IEEE History Center)

In addition to this program of public-facing traveling exhibits, the goal over the next three years is to build the capacity to create regular, temporary exhibits at major IEEE conferences across a broad range of IEEE fields of interest. One such example is the curated exhibit designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS). In Charge: Technology Flows through Dielectric and Insulating Media was unveiled at the Society’s annual Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP), held in East Rutherford, NJ, in October 2023. Generous artifact loans from AT&T and Nokia Bell Labs enabled us to display an original section of the first Transatlantic Telephone Cable, TAT-1, from 1956, and a prototype Western Electric EL2 electret ‘transmitter’ or microphone, which entered production in 1978. The exhibit’s most visually spectacular section charted the rise and fall of the GE and Westinghouse high voltage power engineering laboratories—from their inception during the 1920s, when major cities became electrified, through their closure during the 1980s. By this time these laboratories had made possible safe, costeffective, long-distance high-voltage power transmission. The success so far in delivering impactful exhibits has been greatly facilitated via collaborations with local and national museums, private collectors, universities, corporations, and other organizations, as well as the financial generosity of the IEEE Life Members Committee, gifts in memory of Dennis L. Shapiro, and other donors. The future of the IEEE Global Museum and its projects depends on philanthropic support. Inspired to help IEEE promote the history of technology? Contact Danny DeLiberato, CFRE at d.deliberato@ieee.org or call +1-732-562-5446 or make a gift online

Design concept for “Unseen Signals: Edwin H. Armstrong’s Radio Revolution.” The exhibit pairs IEEE History Center research and storytelling with curated artifacts, evocative graphic design and interactive elements that explicate Armstrong’s technical breakthroughs to the layperson. (Courtesy IEEE History Center)

“In Charge: Technology Flows through Dielectric and Insulating Media,” an IEEE Global Museum exhibit curated to celebrate the centennial of the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS). (Courtesy IEEE History Center)

To learn more about the Global Museum’s vision and the progress of its programs, please write to Daniel Jon Mitchell, Senior Historian, at daniel.mitchell@ieee.org. A special thanks to John Impagliazzo, whose service and leadership in various roles on the IEEE History Committee led to the Global Museum’s creation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Jon Mitchell joined the IEEE History Center as Senior Historian in July 2022. Previously he served as the Director of the Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, PA, USA. He holds a B.A. in physics and a D.Phil. in modern history from the University of Oxford, and an M.A. in philosophy and history of science from the University of Bristol. Daniel has written, presented, and taught widely on the history of modern physical science. He has held research fellowships at RWTH Aachen University in Germany; at the Science Museum, London and University of Cambridge in the UK; and at Harvard University and the Science History Institute in the US. Daniel recently acted as a consultant on a major grant project for the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics in College Park, MD, USA. His recent research has focused on measurement and quantification in the work of early electrical pioneers, such as Lord Kelvin and James Clerk Maxwell.

SOURCE

D. Daniel Jon Mitchell, IEEE Senior Historian, “IEEE Global Museum on View,” IEEE Foundation News, Mar. 1, 2024, https://www.ieeefoundation.org/ieee-global-museum-onview/

RCA’S Video Interview Series Continues In 2024 RCA INTERVIEW SERIES

Radio Club of America (RCA) president emeritus John Facella continues to host RCA’s online interview series in 2024. Many of the sessions are recorded and are available on RCA’s YouTube Channel. These programs provide discussions of current viewpoints and offer a valuable historical resource. Each interview runs approximately 1 hour. Guests include a wide range of notable figures in wireless, discussing their careers, passions for radio, views on industry trends, and outlooks for technology. If you missed any of these interviews, they are available at https:// www.youtube.com/@radioclubofamerica7981/playlists.

The RCA Interview Series has hosted approximately 50 people to date. It provides a valuable historical record of leaders participating in many aspects of RF. RCA’s Interview Series is one of the larger oral/video history collections comprising interviews of electrical engineers and related technologists dealing with wireless technology. RCA’s YouTube Channel also includes presentations from its Technical Symposiums, available at https://www.youtube. com/@radioclubofamerica7981/playlists.

Thank you to everyone participating in RCA’s Interview Series and other programs. Together, you have made history, shared it, and preserved it for posterity.

All interviews are available to watch on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@radioclubofamerica7981/playlists.

Angel Vasquez

Jim Graci

Ted Rappaport

Margaret Lyons

Ken Claerbout

Marilyn Ward

Cheryl Giggetts

Robert Lopez

Nick Tusa

Robert Bell

Jeff Bratcher

Rich Berliner

Karnel Thomas & Ron Taylor

Debra Jordan

Michael F. Paul

Marty Cooper

Matt Deutch & Glenn Nelson

Jon Pelson

Steve Floyd

Jon Pelson

RCA Is Growing In 2024

The Radio Club of America is charging hard in 2024. RCA is attending an industry conference or trade show an average of every 6-8 weeks. We have refreshed and renewed our look for a strong market presence. The new booth is a hit, attracting old and new friends. Our 2024 industry activities include (in alphabetic order):

• APCO International

• Hamcation

• Hamvention

• International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE)

• IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology (under evaluation)

• MTUG Annual Information Technology Tradeshow & Summit

• Satellite 2025 (under evaluation)

• Wireless Communications Alliance (WCA) ConnectX Conference

RCA experienced record growth at IWCE in March. We held two events: sponsoring the IWCE breakfast featuring women in communications talking about artificial intelligence, and a margarita social to help launch RCA’s Innovation Council (see related story). These two events attracted 125 people, and RCA registered 25 new members!! The IWCE breakfast panel featured Susan Ronning (ADCOMM), Cheryl Giggetts (CTA Consultants), Kinuko Masaki (VoiceBrain), and Alison Kahn (NIST).

RCA is approaching new audiences and new industry associations. We need your input, and your volunteer support. We also need sponsors to help cover costs. RCA will go where our members want us to go, with help, and with your commitment!

Please contact Amy Beckham at Amy@radioclubofamerica.org with ideas or volunteer opportunities.

RCA’s booth was very busy at IWCE

RCA sponsored the IWCE breakfast program “The Future With AI.”

Candids From IWCE 2024

RCA Launches Innovation Council

The Radio Club of America (RCA) has formally launched its new Innovation Council. RCA has been exploring the interest level in this type of offering for the past two years. Members have requested additional programming that addresses the changing environment for innovators, the support for innovation, and a place to discuss areas of current technical development. The Innovation Council plans to address these topics.

• RCA members participated in a pilot program offered at the 2023 Dayton Hamvention. The theme of the 2023 Hamvention was “innovation,” and several RCA members participated in a program that showcased amateur radio’s “enhancement of the radio art” through innovation enabled by skills and knowledge first acquired and nurtured as radio amateurs. Speakers included: Nathan “Chip” Cohen, W1YW; Howard Rosen, VE2AED; Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF; Jim Breakall, WA3FET; Stephen Floyd, W4YHD; Marty Sullaway, NN1C; Ted Rappaport, N9NB; Jeremy Hong, KD8TUO; Jack Nilsson, N8NDL; and Isaac Bentley, NB6F. Attendance was robust, and a spirited discussion that included audience participation was well received.

• In March 2024, RCA hosted a social gathering at the International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) that attracted 60 people interested in RCA, curious about what an Innovation Council could offer, and expressing interest in participating in this new program offering.

RCA’s Innovation Council will be chaired by Dr. Nathan “Chip” Cohen. David Bart will be co-chair. The Innovation Council has the objective of providing information for RCA members about other members’ experiences; pitfalls and lessons learned; approaches to access markets; ways to come up with innovative solutions; intellectual property; and

INNOVATION COUNCIL

personal stories. This is an opportunity for RCA members to learn from our unusually talented pool of RCA leaders in the industry, other members, and outside participants who may be invited to offer their views.

In 2024, the Innovation Council will get underway by initially offering online programs. As the year progresses, we anticipate offering more live sessions and initiating the programs at the Technical Symposium. By 2025, RCA plans for the Innovation Council to work in conjunction with the Technical Symposium to provide a forum at the Technical Symposium that features new innovations in RF wireless and telecom.

The Innovation Council initially plans to produce short video modules accessible to members; internet forums; panels on specific topics; and special articles in the Proceedings on hot topics and trends. Our objective is to leverage the knowledge of RCA members to help other members, and to bring in new members who will, with better clarity, see the advantage of joining and participating in RCA as it ‘fosters wireless innovation’.

We encourage you to get involved in the Innovation Council. Please contact Chip Cohen at ncohen@fractenna.com or David Bart at jbart1964@gmail.com with your suggestions.

Antique Wireless Museum Celebrates 75 Years of Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)

By Steven Ziblut, Robert Hobday, and Santosh Kurinec

[Editor’s Note: The Antique Wireless Association is a partner organization with the Radio Club of America. The following article is drawn from a special issue in October 2023 of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ IEEE Electron Devices Society Newsletter on the 75th Anniversary of the Transistor, which is available at https://eds.ieee.org/ images/files/newsletter/EDS_Oct2023.pdf.]

Santosh Kurinec, Professor of Electrical & Microelectronic Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, Fellow IEEE, coordinated with the Antique Wireless Museum located at Bloomfield, New York to celebrate 75 years of Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT). The Antique Wireless Museum is operated by the Antique Wireless Association (AWA).

The IEEE banner is displayed over an exhibit at the Antique Wireless Museum of the first radio that was built using BJTs. Just after the invention of the BJT at Bell Laboratories, several radio receivers were constructed to demonstrate the feasibility of replacing vacuum tubes with solid-state transistors. The radio receiver in the picture under the banner is one of those first transistor radios.

Museums collect artifacts and knowledge of scientific, artistic, or historical significance. Museums share or provide access to artifacts and knowledge utilizing displays, publications, and education. To that end, the over 1,400 members of the AWA have been committed to preserving, understanding, and sharing in areas related to the electrical and electronic technology used for communication. As society is changing, the focus of museums, including the Antique Wireless Museum, is evolving with a greater emphasis on education. The museum might soon be better known as the AWA Educational Institute.

The AWA has existed for over 70 years and the early telegraph systems might describe a starting point for the physical collections that extend up to current electronics technology. Early telegraph equipment was as much a mechanical accomplishment as electrical. The vacuum tube

or valve along with countless other technologies enabled wireless communication where we saw the explosive growth that included broadcasting of radio and television. The roots of our laptop computers and smartphones can be traced back to those same electronic technologies. It was about 75 years ago that the transistor was developed and enabled communication equipment with greater capability at a lower cost. Since then, the microelectronics industry has grown so that devices with billions of transistors are available in a single package.

The IEEE Region 1 Western Area and the Antique Wireless Museum host IEEE member days each year. IEEE members

Antique Wireless Association’s Museum display of the world’s first transistor radio.

K-12 students learning about LEDs, transistors, radio transmitters, and electromagnetic waves, building and testing circuits at the AWA museum.

and their families are invited to visit and tour the museum. The members and contributors to the AWA are from all over the world. Some are highly skilled practitioners in the area of electronics. Many are or have been IEEE members. Their passion and enthusiasm motivate them to collect, repair, and restore relevant artifacts and bodies of knowledge. They provide access to knowledge utilizing publications, video presentations, and classes. The Antique Wireless Museum has had over 90 young people attend its Radio Fab-Lab hands-on courses to date.

More than 50 adults attended its Learn-it, Build-it, and Fix-it programs where participants often build their own equipment. Information about the Antique Wireless Museum can be found on the AWA’s website at https:// www.antiquewireless.org/homepage/museum/. The website provides details on events and educational initiatives.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Robert Hobday is the President and Chairman of the Board of the Antique Wireless Association (AWA) and its Antique Wireless Museum in Bloomfield, New York since 2018. Previously, he had been deputy director of the museum since 2009 and a member of AWA since 1984. He retired from Rochester Gas & Electric. He is a fellow of AWA and the Radio Club of America (RCA). He received the Ralph Batcher and Jack Poppele awards from RCA.

SOURCE

Santosh K. Kurinec is a Fellow of IEEE and Professor of Electrical & Microelectronic Engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). She served as the Department Head of Microelectronic Engineering from 20012009 after which she took an academic year sabbatical at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY as a visiting scholar.

Steven Ziblut, P. E., is a mechanical engineer and project manager at Watts AE. He formerly worked at Eastman Kodak, Gleason Works, and Tetra Tech. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Business from Rochester Institute of Technology.

S. Ziblut, R. Hobday, S. Kurinec, “Antique Wireless Association Museum Celebrates 75 Years of Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT),” Regional News for USA, Canada (Regions 1–6), IEEE Electron Devices Society Newsletter, Oct. 2023 Vol. 30, No. 4 (ISSN: 1074 1879), pp. 53-54.

Photos: Courtesy Elizabeth Lamark.

RCA Launches Experts & Legends on the Website

The Radio Club of America website continues to expand, and it continues to serve as a resource for members and non-members alike. The website now includes an Experts & Legends section. We welcome your submission ideas for inclusion in this space.

To date, RCA has received over a dozen names, photos, and biographies, including:

• Rich Berliner, CEO of Digital Locations, Inc.

• Jeff Bratcher, Chief Network and Technology Officer (CTO) at the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet)

• Dr. Jim Breakall, Professor Emeritus, Electrical Engineering at Penn State University

• Dr. Marty Cooper, co-founder of Arraycomm and Dyna LLC and the inventor of the handheld cellular phone

• Tim Duffy, CEO of DX Engineering

• Arlene Harris, co-founder and president of Dyna LLC and co-founder of the Wireless History Foundation

• Carroll Hollingsworth, Vice President of Sales for JPS, formerly with DH Sales Group

• Chief Harlin McEwen, First Chair, First Net Public Safety Advisory Committee; Chair of IACP Police Chiefs’ Communications and Technology Committee (37 years); Deputy Assistant FBI Director; Deputy Commissioner NY State Division of Criminal Justice

• Ellen O’Hara, former Zetron Board Chairman, President and CEO; iCERT Board Chairman; EF Johnson President, COO and board member

• Carole Perry, Chair of RCA’s Youth Activities Committee

• Dr. Ted Rappaport, Professor at New York University (NYU) in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, the Courant Computer Science department, and the NYU Langone School of Medicine; founder and director of NYU WIRELESS, a multidisciplinary research center for wireless communications and applications

• Dr. Henry Richter, formerly Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA; Vice President and Technical Director ElectroOptical Systems; and Communications Engineer for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department

• Andy Seybold, formerly author of The Public Safety Advocate, President and Principal Consultant Andrew Seybold, Inc, (30 years)

• Alan Tilles, Law Offices of Alan Tilles, practicing in the wireless telecommunications and entertainment industries

• Marilyn Ward, Executive Director and Founding Governing Board Chair of NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council)

We welcome additions to this new resource. Please send your suggestion, including a brief explanation as to why you feel the person is an expert or legend, to info@ radioclubofamerica.org

RCA Launches Member Spotlight on the Website

The Radio Club of America website now includes a Member Spotlight. This is a great way to introduce important people, members, and new RCA members, to the public.

Are you interested in being featured in our Member Spotlight? The Member Spotlight presents online a short feature about a current member, what they are doing, and describes their wireless interests. The member who is featured will change regularly.

If you would like to participate, please download this RCA Member Spotlight Form and return it to Amy Beckham at amy@radioclubofamerica.org. Please include your high resolution head shot (preferably 300x300), and a brief bio.

Hamcation Awards Honor Two RCA Members

Hamcation is the second largest annual gathering of Amateur Radio enthusiasts in the world. Hamcation has been sponsored by the Orlando Amateur Radio Club, W4PLB, since 1946, and is held annually on the second weekend of February.

Two awards are named after and honor Radio Club of America members for their contributions to amateur radio: Carole Perry and Gordon West. Both awards were presented at the 2024 Orlando Hamcation.

The Carole Perry Educator of the Year Award was first awarded at the 2019 Hamcation to its namesake, Carole Perry, WB2MGP, in honor of her work as an educator and teaching students about ham radio. It is given annually to individuals who’ve made outstanding contributions to educating and advancing youth in amateur radio.

Lewis Malchick, N2RQ, is the recipient of the 2024 Carole Perry Educator of the Year Award. Malchick holds an Amateur Extra-class license and is co-founder of the ARRL School Club Roundup, of which he’s been active for more than 25 years. He formerly taught chemistry at Brooklyn Tech High School, where he is an advisor to the school’s Amateur Radio and Wireless Tech Club, W2CXN. Malchick is the trustee for the Stuyvesant High School Amateur Radio Club, W2CLE, the chairperson of the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club (LIMARC) Education Committee and has participated in five ARISS contacts. He has spent his lifetime educating children and adults about amateur radio.

The Gordon West Ambassador of the Award was first awarded the 2023 Hamcation, in honor of Gordon West’s, WB6NOA, contributions and inspiration to the amateur radio community. It is given to individuals who represent and inspire others and who embody the amateur radio spirit by making outstanding contributions to the amateur radio community.

The 2024 Gordon West Ambassador of the Year Award winners are Fred, AB1OC, and Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB. The Kemmerer’s hold Amateur Extra-class licenses and are

active in the Nashua Area Radio Society promoting amateur radio instruction, youth outreach, and STEM education. Together, they’ve created and helped grow Ham Bootcamp, a program encouraging more than 900 hams to learn new skills. They are active in the club’s training and licensing events, along with Tech Night, which complements club meetings. Their participation in STEM activities includes high-altitude balloon launches, foxhunts, and ARISS contacts for many schools. Fred Kemmerer is the ARRL New England Division Director, and he chairs and contributes to several subcommittees. Anita Kemmerer serves the Division as an Assistant Director for mentoring and new ham development.

SOURCE

2024 Orlando Hamcation Awards, ARRL Letter, Jan. 12, 2024.

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

RCA’S Media Kits Are Available Online

The Radio Club of America (RCA) provides marketing brochures and a media kit to promote its offerings. These are available online. The brochures target potential new members, company involvement, new sponsors, and also refresh our message to current or returning members. The media kit focuses on company level involvement, sponsors, and advertisers. It provides statistics and information about RCA and its members, our publications, market reach, and program offerings, and explains the opportunities and pricing to advertise and sponsor. Of particular note:

• The litserve has now reached an all-time high of 5000+ contacts!!

• Our membership continues to expand, reflecting industry leadership in all areas of innovation, management, development, and other functions across a wide range of wireless professionals.

• RCA’s members include top corporate management and leaders, inventors, researchers, R&D management, academics, and engineers contributing to civilian and military advances in wireless.

• Our membership continues to expand, reflecting a strong reputation, more than a century of history, and strong participation with our industry peers (personal, corporate, and at leading associations)

RCA fosters wireless innovation by bringing together professionals and non-professionals from every segment of the wireless industry. RCA promotes the exchange of ideas across boundaries by providing a stimulating intellectual and social environment for our members.

RCA brings together professionals and non-professionals from every segment of the wireless industry. RCA promotes the exchange of ideas across boundaries by providing a stimulating intellectual and social environment for our members.

RCA brings together the best in wireless, free from commercial constraints, academic and professional limitations, and industry or association politics. We are not an advocacy organization, although many of our members have created new wireless industries and regulations.

With a vision focused on the future while honoring the past, our new messaging states that RCA strives to encourage, educate, and engage students of all ages and professionals in a myriad of wireless careers.

RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA

SILENT KEYS

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.

DR. ARNO PENZIAS

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Arno Penzias passed away on January 22, 2024. The Radio Club of America had the honor of naming an award after him that was announced at the November 2023 awards banquet. This award, the Arno Penzias Award for contributions to basic research in the radio sciences, will be issued by RCA, following RCA’s awardnomination process, beginning in 2024. Dr. Penzias received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978. He provided the following autobiography to the Nobel Prize Foundation in 2005.]

I was born in Munich, Germany, in 1933. I spent the first six years of my life comfortably, as an adored child in a closelyknit middle-class family. Even when my family was rounded up for deportation to Poland it didn’t occur to me that anything could happen to us. All I remember is scrambling up and down three tiers of narrow beds attached to the walls of a very large room, and then taking a long train trip. After some days of back and forth on the train, we were returned to Munich. All the grown-ups were happy and relieved, but I began to realize that there were bad things that my parents couldn’t completely control, something to do with being Jewish. I learned that everything would be fine if we could only get to “America”.

In the late spring of 1939, shortly after my sixth birthday, my parents put their two boys on a train for England; we each had a suitcase with our initials painted on it, as well as a bag of candy. They told me to be sure and take care of my younger brother. I remember telling him, “jetzt sind wir allein” as the train pulled out.

My mother received her exit permit about a month later (just a few weeks before the war broke out) and was able to join us in England. My father had arrived in England almost as soon as the two of us, but we hadn’t seen him because he was interned in a camp for alien men. The only other noteworthy event in the six or so months we spent in England, awaiting passage to America, occurred one morning in a makeshift schoolroom. At that moment, I suddenly realized that I could read the open page of the (English) schoolbook I had been staring at.

We sailed for America toward the end of December 1939 on the Cunard liner Georgic – using tickets that my father had foresightedly bought in Germany a year and a half earlier. The ship provided party hats and balloons for the Christmas and New Year’s parties, as well as lots of lifeboat drills. The grey

three-inch gun on the aft deck was a great attraction for us boys.

Dr. Arno Penzias.

We arrived in New York in January of 1940. My brother and I started school and my parents looked for work. Soon they became “supers” (superintendents of an apartment building). Our basement apartment was rent-free, and it meant that our family would have a much-needed second income without my mother having to leave us alone at home. As we got older and things got better, we left our “super” job, and my mother got a sewing job in a coat factory; my father’s increasing woodworking skills helped him land a job in the carpentry shop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As job pressures on him eased, he found time to hold office in a fraternal insurance company as well as to serve as the president of the local organization of his labor union.

It was taken for granted that I would go to college, studying science, presumably chemistry, the only science we knew much about. “College” meant City College of New York, a municipally supported institution then beginning its second century of moving the children of New York’s immigrant poor into the American middle class. I discovered physics in my freshman year and switched my “major” from chemical engineering to physics. Graduation, marriage, and two years in the U.S. Army Signal Corps saw me applying to Columbia University in the Fall of 1956. My army experience helped me get a research assistantship in the Columbia Radiation Laboratory, then heavily involved in microwave physics, under I. I. Rabi, P. Kusch and C. H. Townes. After a painful but largely successful struggle with courses and qualifying exams, I began my thesis work under Professor Townes. I was given the task of building a maser amplifier in a radio astronomy experiment of my choosing; the equipment-building went better than the observations.

In 1961, with my Ph.D. thesis complete, I went in search of a temporary job at Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey. Their unique facilities made it an ideal place to finish the observations I had begun during my thesis work. “Why not take a permanent job? You can always quit.” was the advice of Rudi Kompfner, then Director of the Radio Research

Laboratory. I took his advice and remained a Bell Labs employee for the next thirty-seven years. Since the large horn antenna I had planned to use for radio astronomy was still engaged in the ECHO satellite project for which it was originally constructed, I looked for something interesting to do with a smaller fixed antenna. The project I hit upon was a search for line emission from the then still undetected interstellar OH molecule. While the first detection of this molecule was made by another group, I learned quite a bit from the experience.

In order to make some reasonable estimate of the excitation of the molecule, I adopted the formalism outlined by George Field in his study of atomic hydrogen. To make sure that I had it right, I took my calculation to him for checking. One of the factors in that calculation was the radiation temperature of space at the line wavelength, 18 cm. I used 2 K, a somewhat larger value than he had used earlier, because I knew that at least two measurements at Bell Laboratories had indications of a sky noise temperature in excess of this amount, and because I had noticed in Gerhard Hertzberg’s “Spectra of Diatomic Molecules” that interstellar CN was known to be excited to this temperature. The results of this calculation were used and then forgotten. It was not until Dr. Field reminded me of them in December of 1966 that I had any recollection of my momentary involvement with what was later shown (by Field and others) to be observational astronomy’s first encounter with the primordial radiation that permeates our Universe.

In the meantime, others at Bell Labs pressed the horn antenna into service for another satellite project. A new Bell System satellite, TELSTAR, was due to be launched in mid1962. While the primary earth station at Andover, Maine, was more or less on schedule, it was feared that the European partners in the project would not be ready at launch time, leaving Andover with no one to talk to. As it turned out, fitting the Holmdel horn with a 7-cm receiver for TELSTAR proved unnecessary; the Europeans were ready at launch time. This left the Holmdel horn and its beautiful new ultra-lownoise 7-cm traveling wave maser available to me for radio astronomy. This stroke of good fortune came at just the right moment. A second radio astronomer, Robert Wilson, came from Caltech on a job interview and was hired. After finishing separate projects, we set to work early in 1963.

In putting our radio astronomy receiving system together we were anxious to make sure that the quality of the components we added were worthy of the superb properties of the horn antenna and maser that we had been given. We began a series of radio astronomical observations, ones that I had proposed so as to make the best use of the careful calibration and extreme sensitivity of our system. Of these projects, the most technically challenging was a measurement of the radiation intensity from our galaxy at high latitudes. This multi-year endeavor, which resulted in our discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, is described in Wilson’s Nobel lecture.

When our 7-cm program was accomplished, we converted the antenna to 21-cm observations, including another microwave background measurement, as well as galactic, and intergalactic, atomic hydrogen studies. During this period, I took on a visiting position in Princeton’s Astrophysical Sciences Department, thereby enabling me to propose and supervise graduate student research projects in radio astronomy. Like so many others in similar positions, I feel that I learned far more from my students than I could possibly have taught them.

As time went on, opportunities for front-line work that we could do with our facility became rarer. Much larger radio telescopes existed, and they were being fitted with low-noise parametric amplifiers whose sensitivities began to approach that of our maser system. As a result, I began looking for new ways of exploring the radio sky. In those days, the portion of the radio spectrum short of one cm wavelength was not yet available for line radio astronomy owing to equipment limitations. At Bell Laboratories, however, many of the key components required for such work had been developed for communications research purposes. With Keith Jefferts, a Bell Labs atomic physicist, Wilson and I assembled a millimeterwave receiver which we carried to a precision radio telescope built by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Kitt Peak, Arizona, early in 1970. Using this new technique, we discovered and studied a number of interstellar molecular species, thereby revealing the rich and varied chemistry that exists in interstellar space.

Millimeter-wave spectral studies have proven to be a particularly fruitful area for radio astronomy, and are the subject of active and growing interest, involving a large number of scientists around the world. The most personally satisfying portion of this work for me was using molecular spectra to explore the isotopic composition of interstellar atoms – thereby tracing the nuclear processes that produced them. Most notably our 1973 discovery of DCN, the first deuterated molecular species found in interstellar space, enabled me to trace the distribution of deuterium in the galaxy. This work provided us with evidence for the cosmological origin of this unique element, which had earned the nickname “Arno’s white whale”. Of all the nuclear species found in nature, deuterium is the only one whose origin stems exclusively from the explosive origin of the Universe. Because deuterium’s cosmic abundance serves as the single most sensitive parameter in the prediction of cosmic background radiation, these measurements provided strong support for the “Big Bang” interpretation of our earlier discovery.

In addition to my astronomical research, I always made it my business to engage in technology-related work at Bell Labs. It seemed only reasonable to contribute to the pool of technology from which I drew upon. Similarly, Bell Labs has always contributed to, as well as used, the store of basic knowledge – as evidenced by their hiring of a radio astronomer in the first place.

As time went on, I grew more involved in leading the research of others. In 1972 I became the Head of the Radio Physics Research Department upon the retirement of A. B. Crawford, the brilliant engineer who had designed and built the horn antenna that Wilson and I used in our discovery. In 1976, I became the Director of the Radio Research Laboratory, an organization of some sixty scientists and engineers, engaged in a wide variety of research activities, principally related to the understanding of radio and its communication applications. At the same time, I was able to continue my personal research work in radio astronomy, using a superb millimeter-wave radio telescope we had built at our Crawford Hill facility. Fitted with uniquely sensitive detectors and a dedicated minicomputer (then still something of a rarity), this facility eliminated the manual controls and constant tinkering with equipment, that I had long been used to.

Early in 1979, my managerial responsibilities increased once again when I was asked to assume responsibility for Bell Labs’ Communications Sciences Research Division. At the same time, I continued my personal research which traced the effects of nuclear processing in the Galaxy through the study of interstellar isotopes, and began working in a new area – the nature and distribution of molecular clouds in interstellar space. Instead of participating as actively as I had in the past, however, I introduced this subject to graduate students who explored it in their PhD theses under my supervision.

Then, toward the end of 1981, an unexpected event imposed an abrupt end to my career as a research scientist. At that time, AT&T and the US Department of Justice decided to settle their anti-trust suit by breaking up the Bell System. In the midst of this process, I received yet another promotion –this time to Vice-President of Research – at a moment when two-thirds of the traditional research-funding base moved off with the newly divested local telephone companies.

As a result, I found myself facing several issues at once: What sort of research organization did the new AT&T require? How to create this new organization without destroying the world’s premier industrial research laboratory in the process? Would the people in this large and tradition-bound organization accept and support the changes needed to adapt to new economic and technological imperatives? Needless to say, such matters kept me quite busy.

In retrospect, the research organization that emerged from the decade following the Bell System’s breakup deployed a far richer set of capabilities than its predecessor. In particular, our work featured a growing software component, even as we strove to improve our hardware capabilities in areas such as light-wave and electronics. The marketplace upheaval brought forth by increased competition helped speed the pace of technological revolution and forced change upon the research and development institutions of all industrialized nations, Bell Labs included. While change is rarely comfortable, I am happy to say that we not only survived but also grew more capable in the process – seeding much of the information revolution which now pervades the world in which we live.

Except for two or three papers on interstellar isotopes, my tenure as Bell Labs’ Vice-President of Research brought my personal research in astrophysics to an end. In its place, I pursued my interest in the principles which underlie the creation and effective use of technology in our society, and eventually found time to write a book on the subject Ideas and Information, published by W. W. Norton in 1989. In essence, the book depicts computers as a wonderful tool for human beings but a dreadful role model for what we humans know as intelligence. In other words, “If you don’t want to be replaced by a machine, don’t try to act like one!” The warm reception this book received in the U.S., and the ten other countries which published it in various translations gave me much satisfaction.

By the early 1990s, my life had settled into a familiar – if not entirely comfortable – routine. The joy and satisfaction that I found in helping to shape exciting new ideas was offset by onerous management chores – most notably, my annual task of getting adequate financial support for my organization’s budget requirements from our parent corporation. Beset by competitors who didn’t have research labs of their own to pay for, AT&T’s leaders nonetheless did their best to provide for its “crown jewel”. As one year followed another, I did my best to repay that trust by helping to turn some of our scientific “gems” into profitable jewelry.

And then, I did something that surprised everyone – myself included. I decided to swap my job for something entirely new, moving from the world’s largest corporate R&D organization to California’s Silicon Valley, premier incubator of tiny start-up enterprises.

In retrospect, I can point to a number of contributing factors –most notably obligatory retirement age, then only a few years away. While arbitrary, the notion behind an age cutoff for senior managers had much to recommend it. I couldn’t (and still can’t see) myself ever being happy without something challenging to work on. Since getting another managementrelated job seemed too much of the same thing, I hit upon the idea of turning what I had been enjoying most into a full-time job: helping to shape new ideas, and bring them to practical fruition. The more I thought about it, the more attractive this plan for my post-retirement life became. So attractive, in fact,

Dr. Penzias accepts his Nobel Prize from the King of Sweden in 1978.

that I soon decided not to wait much longer to put it into place.

Once decided upon, my transition proved surprisingly easy. At the suggestion of the then Bell Labs President, I soon took on a new job – one in which I was to report what I learned about Silicon Valley and its workings, to my Bell Labs colleagues. Accordingly, I arranged to sit in on presentations made by nascent start-up enterprises to venture capitalists. I felt right at home in short order, peppering presenters with questions and suggestions concerning their technologies and plans for turning their offers into viable businesses.

As time went on, an increasing number of these sessions led to invitations from some of the entrepreneurs to get directly involved with their companies, generally by becoming a member of a Board of Directors or serving on a Technical Advisory Board. I accepted a few of these invitations but then opted for something that seemed more flexible: working on an as-needed basis with the investing staff and portfolio companies of a single venture capital firm: New Enterprise Associates. Happily, this relationship has endured and continues to flourish to the time of this writing, almost ten years after it began. This talented and diverse group of people works as a successful laboratory – finding ways in which small

handfuls of creative people might change some aspect of the world.

In my early years with NEA, much of my interest focused on communications-related endeavors, but soon broadened to encompass a wide variety of topics under the general heading of “Information Technology.” Most recently, I have found and catalyzed several alternative approaches to energy generation – a field I had all but given up on a decade earlier. With exciting projects underway and a never-ending stream of new opportunities, my days are filled with new things to learn, challenging puzzles, and stimulating interactions with collaborators. Needless to say, I have no plans to retire.

NOTE

This autobiography was provided by Dr. Arno Penzias to Nobel Prize.org in June 2005. Arno Penzias died on 22 January 2024.

SOURCE

Arno Penzias – Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Fri. 15 Mar 2024. https://www. nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1978/penzias/biographical/.

SILENT KEYS

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.

BOB HEIL, K9EID

Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID, has passed away at the age of 83 after a year-long battle with cancer. He was an ARRL Life Member and in the ARRL Maxim Society. He was also the recipient of the 2019 Radio Club of America Alfred Grebe Award, which recognizes significant achievements of excellence in the engineering and manufacturing of radio equipment.

Bob Heil founded Heil Sound in 1966, through which he created the template for modern concert sound systems for musicians like the Grateful Dead, The Who, Joe Walsh, and Peter Frampton.

The talk box used on the iconic live record Frampton Comes Alive! was Heil’s design. His audio engineering products have been featured in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and he was honored in 2007 with the Parnelli Audio Innovator Award for his impact on the live sound industry. “My life has been about achieving great sound, whether on the concert stage or in the amateur radio world,” Bob Heil recounted in 2022. “I’ve watched Heil Sound go from a regional sound company to a world-class microphone manufacturer. This company has been my passion,” he said.

His passion for amateur radio ran parallel to his commercial and artistic success in live music. He was active in ham radio from a young age, and he merged his expertise in audio engineering with his love for radio. Heil Ham Radio was founded to produce microphones, headsets, and other gear for radio amateurs with an emphasis on high-quality audio.

Heil was known as a mentor who enjoyed helping others find success in ham radio. Heil was a generous donor to amateur radio organizations, including ARRL. Recently, he donated a host of new audio gear to the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, W1AW.

His generosity and kind nature will be missed by many, including ARRL Director of Development Kevin Beal, K8EAL. “Bob was a titan in many areas. He was generous

with his time, offered keen insights, and had the heart of a philanthropist in the ARRL Maxim Society,” Beal said. “He was a gentleman to his core, making friends easily and everywhere he went, from rock stars to captains of industry. I consider it a real privilege to have become a friend to him, too, all because of amateur radio.”

Heil was known for his passion for AM operations. He served for many years as an on-camera host of the Ham Nation podcast.

ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, said Heil’s passing is a significant loss. “Bob Heil’s technical achievements that brought high-quality audio to amateur radio pale in comparison to his generosity and willingness to help his fellow ham. He’s long been known as someone eager to help mentor and teach. His legacy on our hobby will be long-lasting. Our thoughts are with his loved ones.”

SOURCE

“Bob Heil, K9EID, Silent Key,” ARRL Letter, Mar. 7, 2024.

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) 430-6995.

Bob Heil, K9EID, 1940 - 2024. (Courtesy Heil Ham Radio)

The Marconi Patent by Peter Kurz

Reviewed by David Bart

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following book has been suggested as interesting reading or as a useful resource. The following review does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by RCA. We welcome suggestions and recommendations from RCA’s members regarding books, movies, and videos to share with RCA’s membership. The scope can include technical, regulatory, fiction, or other subjects. We encourage you to send your suggestions to David Bart at jbart1964@gmail.com for publication in a future issue of the Proceedings.

Spoiler Alert: I loved this book! With that said, hopefully, you will read on…

The Marconi Patent is historical fiction based on real events and the people associated with litigation brought by Marconi Wireless Telegraph Corporation of America (American Marconi) against the Atlantic Communications Company in 1914 in the opening year of World War I. But before the reader assumes this is a complicated legal text, rest assured, it is a compelling who-done-it mystery adventure novel.

The litigation at the center of the story involves American Marconi claims that the Telefunken Company patents relied upon by Atlantic Communications to operate its West Sayville, Long Island wireless station. American Marconi asserted that Atlantic Communications infringed on American Marconi’s U.S. patent No. 763,772 for wireless apparatus filed on November 10, 1900. U.S. patent No. 763,772 was the American counterpart of the original patent filing: British patent No. 7,777, the well-known British “four sevens” patent, filed on April 26, 1900, by Guglielmo Marconi.1

The novel focuses on four fictional characters: Albert Hanssen (a radio engineer and attorney working for Telefunken Company), Sinéad Kennedy (Hanssen’s paramour), Henry (without a surname, a radio operator on the Norwegian ship S/S Burgensfjord, an actual ocean liner, working for Marconi Company), and another unnamed radio operator on the Burgensfjord.

Many famous people in wireless and radio history appear throughout the novel, including in alphabetical order: Ernst F. Alexanderson, Dr. Ferdinand Braun, Rear Admiral William H. G. Bullard, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Lee de Forest, John W. Griggs, Guglielmo Marconi, Edward J. Nally, Professor Adolf Slaby, Nikola Tesla, Owen D. Young, and Dr. Jonathan Zenneck. Short biographies of these people are included in an epilogue at the end of the book.

Excerpt of British patent No. 7777, the “four sevens,” for wireless apparatus. (Courtesy Spark Museum)

Diplomatic tensions between the European great powers erupted in June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, setting off World War I. The novel’s action commences on December 16, 1914, aboard the Norwegian flagged Burgensfjord on its voyage from Bremen, Germany to New York City. The Burgensfjord, registered to a neutral country, breaks through the British naval blockade of all German shipping in the North Sea.

German professor Ferdinand Braun and a team from Telefunken are traveling to upgrade the Atlantic Communications wireless station in West Sayville, which maintains communication with Nauen, near Berlin. They are also preparing to testify in a lawsuit against the Marconi Company, which is trying to use its patents to shut down the West Sayville station and its brand-new very long wave transmitter. The Burgensfjord’s cargo includes equipment to upgrade the West Sayville wireless station.

A break-in and theft of documents from Braun’s cabin and the disappearance of one of the radio operators kick off the mystery. Romance, murder, imprisonment, intrigue, a pandemic, and even electrocution all follow. Wireless stations are visited, diplomats are involved, and courtroom exploits are experienced. The story is told by Hanssen through his dialogues with the other characters and his

recollections. The story ends five years later; complete, but in a manner that may invite a sequel.

This book incorporates an amazing level of research. Fifteen chapters tell the story, and another four chapters provide background information, all spanning 340 pages. The novel includes 26 pages of support for its historical references and context. These are drawn from newspaper articles, documents, letters, patents, textbooks, photographs, technical books, historical books, and other sources. The epilogue spans 10 pages and includes biographical paragraphs plus information about the companies and some of the locations involved in the story. A six-page generalized biography permits the reader to further explore the references to actual history. A six-page detailed listing of the 167 figures and images presented in the novel guides the reader to those source materials. Unfortunately, there is no index. It would have been nice to look up or reread sections of interest, and an index would have been helpful. Some footnotes scattered throughout the chapters provide the author’s notes.

The novel was originally published in German in 2021. It is copyrighted in 2022 and became available in English in 2023. The author’s ideas for the novel originated with exposure to German Amateur and Radio Club (DARC) shortwave broadcasts, the editors of Radio DARC, and broadcasts from the Alexanderson station in Grimeton/ Sweden SAQ. Station SAQ’s transmitter uses 200kW Alexanderson alternators. It was built in 1924, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, and operates periodically for special occasions. The author was intrigued, visited the DARC and SAQ stations, and studied the very long wave (very low frequency, VLF) technology.

Peter Kurz, Ph.D., is an electronics engineer, licensed amateur radio operator, and patent attorney admitted in Germany, Switzerland, and the European Patent Office. He spent most of his career as an in-house lawyer working for U.S. companies and retired in 2020. He lives and works in Germany and Switzerland. He is fascinated by history, especially in the fields of technology and science. He has published German legal

articles, a German book Confidentiality Agreements, and another German book World History of Invention Protection. The Marconi Patent is his first novel. Kurz estimates that 80 percent of The Marconi Patent reconstructs the reasoning behind actual events upon which the story is based.

I highly recommend this outstanding novel. It takes a most unusual approach to explaining a complicated history of technology that is filled with many personalities. Kurtz accomplishes this in a straightforward and digestible format. It is a real pageturner, with ample technical and historical detail, meticulous research, and a plethora of engaging fictional and historical characters to enjoy.

The Marconi Patent: Historical Techno-Thriller. Peter Kurz. English Edition. Tredition Gmbh, Hamburg, August 26, 2022. ISBN: 978-3347659407. Hardcover, 342 pages.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

David Bart is the current President of the Radio Club of America, Editor of the RCA Proceedings, and an RCA Fellow. He is also the Treasurer of the IEEE History Committee and a Director and Fellow of the Antique Wireless Association. He has received numerous awards for his work involving the history of communications.

ENDNOTES

1 Various U.S. litigation matters among a range of parties involving these patents concluded during World War II. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in 1943 that Guglielmo Marconi’s U.S. patent No. 763,772 had been anticipated by Oliver Lodge (U.S. patent No. 609,154), Michael Pupin (U.S. patent No. 640,516), Nikola Tesla (U.S. patent No. 645,576), Reginald Fessenden (U.S. patent No. 706,735), and John Stone Stone (U.S. patent No. 714,756). The ruling remains controversial with its adherents and detractors. It stated, “Marconi’s reputation as the man who first achieved successful radio transmission…is not here in question”, yet the court viewed the adoption of adjustable transformers in the transmitting and receiving circuits as an improvement of the initial inventions that were anticipated by earlier patents. Thus, in the court’s view, the Marconi patent filing did not involve an inventive step that was necessary to assert legal priority. See “Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America v. United States”, decided June 21, 1943 (justia.com). Quote: “Marconi’s patent involved no invention over Lodge, Tesla, and Stone”. See also A. David Wunsch, “Misreading the Supreme Court: A Puzzling Chapter in the History of Radio,” The Mercurians Newsletter, Society for the History of Technology.

Original book release in German.

Fundamentals of RF and Microwave Techniques and Technologies

Reviewed by David Bart

[The following books have been suggested as interesting reading or as useful resources, and edited descriptions from the publishers are provided. These books have not been reviewed, and RCA is not advertising or endorsing the books or their authors. We welcome suggestions and recommendations from RCA’s members regarding your book suggestions to share with RCA’s membership. The scope can include technical, regulatory, or other subjects. We encourage you to send your suggestions to David Bart at jbart1964@gmail.com for publication in a future issue of the Proceedings.]

Fundamentals of RF and Microwave Techniques and Technologies is edited by Ulrich L. Rohde, an award recipient and fellow of the Radio Club of America. The book’s description follows.

The increase of consumer, medical, and sensor electronics using radio frequency (RF) and microwave (MW) circuits has implications on overall performance if the design is not robust and optimized for a given application. The current and later-generation communication systems and the Internet of Thing (IoT) demand robust electronic circuits with optimized performance and functionality, but low cost, size, and power consumption. As a result, there is a need for a textbook that provides a comprehensive treatment of the subject.

This book provides state-of-the-art coverage of RF and Microwave Techniques and Technologies including important topics: transmission-line theory, passive and semiconductor devices, active and passive microwave circuits and receiver systems, as well as antennas, noise, and digital signal modulation schemes. With an emphasis on theory, design, and applications, this book is targeted to students, teachers, scientists, and practicing design engineers who are interested in broadening their knowledge of RF and microwave electronic circuit design. Readers will also benefit from a unique integration of theory and practice, which provides the readers with a solid understanding of the RF and microwave concepts, active and passive components, antenna, and modulation schemes.

Readers will learn to solve common design problems ranging from the selection of components, and matching networks to biasing and stability, and digital modulation techniques. More importantly, it provides a basic understanding of the analysis and design of RF and microwave circuits in a manner that

is practiced in industry. This makes sure that the know-how learned in this book can be effortlessly and straightway put into practice without any obstacles.

Four editors collaborated on this book:

• Hans L. Hartnagel, Prof. Dr. Eng. Dr. Ing. h.c. mult., worked as a scientist in the German, French, Japanese, and U.S. industries (including David Sarnoff Research Center, Princeton) before being appointed as professor for microwave technology in Newcastle, England. Later he became a professor for microwave electronics at the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany. Dr. Hartnagel made globally significant contributions to Terahertz technology; he published over 800 scientific papers on microwave engineering, contributed to many books, and holds numerous patents.

• Rüdiger Quay, Prof. Dr. habil. received the Diplomdegree in physics from Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), Aachen, Germany, in 1997, and a second Diplom in economics in 2003. In 2001 he joined the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Solid-State Physics Freiburg. He is currently the deputy director of Fraunhofer IAF. In 2020 he was appointed also a Fritz-Hüttinger professor at the Department for Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH), Albert-Ludwig University, Freiburg, Germany.

• Ulrich L. Rohde, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr.Ing.h.c.mult is a professor of technical informatics, Microwave Systems, Universität der Bundeswehr, Germany; staff member of other universities worldwide; partner of Rohde & Schwarz, Munich, Germany, as well as chairman of the board of Synergy Microwave Corporation. Formerly a professor of electrical engineering at George Washington University and the University of Florida, Dr. Rohde has also consulted on numerous communication

projects in industry and government. He has authored over 350 papers, 6 books, and holds 35 patents.

• Matthias Rudolph, Prof. Dr.-Ing. received his Dipl.Ing. degrees from the Berlin Institute of Technology in 1996 and the Dr.-Ing. degree from Darmstadt University of Technology in 2001. In 1996, he joined the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH), Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik, Berlin, Germany. In 2009, he was appointed the Ulrich-L.-Rohde Professor at the Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany, and also heads the Low-Noise Components Lab at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut.

An anonymous review dated September 10, 2023 states as follows. “As a former engineering graduate student, I am a lateral transfer to the world of RF and microwave engineering (i.e., working in communications and highfrequency electronics). If I had one book to recommend for contextualizing an inherently complex subject, it would be this one. The authors, who by accident I discovered have a storied history in the space both as researchers and entrepreneurs, have written an exceptional resource that I assume will become the standard in the field both for comprehensive coverage and practical relevance (i.e., most chapters relate theory to real-world applications to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and industry needs). Both volumes cover pretty much everything from

the foundational principles of electromagnetic waves to advanced topics like microwave-integrated circuits and emerging technologies. I have also recommended it as a go-to reference for students at my alma mater (i.e., one of the standout features of this book is its clear and concise explanations, where complex concepts are presented in an accessible manner, making it suitable for readers at various levels of expertise). The authors break down intricate ideas into digestible pieces that enhance the learning experience. Advanced learners will appreciate the depth of coverage especially given that the field of RF and microwave engineering is evolving rapidly, so this book manages to stay relevant by providing up-to-date information and insights (i.e., acknowledging emerging technologies and trends to help tackle the challenges of modern RF and microwave applications). My one critique would be to find a creative way to place the wealth of exercises and problems in both volumes in the browser, especially for engineering students who are used to working online in a self-study mode. In summary, this book has become an indispensable tool for me to better understand the world of electromagnetic waves, circuit design, and more.”

Fundamentals of RF and Microwave Techniques and Technologies, 1st ed. 2023 Edition. Editors: Hans L. Hartnagel, Rüdiger Quay, Ulrich L. Rohde, Matthias Rudolph. Springer; 1st ed. 2023 edition (June 20, 2023). ISBN: 978-3030940980. Hardcover, 1562 pages.

All the Light We Cannot See streaming on Netflix (March 2024)

Reviewed by John Facella, P.E., RCA President Emeritus

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following video/book has been suggested as interesting reading or as a useful resource. The following review does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by RCA. We welcome suggestions and recommendations from RCA’s members regarding books, movies, and videos to share with RCA’s membership. The scope can include technical, regulatory, or other subjects. We encourage you to send your suggestions to David Bart at jbart1964@gmail.com for publication in a future issue of the Proceedings.

All the Light We Cannot See is a video currently available on Netflix. It is based on a historical novel about the European theater in World War II by American author Anthony Doerr, and it was released in 2014. RCA members may enjoy both watching the four-part video and/or reading the book. I have not read the book, but I did watch the video series on Netflix.

One interesting aspect of the story is that one of the two main characters is a young French blind girl named Marie-Laure LeBlanc. I found this an interesting angle, and one imagines the terror of being a teenage girl in an occupied country during a war.

Our members may enjoy that radio communication forms a major theme in the story. The setting alternates between 1934 and 1944, in both in France (St. Malmo and Paris) and in Germany. Using short wave radio at a frequency of 13.10 MHz, various characters listen to mysterious transmissions that open a world beyond their youthful experiences. The plot switches back and forth between the times and locations as the backgrounds of the characters are developed. The use of radio reappears throughout the various scenes. For example, Nazi direction-finding units are constantly seeking illegal transmitters. In Germany, the population is forbidden to listen to any stations other than Nazi propaganda stations. The Nazis provided “Volksempfängers” [people’s receivers] so the German population could be continuously indoctrinated with Nazi propaganda, and alternate opinions and programming were excluded from broadcast. Examples of these radios are shown in Wikipedia at https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksempf%C3%A4nger and at the Antique Wireless Association, a Radio Club of America partner.

As the war in Europe progresses, American bombers attack the seaside city of St. Malo, and the occupying Nazi forces become more desperate. The story

highlights the tragedies of war, both in the inevitable destruction that takes place in St. Malo, but also in interesting sidebars. For example, sidebars compare a character who served in World War I, and another portrays a character who was forced to go to a Hitler Youth training camp.

RCA members may spot technical inaccuracies in the video. None-the-less, it is an interesting story that features radio as one of the unifying themes. Apparently, the title “All the Light We Cannot See” is meant to imply the electromagnetic spectrum including radio waves, and of course Marie-Laure LeBlanc’s inability to see.

You may enjoy this video series or the book. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List for over 200 weeks. The book’s ISBN is 978-1-4767-4658-6. It is available in paper or hard cover editions as well as audio CD editions. It sells for around $6.70 and up on various bookseller websites.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

John Facella has a 35+ year career in wireless, including working for Motorola and their largest competitor Harris (now L3 Harris), and a national wireless consulting company. He has been the chief of executive of several small high-tech companies, and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a BSEE degree. He also has an MBA in marketing and international business, is a registered professional engineer, and is a Fellow and President Emeritus of the Radio Club of America. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and not an official opinion of RCA.

Country Music, a PBS DVD by Ken Burns (March 2024)

Reviewed by John Facella, P.E., RCA President Emeritus

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following video/book has been suggested as interesting reading or as a useful resource. The following review does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by RCA. We welcome suggestions and recommendations from RCA’s members regarding books, movies, and videos to share with RCA’s membership. The scope can include technical, regulatory, or other subjects. We encourage you to send your suggestions to David Bart at jbart1964@gmail.com for publication in a future issue of the Proceedings.

While I am not a country music fan, I came to watch this Ken Burns PBS documentary DVD Country Music via a family member who brought it to my attention. I learned a lot about country music. I found it most interesting that the documentary includes multiple references to early radio broadcasting. Some RCA members are also interested in audio recordings, or railroads, and these subjects also are mentioned/shown in the documentary. The documenary is presented as an 8-part, 16-hour viewing experience. The DVD set is available from various outlets for around $100, or you might find them in your local library.

VOLUME 1, EPISODE 1, THE BEGINNING TO 1933

This first episode,“Tuning In,” addresses early wireless broadcasting. It starts with the idea of using radio as a promotional tool, like a medicine show does to hawk elixirs and cures. It should be remembered that in the 1920s the nation’s population lived primarily in rural areas, where farming was the occupation, and urban areas and stores were not close.

In the unlikely place of Milford Kansas, a quack doctor, John R. Brinkley, decided to start his own radio station KFKB (Kansas First, Kansas Best) in 1923.1 Brinkley’s business entailed using goat testicles to ‘cure’ male impotence. The radio station advertised his cure, and he offered medical advice. (See the endnotes for more information on his use of radio, and see Episode 2 about XERA.)

Episode 1 mentions Shenandoah, Iowa, population 5,000, where two radio stations were established by competing seed stores!2 They both featured live performances of hillbilly music. Sears Roebuck and Co. established their own radio station in 1924 in Chicago, WLS (World’s Largest Store). WLS subsequently began a program called

the National Barn Dance, which featured country music. The National Barn Dance started broadcasting in 1924. It was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the Grand Ole Opry

In Nashville, Tennessee, the National Life and Accident Insurance Company started their own radio station, WSM (We Shield Millions) in 1925.3 One of the relatives of the company president states on the documentary that at the time, they believed the sole purpose of WSM was to sell insurance. WSM started a WSM Barn Dance program in 1925, copying the idea from Chicago’s WLS, which started the National Barn Dance. In 1927, WSM renamed the Barn Dance program the Grand Ole Opry, which became a legendary country music institution. The Grand Ole Opry was the first program to feature a black performer, DeFord Bailey, a harmonica player. In 1927, Bailey debuted his trademark song “Pan American Blues” about a Louisville and Nashville railroad train.4 The Grand Ole Opry is the longest running radio broadcast program in the world.5

WSB in Atlanta is also mentioned. Their antenna was originally strung between two towers on the Biltmore Hotel.6

John R. Brinkley (Courtesy Wikipedia)

WSM transmitter and its Blaw-Knox diamond shaped tower. (Courtesy WSMradio.com/history)

The documentary explains that jazz started to become popular in the late 1920s, during the flapper era before the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. Henry Ford was unhappy with the perceived immorality of flappers and jazz, so he encouraged radio shows that featured local fiddlers as traditional American music, which he felt was better suited to the public.

The remainder of Episode 1 explains how much of the early country music that is preserved and that we access today is attributable to one event: the establishment of the Victor Talking Machine Company recording studio by Ralph Peer in 1927 in Bristol, Tennessee. Recordings of the Bristol Sessions preserved America’s legacy in country music, including Jimmie Rogers, the Carter Family, and many others. Peer’s pioneering use of a carbon microphone, as opposed to the old Edison horn microphone, improved sound quality and made rural artists more comfortable when recording their music.

Episode 1 includes numerous photos of early radio stations, listeners at their early radio sets, as well as fascinating pictures or movies of recording artists, and the railroads that they traveled upon.

VOLUME 1, EPISODE 2, 1933 – 1945

Episode 2, “Turn Your Radio On,” introduces President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his Fireside Chats. The Depression created a big problem for the recording industry, since people lacked the disposable cash to purchase records. As a result, many people listened to the radio, which was free. Country music artists were suddenly very dependent on radio broadcasts for people to hear their songs. During the Depression, that music helped distract people from their troubles, at least a little bit. The documentary lists a number of stations that began to stage programs featuring country music. A few examples include KMBC in Kansas City (Brush Creek Follies), WOWO in Fort Wayne (Hoosier Hop), WLW in Cincinnati (Midwestern Hay Ride), WRVA in Virginia (Old Dominion Barn Dance), and KMOX in St. Louis (Old Fashioned Barn Dance). The largest listening audience in the early 1930s was Chicago’s WLS National Barn Dance, with its 50 kW clear channel signal.

Gene Autry, who began to imitate Jimmie Rogers on Tulsa’s KVOO in 1928 and 1929, moved to WLS as the Oklahoma Cowboy. His featured song was “Home on the Range,” a favorite of President Roosevelt. Soon, every studio had a singing cowboy, including a Mexican and a black (Herb Jefferies) cowboy.

The Carter Family, despite having some internal problems, moved down to Del Rio Texas with a new job at the XERA 500 kW ’border blaster’ station. (This station was started by Dr. John Brinkley, the goat testicle doctor, see endnote 1). Apparently, there was so much radio interference from XERA that ranchers could hear the music on their fences, and children with braces got good reception as well! Unlike most other radio stations, XERA used a horizontal directional

antenna instead of an omnidirectional vertical. XERA was heard from New York to California. It inspired future artists like Waylon Jennings in Texas, Chester Adkins in Georgia, and Johnny Cash in Arkansas. Maybelle Carter dedicated a song to her former flame Coy Bays in California, 1600 miles away; he heard it, and they reunited.

In the 1930s, a new form of jazz called swing became popular among both white and black audiences. An offshoot developed called western swing, which was carried on KFJZ in Fort Worth by Bob Willis’ Light Crust Dough Boys. In 1934, Willis’ group started to be carried by KVOO in Tulsa as The Texas Playboys. They were one of the first groups to introduce the steel guitar.

Episode 2 provides more information about WSM in Nashvilled. For example, its Blaw-Knox tower cost $250,000 to put up! High-brow, Belle Meade locals were not happy with WSM’s country music programming. Consequently, WSM installed a 1,000W FM transmitter, which played classical music. Recall that Armstrong’s FM tower in New Jersey was built in 1938 to promote his new FM radio technology.

In 1940, ASCAP, the company that collected royalties on music played by the broadcasters, doubled their fees. As a result, the industry formed a rival organization, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI).

Episode 2 replays President Roosevelt’s broadcast to the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor. We also learn about some of the country songs that became patriotic, like “There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere.” The Grand Ole Opry grew in popularity at this time. Armed Forces Radio carried country music and determined that country singer Roy Acuff was more popular than Frank Sinatra! Many country music stars joined the military. Gene Autry became a copilot of a C109 cargo plane. After the war, Autry bought some radio and TV stations and became quite wealthy.

After the war, in the early 1950s, two phenomena occurred that changed how how music was to be promoted in future: radio stations moved from live performances to playing records, and stations started springing up, causing audiences to listen less to radio.

OTHER VOLUMES AND EPISODES

I did not note any additional references to radio or television in the subsequent episodes. However, if you enjoy country music, you will find the history in the other episodes quite interesting.

OVERALL RECOMMENDATION

Even if you are not a fan of country music, these two early episodes provide fascinating insights into how early AM radio broadcasts provided news and entertainment to a largely rural population. Without AM radio, perhaps country music would never have experienced the popularity that it now enjoys.

John Facella has a 35+ year career in wireless, including working for Motorola and their largest competitor Harris (now L3 Harris), and a national consulting company. He has also been the chief of executive of several small high tech companies, and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a platoon leader. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a BSEE degree, is a registered professional engineer, and is a President Emeritus of RCA, the Radio Club of America. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and not an official opinion of RCA.

SOURCES

1 For more information see https://www.kshs.org/ kansapedia/kfkb/18621 For example, the station operated at 1050 KHz with a power of 5 kW. In 1930, Radio Digest named KFKB the most popular station in the United States! In 1930, the FCC cancelled Brinkley’s license, concluding that the station only served his interests, not the public. So, Brinkley decided to operate a radio station on the Mexican border across from Del Rio, Texas, station XER, later named XERA. Years later, famous rock and roll disk jockey Wolfman Jack broadcast from this station!

2 The stations were KMA (Keep Millions Advised) and KFNF (Keep Friendly Never Frown). KMA hosted the first programs in the mid-1940s that featured the Everly Brothers of 1950s rock and roll. See https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KMA_(AM)

3 For more information on WSM, see https://wsmradio.com/ history. In 1928, WSM was assigned its present 650 KHz frequency, and was licensed as a class 1A clear channel station with a power of 50 kW. In 1939, a 878 foot. Blaw-Knox diamond shaped tower was erected. This was later changed to 808 feet, but it remains the tallest such tower in the U.S. During World War II, the station was used as a backup to communicate with submarines.

4 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeFord_Bailey

5 See https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/this-day-historynov-28-1925-grand-ole-opry-debuts-radio-nashville.

6 For more information on WSB, see https://research. library.gsu.edu/c.php?g=115699&p=753069, WSB (Welcome South Brother) whose slogan was The Voice of the South, pioneered many firsts in broadcasting.

DONOR GIFT: COMMEMORATIVE CODE PRACTICE OSCILLATOR

We all know that students today are often more interested in computers than wireless. As a result, the future of wireless depends on getting more youth interestesd in wireless.

Here is a great opportunity to support our RCA Youth Program under Director Carole Perry and obtain a free gift as a result. Carole has been driving our Youth Program for 30 years this year! As a surprise to her, Director Charles Kirmuss commissioned a CW Morse code practice oscillator that was the same design Carole used years before with her early amateur radio classes with middle school and high school.

If you donate at least $30 to Carole's RCA Youth Program, you will receive a commemorative code practice oscillator. Your donation will be used to assist with costs like awards to the children, donation materials for school radio clubs, travel expenses for youth presenters to the Technical Symposium, and more.

In addition, if you renew your RCA membership for three years, you will also receive a code practice oscillator.

If you have interest in donating to the Youth Program, please email Director Carole Perry directly (wb2mgp@gmail.com) and she will provide instructions as to how to send a check.

If you wish to renew your membership for three years, contact Amy Beckham (Amy@radioclubofAmerica.org) for details on getting the code practice oscillator.

RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA

RCA’S EXPANSIVE ONLINE RESOURCES

RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA

Radio Club of America brings together professionals and non-professionals from every segment of

For more than a century, the Radio Club of America (RCA) has fostered wireless innovation by providing premier networking and education opportunities. RCA’s members are a premier group who built and are building the world of wireless communication. Our members leadership in the field of wireless communications encompasses professional, academic, entrepreneurial, and amateur individuals who are interested in the art and science of wireless communication.

Regardless of membership in any other local or national organization, RCA fosters innovation by bringing together a unique and high value group of talented and enthusiastic members from every segment of the wireless industry.

RCA PROVIDES A WIDE ARRAY OF ONLINE RESOURCES TO OUR MEMBERS

NETWORKING

• RCA Events – links to join us at RCA events, including laboratory visits, technical symposium, industry events at conferences, awards banquet

• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – follow us on social networking sites

• Publications – follow RCA and contribute to RCA’s ENews, RCA Proceedings, and website

VIDEO ARCHIVES

• RCA’s Interview Series – nearly 50 online interviews of leaders in the industry share their perspectives

• RCA Video Archives – containing recordings of the Technical Symposium and annual awards

• RCA on YouTube – follow our YouTube page CAREER DEVELOPMENT

• Mentorship Opportunities – Supporting professional growth and providing opportunities for those industry up-and-comers to meet with more experienced members to learn and grow their careers

• Young Professional Award Applications – to elevate individuals under age 35 for their innovation, leadership, and creativity in wireless communications

• Career Links - for job listings

RECOGNITION

• Experts and Legends – snapshot biographies of RCA’s legends who made and are making the modern world of wireless

• Award Applications – to elevate achievers, pioneers, game changers and inventors

PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN

• Women in Wireless – links, archives, recordings and resources highlighting the contributions, historical, and ongoing, of women to wireless communications

YOUTH PROGRAMS

• Youth Activities – special programs for middle and high school using wireless and amateur radio as a teaching and leadership development tool

• Scholarship Applications – for middle school, high school, college, and graduate school

TRAINING & EDUCATION

• Training – links to certification, training, and RCA introductory video resources

• Document Library – links to past issues of the RCA Proceedings, white papers, and other publications

Amy Beckham Administrative Director amy@radioclubofamerica.org 612.405.2012

www.radioclubofamerica.org

Facebook: facebook.com/RadioClubOfAmerica

Twitter: @RCA1909

YouTube: @radioclubofamerica7981

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/groups/844837

RCA PROCEEDINGS TEN-YEAR UPDATE INDEX AVAILABLE FOR 2014-2023

To commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America, RCA has compiled a Ten-Year Update to the Comprehensive Index of all available surviving copies of the Proceedings through 2023.

Both the Comprehensive Index and the Ten-Year Update are available on the RCA website under the News/Publications/ Proceedings tab.

THE COMPREHENSIVE INDEX

The Comprehensive Index was issued in 2013, the centennial year of the Proceedings. The Comprehensive Index includes an introduction to RCA, a history of the Proceedings, listings of notable RCA inventors and developers, an index to RCA’s awards, and photos of some important RCA milestones. It also includes directions about how to work with electronic copies of the index that include sorts by date/item number, author, title, and subject.

THE TEN-YEAR UPDATE

The Ten-Year Update is now available as a stand-alone index covering the years 2014-2023. It is also merged into a 1913-2023 overall index file to permit more comprehensive access to all content.

BACK ISSUES AND INDICES

(Left) Comprehensive Index of the RCA Proceedings for 1913-2013. (Right) Ten Year Update of the Comprehensive Index of the RCA Proceedings for 2014-2023.

RCA began issuing the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America in 1913. This publication was and is RCA’s principal print vehicle for sharing ideas and discussion topics. It includes article reprints as well as original articles written for RCA.

Much of RCA’s early history is explained in special issues of the Proceedings that were published as anniversary yearbooks on the 25th, 50th, and 75th anniversaries of the organization’s founding in 1909. In 2009, RCA produced a digital record in its Centennial CD-ROM that includes PDF copies of all issues of the Proceedings to that point plus additional historical documents.

RCA maintains an online archive on its website that includes PDF copies of all issues of the Proceedings published after 2009. The archive is under the About Us/Document Library tab. You must log in as a member to have full access.

In 2014, RCA developed a 100-year index of the Proceedings covering the years 1913-2013. This Centennial Index of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America is available on RCA’s website under the News/Publications/Proceedings tab. The opening pages of the Centennial Index provide a historical overview, and the index contains searchable lists with article number, author name, title, and subject sorts.

RCA’s Document Library includes all issues of the Proceedings from 2010-2023. You must log in as a member to have full access.

USING THE INDICES

The Centennial Index and the Ten-Year Update include instructions for use. The files are text-searchable, in both Word and PDF formats. Pre-prepared sorts by date, title, author, and subject are available.

The scope of these indices includes all published articles plus notable announcements and key items listed in each issue of the Proceedings. All previously published partial indexes are highlighted in YELLOW for easy identification. The 25th, 50th and 75th anniversary yearbooks as well as the 2009 Platinum Jubilee centennial are noted in BLUE.

The “Titles” reported in the Index are shown as reflected in the articles. Some inconsistency or abbreviated titling was employed over the years in the tables of contents for the Proceedings or in the partial indices previously published by RCA. In some cases, titles for news

announcements or other articles without a formal title have had their titles designated solely for purposes of the indices to enable the subject matter to be located and identified.

In order to establish consistent author identifications for the Index, authors are listed as “Last Name, First Name” regardless of the format used in the published article. Differences in spellings have also been made consistent. Professional titles such as Dr. or Ph.D. have been eliminated in the “Author” field.

Based on reviewing the title, author, context and apparent subject of each article, generalized subject groupings were developed to enable the articles to be sorted. The “Subject Categories” are not considered definitive. They merely represent an initial grouping of the items for the reader.

Centennial CD issued in 2009 with copies of the RCA Proceedings for 1913-2009.

RCA Website Document Library with copies of the RCA Proceedings for 2010-2023.

Snapshot of RCA Website Document Library with digital issues of the Proceedings beginning 2010, and an image of the RCA Centennial CD issued in 2009 with copies of the Proceedings for 1909-2009. The CD-ROM is available from Amy Beckham at Amy@radioclubofamerica.org). You must log in as a member for full access.

RCA Celebrates 110 Years Of The Proceedings

The year 2023 marks 110 years of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America. This year, RCA compiled a Ten-Year Update to the Centennial Index that was released in 2013. The following article offers perspectives on the past ten years of contributions to the Proceedings and other RCA publications by RCA’s esteemed membership.

SOME BACKGROUND

It has been 115 years since the Radio Club of America (RCA) commenced operations: first, as the Junior Aero Club of the U. S. in 1907; reorganized as a new entity with a new focus, the Junior Wireless Club Limited, on January 2, 1909; and renamed as the Radio Club of America on October 21, 1911. RCA held its first regular meeting under the new name on November 4, 1911. RCA celebrates 1909 as its birth year and hosts its annual banquet and awards program in November of each year.

RCA’s membership encompasses professionals, entrepreneurs, academics, and amateurs. The members are people interested in not only radio, but in all its related applications, including television, computers, paging, land mobile radio, public safety, internet, telephone, astronomical research, wireless, cellular, satellite, and digital communications. We celebrate innovation!

ONE EMBLEM – MANY USES

RCA has used many logos over more than a century of operation. RCA’s original emblem (this is the original word used to describe it) was adopted on January 20, 1912: a diagonal white “RCA” with a lightning bolt within a rectangular black background. The club’s emblem and a matching club pin were designed by one of its founding members, Frank King, and they were unanimously accepted. Note, the founding of RCA and the adoption of the RCA emblem both predate the Radio Corporation of America that was formed in 1919 as a reorganization of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America (commonly called “American Marconi”). Radio Corporation of America initially operated as a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation, and United Fruit Company. Over time, it too would use a lightning bolt that was incorporated into the tail of a circle logo that underlined the letters ‘RCA’, which was adopted in 1929. That wellknown circle logo was adopted twenty years after RCA, our club, was formed and seventeen years after our club adopted its RCA lightning bolt emblem!

Over a century of RCA logos. All include the original RCA lightning emblem. Fostering Wireless Innovation was adopted in 2023.

THE PROCEEDINGS

Prior to 1913, individual technical papers presented at RCA’s meetings were reprinted for the membership. In the early years, papers discussed at RCA’s meetings were also published by or reprinted from QST, Radio Broadcast, Electrical World or other leading publications. Edwin H. Armstrong’s “Theory of Tuned Circuits” was distributed by RCA in May and December 1913 as the first article associated with a specific issue date of the Proceedings. The list of RCA’s forty-four members produced in 1914 is the earliest surviving publication featuring RCA’s name, and it is one of the first formal call-sign listings produced in the new field of radio. It includes designations of pending radio licenses, the type of equipment used and the member’s evening and weekend hours of operation. That year, eight more papers were presented at RCA’s meetings and were published.

Over the subsequent century through 2013, approximately 2,100 topical articles and announcements about RCA and its membership were published or reprinted in the Proceedings. These articles provide a unique window into the organization and a view into RCA’s much heralded membership and their activities. (See the Centennial Index’s Opening Pages for a full discussion of 100 years of contributions and an analysis of the content.)

Over the next ten years from 2014 through 2023, RCA published more than 630 articles and announcements about RCA and its membership in the Proceedings. This rapid growth in the rate of publication, from an average of 21 articles per year to 63 articles per year is a reflection of the expanded industry, activity of the membership, and

recognition of the impact of wireless innovation supported by RCA’s activities. (See the Ten Year Update to the Centennial Index Opening Pages for a discussion of these 10 years of contributions and an analysis of the content.)

THE PROCEEDINGS IN 2014-2023

The Proceedings is a unique publication, offering a wide range and mix of technical articles, historical material, and biographical information, often including commentary and perspectives about the state of innovation and new technical presentations. Over the years 2014-2023, the subject matter expanded from radio to all forms of wireless communication, including telephony, television, cellular, digital, and mm-wave, satellite, and software-defined wireless communication. The scope also shifted from science and invention to broadly include manufacturing, development, marketing, and a search for other applications as well as relevant standards, most notably in public safety.

The Proceedings expanded significantly during the years 2014-2023. Historically between 25-40 pages (except for the special publications and anniversary issues), the Proceedings grew to 80-100 pages per issue. The number of articles increased from 20-25 per issue, doubling to 40-50 per issue. The decade also produced special issues dedicated to space/satellites/Apollo 11, the centennial of KDKA, the centennial of the 1921 Transatlantic Tests, and the 50th anniversary of the handheld portable cell phone. The following chart captures the Proceedings scope of production over the past ten years.

TEN YEARS OF PROCEEDINGS LEADERSHIP

RCA’s publications have been led by a dedicated team of skilled volunteers. The editorial team responsible for the Proceedings began undergoing a transition in mid-2013. Some of the titles and positions have changed over the years, but the following individuals generously gave their dedication and personal commitment to the Proceedings and other RCA publications. RCA is grateful to all the volunteers involved in its publications for their many hours of dedicated service in writing, editing, and producing its publications from 2013-2023.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA EDITORS (2013-2023)

Position Years Contributor

Publications Committee Chairs 2013 2014-2023

Editorial Directors 2013 2014-2023

Paulla Nelson-Shira

David Bart

Paulla Nelson-Shira

David Bart

Proceedings Editor 2017-2020 Glenn Bishocf

Technical Editor 2013-2023

Scientific Advisor 2019-2023

Dr. John “Jack” Belrose

• RCA recognizes that its publications have been produced under the direction of RCA’s professional association management firms. RCA thanks Pat Koziol (2013-2015), Colleen Ayers (2016-2017), and Amy Beckham (2018-2023) for their services and professionalism.

Dr. Nathan “Chip” Cohen

• RCA no longer publishes the Aerogram since RCA ENews has replaced the need for a printed newsletter. RCA thanks Pat Koziol (2013-2014) and Elaine Walsh (2015-2020) for their services as editors of the Aerogram. The RCA ENews continues today under the direction of Amy Beckham.

EVOLVING FORMATS

Over the past ten years, the Proceedings adopted several new formats; moving from black and white to color beginning in 2015, and from print to online distribution format by 2016. RCA updated the format again in 2023. Some of the covers show this ten-year evolution, moving from left to right by row.

SPECIAL ISSUES

of the

From 2014 through 2023, five issues of the RCA Proceedings provided content oriented around important anniversaries in RCA and in radio communications that involved RCA members. These anniversary editions and issues with special sections encompassed hundreds of pages thanks to the contributions of many authors. Topics focused on the centennial of the ARRL, America’s entry into space and space communications, the centennial of KDKA, the centennial of the 1921 Transatlantic Tests, and the fiftieth anniversary of the handheld portable cell phone.

AUTHORS

The Proceedings would not exist without the contributions of many authors. The range of authors who provided content for the Proceedings in 2014-2023 encompasses legendary figures in technology, leaders in research, innovators in government regulation and oversight, and skilled experimenters and entrepreneurs. Most authors contributed one or two articles, but some were more prolific. All shared their information for the benefit of the membership and the public.

From 2014-2023, the Proceedings published 635 articles and notices. Of these, 127 authors contributed 147 articles, approximately 23% of the total, as feature content. Other articles, notices, biographies, obituaries, and unattributed content were assembled by the editors.

Their work involved every aspect of wireless communications, including research and development, invention, production and manufacture, regulatory matters, marketing, and the contributions from amateur experts. The authors produced significant content as well as the material they presented at RCA’s annual Technical Symposium, seminars, meetings, and professional interviews. Many authors published multiple articles or appeared many times at RCA’s events. Authors contributing more than one article in the years 2014-2023 include:

PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA

Bart, David and Julia Cohen, Nathan Duffy, Tim Facella, John Perry, Carole Seybold, Andrew Witkowski, David

Clarson, Michael Hollingsworth, Carroll Rappaport, Theodore

Black, Sandra Lakhakia, Akhlesh Rohde, Ulrich Viterbi, Andrew J.

Adams, Michael Belrose, John S. Kirmuss, Charles McIntyre, Bruce Poddar, Ajay

Richter, Henry

Taylor, Joseph H. Wright, John

Three

issues of the RCA Proceedings with special anniversary sections.

KEY SUBJECTS IN 2014-2023

The range of content published in the Proceedings from 2014-2023 became more varied than prior years. RCA-related events continue to dominate, focusing on the annual banquet and awards, RCA-related news, and coverage of the Technical Symposium’s presentations from leaders in the field. Expanded coverage of industry news, developments in equipment and technology, and interviews with industry leaders have provided increased exposure to current leading-edge topics in wireless. Overall, from 2014-2023, 635 articles appeared in over 20 issues, encompassing 1,542 pages of material.

A summary of the major topics published from 2014-2023 by item count is shown in the following bar chart that focuses on the technical articles. During that period, 209 articles were published in the Proceedings, excluding RCA Board Notices, RCA News Items, and articles about RCA’s history. The articles included considerable content on technological developments and biographical material about RCA’s members through feature stories and interviews, awards, memorials, and obituaries. Much of this material is unique, offering historians a wealth of information about key figures and their contributions to our modern world.

Throughout, the Proceedings recognized the achievements of its award recipients with extensive biographies of important personages. Historical topics emerged, and the Proceedings covered a growing number of museum preservation efforts. In the past ten years, obituaries and memorials also provided considerable information about the members and their noteworthy lives.

RCA PROCEEDINGS AS A RESOURCE

Taken as a whole, the Proceedings is an important source of historical material. It documents critical and important developments in the evolution of modern electronic communications involving the exploration and use of the radio spectrum. The Proceedings preserves important historical information about advances in related technologies as well as significant biographical material about RCA’s members.

RCA’s activities have always encouraged scientific education through the presentation and discussion of technical papers given by outstanding invited guest speakers at its meetings, technical symposia, seminars, and public interviews of notable people.

The Proceedings is the expression of RCA’s members, their values, the leading-edge thinking, and the recognition of their accomplishments. It continues to be a valuable resource that is available to be mined for historical information.

SPONSORS

RCA and the Proceedings have been very fortunate to have many sponsors, advertisers, and contributors who appear in the Proceedings. Major companies, smaller entrepreneurial ventures, RCA Partner organizations, inventors, individual members, and interested third parties have all contributed their financial and creative resources toward these endeavors. We thank them all for their generosity and support.

RCA’S PARTNERS

The Proceedings reflect the growing involvement of RCA with partner organizations through advertising, articles, and announcements. RCA co-hosts events and programs, and its members participate, with these organizations to provide networking opportunities that foster wireless innovation. RCA partner organizations include, in alphabetic order:

• Antique Wireless Association (AWA)

• Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO)

• Electronic Technicians Association International (ETA)

• Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association (GWT&C)

• IEEE Communications Society (COMSOC)

• International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE)

• National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE)

• Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA)

• Space and Satellite Professionals International (SSPI)

• U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association (NCVA)

• Utilities Technology Council (UTC)

• Warriors4Wireless (W4W).

REFLECTIONS ON RCA

From the beginning, RCA’s members purposely sought to reach out and explore new horizons, and innovation was the key. RCA’s 1928 Articles of Incorporation states the purpose of RCA: “The promotion of co-operation among those interested in scientific investigation and amateur operation in the art of radio-communication.” This spirit is alive and well in 2024, and it is reflected in the wealth of content provided to the Proceedings. RCA continues to inspire.

George Eltz, Jr., former president of RCA stated on RCA’s 25th anniversary in 1934 that:

“In no engineering association is the spirit of growth, the urge to seek new pastures as strongly emphasized as in the Radio Club of America, Inc…If the founders of this club and its early membership bequeathed anything to the club, it was this spirit of unrestrained curiosity and willingness to reveal to others without hesitation the results of personal experiments in the beloved art.”

Dr. Marty Cooper, an RCA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and developer of numerous wireless innovations, especially the Motorola’s handheld portable cell phone, stated in 2009 that:

“We, the members of the Radio Club of America, are an eclectic group. We are engineers and scientists, marketers and businesspeople, lawyers and regulators, professionals and amateurs, lobbyists and educators, military people and administrators - and not infrequently, combinations of these. We share an interest in radio, its history, its evolution, and its technology. We support the objectives of our Club, the scholarships, the collegial meetings, and the preservation of the history of radio. That is what we are today!”

We hope the Ten-Year Update Index will be useful to all who wish to study the origins of our electronic world and the people who created it so that you may build the future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Bart is the current President of the Radio Club of America, Editor of the RCA Proceedings, and an RCA Fellow. He is also the Treasurer of the IEEE History Committee and a Director and Fellow of the Antique Wireless Association. He has received numerous awards for his work involving the history of communications.

and

and

2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Officer s, Directors Committees For 2014

2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From the President –Proceedings Centennial McIntyre, Bruce

2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Financial Report

2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA Lauches New Website

Bart, David

2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From the Publications Chairman: Passing the Baton –Paulla NelsonShira Departure as Publications Chair man

2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Call for Papers and Editorial Comments

Bart, David and Julia RCA Proceedings 2014.01.08 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE New Centennial Index to Proceedings of the RCA Announced

2014.01.07 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE The First 100 Years of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America

Cohen, Nathan Antennas

Bart, David and Julia RCA Proceedings 2014.01.09 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Practical Introduction to Fractals: Antennas and Beyond Part 1

Awards/Medals

2014.01.10 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2013 Radio Club of America Awards Banquet Banquet 2014.01.11 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2013 Awards Recipients: David Sarnoff CitationWilliam Riley Hollingsworth, Lee DeForest AwardJohn Powell, Fred Link AwardCurtis Quinter, Ralph Batcher AwardBruce D. Roloson, Special Recognition AwardKaren Clark, President ’ s AwardElaine Walsh, Special Service AwardStan Reubenstein, Richard DeMello AwardDouglas M. Aike n

Fellows

2014.01.12 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2013 Fellows : Donald Vaughan, Robert Walker, Michael Sage, Terry Hall, Anthony Tricoci, Jeffrey Beals

2014.01.13 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE The Book Shop –Smart Grid CommunicationEnabled Intelligence for the Electric Power Grid , Digital Microwave Communication, Cognitive Radio Networks Books

2014.01.14 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE The History of the Digital Radio Mondiale Senger, Peter F. Cellular & Digital

2014.01.15 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE ARRL at 100: The Past and Future of the American Radio Relay League Kutzko, Sean Amateur Radio

2014.01.16 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE News and Notes: RCA Launches ENews RCA News & Notices

2014.01.17 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Silent KeyIn MemoriamRobert Evans Bio /Memoriam/ Obi t

MembersNew

2014.01.18 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE News and Notes: Welcome New Members, Have You Paid Your Dues?

2014.01.19 2014 Vol 86 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Business and Professional Directory RCA Directory

2014.02.01 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE Officer s, Directors Committees For 2014 RCA Board/Officers

Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE From the President: to Our Members, A Note From Your New President McIntyre, Bruce ; Black, Sandra RCA President

Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE From the Publications Chairman: A Note to Our Members Bart, David RCA Proceedings

Bart, David RCA Proceedings

IEEE History Center Relocates to Stevens Institute of Technology Bart, David and Julia MuseumsIEEE

ONLINE Seeing the Future: A Century of Leadership in the Proceedings Bart, David and Julia RCA Proceedings

86 No 2

Conceptual Skill, Technical Skill, Human Skill, and a Radio Company (CEO of TCI) Ballard, John W. Antennas

Sarnoff Collection Finds a Home Bart, David and Julia Museums

ONLINE Practical Introduction to Fractals: Antennas and Beyond Part 2 Cohen, Nathan Antennas

No 2

86 No 2

TEN YEAR UPDATE TO THE

20 1 420 2 3

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2014.02.11 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE Happenings in RCA Youth Activities Perry, Carole Education

2014.02.12 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE RCA ’ s 2014 Technical Symposium was a Huge Success: Antennas (Nathan Cohen), Youth Amateur Radio (Rohan Agrawal), Distributed Antenna Systems (Rob Lopez), Land Mobile Radio (John Evans), Amateur Radio (Carole Perry), Satellites (Tom Souman), Land Mobile Radio (David Cann, Sr.), Broadband (posted presentation Jerry Napolitano), Unique Technology Virtual Sensors (Katherine “ Kit ” Grace August ) Facella, John RCA Symposium

2014.02.13 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE RCA 2014 Banquet Returned to the New York Athletic Club for its 105th Banquet Banquet 2014.02.14 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE RCA 2014 Banquet Returned to the New York Athletic Club for its 105th Banquet 2014 Banquet Awards: Young Achiever AwardRohan Agrawal, Special Service AwardWorld War I I Veterans/R CA Members, Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer CitationJohn S. Belrose, Jerry B. Minter AwardAlbert D. Helfrick, Vivian A. Carr Women In Radio Communications AwardVivian Carr, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard Demello AwardDavid Boyd, Fred M. Link AwardRaymond Schulenberg a nd Olin G. Shuler, Barry Goldwater AwardNorman “ Doug ” Grant, Sarnoff CitationNick Holonyak, Jr., Armstrong MedalJ.R. Cruz, President ’ s AwardJohn Facella Awards/Medals

Fellows

2014.02.15 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE RCA 2014 Banquet Returned to the New York Athletic Club for its 105th Banquet 2014 Fellows Class: Robert Balais, David Byrum, Paul Mayer, Ralph Singletary, Georggina Smith

2014.02.16 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE RCA Board Announces New Dues Rates

2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE Book Review: Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications (T. Rappaport, R. Heath, R. Daniels, J. Murdock) Cohen, Nathan Books

2014.02.20 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE The Book Shop –MIMO Communication for Cellular Networks, Making Telecoms Work, Ra dio Propagation and Adaptive Antennas for Wireless Communication Networks, FISMA and the Risk Management Framework, A History of QST Vols. 1 and 2 Books

2014.02.21 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE Silent Keys: David A. Binns, W5VXI, Robert A. Evans, KO1QR, David E. Hubertz, W4FRK Bio /Memoriam/ Obi t

2014.02.22 2014 Vol 86 No 2 Win ONLINE Business and Professional Directory RCA Directory

2015.01.01 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Officer s, Directors Committees For 2015 RCA Board/Officers

2015.01.02 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From the President Black, Sandra RCA President

2015.01.03 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From the Publications Chairman Bart, David RCA Proceedings

2015.01.04 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From the Technical Editor Belrose, John S. RCA Proceedings

2015.01.05 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE AmazonSmile Program Lets You Shop and Donate to the Club! Jakubowski, Ron RCA News and Notices

2015.01.06 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE The Deep Space Network at 50 Lazio, Joseph; Deutsch, Les Space/Communications

TEN YEAR UPDATE TO THE COMPREHENSIVE INDEX

PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA –INCLUDES 20 1 420 2 3 Item

Facella, John RCA Symposium

Abstracts of Presentations from the 2014 Tech Symposium: Antennas3D Printing In Wideband Antennas and Electronics (Nathan Cohen), Youth Amateur RadioSmartphones and Amateur Radio (Rohan Agrawal), Distributed AntennasEngineering Design Considerations For Distributed Antenna Systems (D AS ) For Luxury Residential and Office Buildings In Major Urban Areas (Rob Lopez), Land Mobile RadioA ddressing Differences In Vocoder Technologies When Interfacing T IAT R 8 (P25) L MR Systems to Broadband Networks (John Evans), Amateur RadioProgress Report On R CA’ s Youth Initiative (Carole Perry), Amateur RadioThe Changing Role of Amateur Radio (Gordon West), Broadband Public SafetyUpdate On FirstNet , The Public Safety National Broadband Network ( Chief Harlin Mc E wen ), SatellitesAdvanced Hybrid Wireless Networks For Mobile Markets –Connecting Enterprise Users Every Where Using Satellite and Terrestrial Networks ( Tom Soumas, C EO Cinetcomm ), Land Mobile RadioTrunked System Capacity Planning and Fleet Mapping For Grade of Service For P25 Phase I (One Voice Path Per Voice Channel) ( David Cann , E F Johnson Company ), BroadbandHow L TE Will Impact Public Safety Communications ( Jerry Napolitano ), Unique TechnologyVirtual Sensors: Transforming The Way We Think About Accommodation (Katherine “ Kit ” Grace August )

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE

2015.01.07

Books

Bart, David MuseumsIEEE

Awards / Medals

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE The Book ShopDesign of Modern Communication Networks

2015.01.08

2015.01.09 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Bell Labs Recognized For 90 Years of Innovation (IEEE Milestone)

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Armstrong Medal Address –J. R. Cruz Cruz, J. R.

2015.01.10

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE AWA Saves VOA: The Delano, CA Voice of America Transmitter Hopkins, William MuseumsAWA

2015.01.11

2015.01.12 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE News from the IEEE History CenterUEFFunded Project Hosts The History of Engineering Website MuseumsIEEE

NewsIndustry

RCA News and Notices

2015.01.13 2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2015 is the International Year of Light

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Call for Papers & Editorial Comments

2015.01.14

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2015 Youth ForumTyler Hammond, Abbigail Wilson, Kendra Wilson, Sam Case, Jesse Shulins, Faith Hannah Lea, Zechariah Lea, Cameron Thurston Perry, Carole Education

2015.01.15

RCA Treasurer

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Treasurer’s Report

2015.01.16

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2014 Banquet Awards Photos Banquet

2015.01.17

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2014 Banquet Awards: Young Achiever AwardRohan Agrawal, Special Service AwardWorld War I I Veterans/R CA Members, Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer CitationJohn S. Belrose, Jerry B. Minter AwardAlbert D. Helfrick, Vivian A. Carr Women In Radio Communications AwardVivian Carr, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard Demello AwardDavid Boyd, Fred M. Link AwardRaymond Schulenberg a nd Olin G. Shuler, Barry Goldwater AwardNorman “ Doug ” Grant, Sarnoff CitationNick Holonyak, Jr., Armstrong MedalJ.R. Cruz, President ’ s AwardJohn Facella Awards/Medals

2015.01.18

2015 Vol 87 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2014 Fellows Class: Robert Balais, David Byrum, Paul Mayer, Ralph Singletary, Georggina Smith Fellows

2015.01.19

Symposium in Cupertino, California

Facella, John RCA Symposium

Jacobsmeyer, Jay M. Mobile RadioLMR

2015.02.07 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE 2015 Technical Symposium Presentation Abstracts and Speaker Biographies : Dynamic Spectrum Arbitrage (Clint Smith, Rivada Networks), Tower Structural Health Monitoring for the 21st Century (Mark Allen, R OHN Products), New Trends in Wireless Test Equipment (John Facella , moderator ; Rob Barden Cobham AvComm; Tom Boyle, Bird Technologies; Mike Tolaio, Deviser Instruments), Progress Report on RCA ’ s Youth Initiative (Carole Perry, Rohan Agrawal), Breakthrough Listen: The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) –New Initiatives Using Radio Telescopes (Frank Drake), Battle for 5G: LTE vs. WiFi (David Witkowski, Wireless Communications Alliance, moderator), RF and Microwave Challenges for Future Radio Spectrum Access (Dean Lawrence Larson, Brown University), InBuilding Wireless for Cellular and Public Safety: Technology, Monetary, and Political Issues John Facella, moderator; Greg Glenn, Solid Technologies)

2015.02.08 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Optimizing Simulcast Networks

Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Member News: Update Email Addresses, Dues Renewal Notices, Become a Life Member RCA News and Notices

2015.02.09

2015.02.10 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE On the History of Wireless Belrose, John S. Fessenden

2015.02.11 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Voices of Tomorrow: Texting Without Bars Agrawal, Rohan Cellular & Digital

2015.02.12 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE The Real Origins of Silicon Valley ’ s Technology Culture Bart, David and Julia History

2015.02.13 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE New Publication Schedule Announced RCA News and Notices

2015.02.14 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE The Wireless Age: Electronics Entrepreneurs Before Silicon Valley (1900 –1960)Selections from the Perham Collection of Early Electronics Museums

2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE NASA Moves Forward with New Vacuum Channel Transistor Technology NewsIndustry

2015.02.15

2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Proceedings Article Sought to Evaluate Vacuum Channel Transistor Technology NewsIndustry

2015.02.16

2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE The Radio Club of America 106th Banquet & Awards Ceremony Featuring a Keynote Presentation by Dr. David Leeson “ The Entrepreneurial History of Communications in the Silicon Valley ” Banquet

2015.02.17

2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE IEEE Honors NYU Researchers For Breakthrough Paper “ Millimeter Wave Mobile Communications for 5G Cellular: It Will Work ” Garners IEEE ’ s 2015 Donald G. Fink Award for NYU WIRELESS founder and his teamTheodore (Ted) Rappaport NewsIndustry, News RCA

2015.02.18

2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE An Introduction to the California Historical Radio Society Adams, Michael Museums

2015.02.19

2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA Members Asked to Design and Name a New RCA Award

2015.02.21 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Youth Activities Update Perry, Carole

2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA Announces 106th Banquet & Awards Ceremony Keynote SpeakerDr. David B. Leeson Banquet

2015.02.23 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE 2015 Radio Club of America Awards Recipients: Lifetime Achievement AwardFrank Drake, Sarnoff CitationIrwin Mark Jacobs, Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer Citation PresentedGerald L. Agliata, Vivian A. Carr AwardCarole Perry, President ’ s AwardTimothy J. Duffy, Lee DeForest AwardElizabeth Maxfield, Alfred H. Grebe AwardNathan Cohen, Ralph Batcher Memorial AwardDavid P. Bart, RCA Special Recognition AwardGlenn Bischoff, Henri Busignies Memorial AwardRaymond L. Collins, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC ’ S) Richard DeMello AwardTom Sorley

2015.02.24 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA Proudly Announces the Fellows Class of 2015: Arnold Hooper, Ray Novak, Michael Schmidt, William Waugman, John Wright Fellows

2015.02.25 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Jack Belrose Honored with the Century Club Award at QCWA NewsIndustry

2015.02.26 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE IEEE 5G Summit Is at Google Near the RCA Banquet NewsIndustry

2015.02.27 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE New Historian at AT&T Archives and History Center NewsIndustry

Books

Bio /Memoriam/ Obi t

Bio /Memoriam/ Obi t

RCA News and Notices

RCA News and Notices

RCA News and Notices

RCA Directory

Bart, David

2015.02.28 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Three Books on Samuel Insull: The Memoirs of Samuel Insull: An Autobiography (Samuel Insull and Larry Plachno), Insull: The Rise and Fall of a Billionaire Utility Tycoon (Forrest McDonald), The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis (John F. Wasik)

2015.02.29 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE In Memoriam: Bill Endres, Bill Pasternak

2015.02.30 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Silent Keys: Jean Poole, Stanley Cohn

2015.02.31 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Shop Amazon and Help RCA

2015.02.32 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Donate Your Frequent Flyer Miles

2015.02.33 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Call for Papers & Editorial Comments

2015.02.34 2015 Vol 87 No 2 Fall ONLINE Business and Professional Directory

2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Officer s, Directors Committees For 2016 RCA Board/Officers

2016.01.01

2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From Your President Duffy, Tim RCA President

2016.01.02

2016.01.03 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From the Publications Chairman Bart, David RCA Proceedings

2016.01.04 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA 2016 Banquet to Feature Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT Banquet

2016.01.05 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE A Personal View of Silicon Valley: The Central Role of Radio Leeson, David B. Banquet Presentation

2016.01.06 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Intelligent Structural Health Monitoring Allen, Mark S.; Brinker, David G. AntennasTowers

2016.01.07 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2015 RCA Fellows Address –John Wright –2015 Fellows: Arnold Hooper, William Waugaman, Michael Schmidt, Ray Novak, John Wright Wright, John Fellows

2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Lord Kelvin, the Atlantic Cable and the Origins of Signal Shaping Bart, David and Julia History

2016.01.08

2016.01.09 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE IEEE Offers Free White Paper on RealTime LTE/WiFi Coexistence Testbed NewsIndustry

2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE IEEE Offers Free White Papers on 5G NewsIndustry

2016.01.10

Clarson, Michael J. RCA

Shulenberg, Raymond and Shuler, Olin G.

2016.01.11 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE The Radio Club of America 100 Years Ago (1916)

2016.01.12 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Call for Papers & Editorial Comments

2016.01.13 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE It’s Time to Honor the Distringuished and DeservingAwards Nominations

2016.01.14 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Motorola ’ s First Broadcast FM Auto Radio –The Motorola FM900

2016.01.15 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE IEEE Announces New REACH Education Program

2016.01.16 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE NYU Speeds Development of 5G and Makes Softward Open to All

2016.01.17 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE AWA Museum Expansion and 2016 Convention MuseumsAWA

Perry, Carole Education

Wenaas, Eric Book Review

Cohen, Nathan Book Review

RCA News and Notices

RCA Treasurer

MembersNew

Bio/Memoriam/Obit

RCA Directory

Duffy, Tim RCA President

2016.01.18 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Youth Activities Update: Hamcation 2016, IWCE 2016

2016.01.19 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Book Review: Sprague Electric: An Electronics Giant ’ s Rise, Fall, and Life after Death ( John L. Sprague )

2016.01.20 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Book Review: Tesla, RevisitedInventions of Nikola Tesla ( Ty Shedleski ), Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age ( W. Bernard Carlson) , The Truth About Tesla ( Christopher Cooper )

2016.01.21 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA Sponsorship Opportunities

2016.01.22 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Treasurer’s Report

2016.01.23 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Welcome New Members

2016.01.24 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Silent Keys: Raymond Collins

2016.01.25 2016 Vol 88 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Business and Professional Directory

2016.02.01 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE From Your President

2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE From the Publications Chairman Bart, David RCA Proceedings

2016.02.02

2016.02.03 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA 2016 Banquet to Feature Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT Banquet

2016.02.04 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE A Note From The Banquet Chairman Clark, Karen Banquet

2016.02.05 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Spotlight On 2016 RCA Banquet Awards: Lifetime Achievement AwardJoseph H. Taylor, Armstrong MedalMorgan E. O ’ Brien, Sarnoff CitationWilliam T. Murphy, Henri Busignies Memorial AwardDr. Mischa Schwartz, Fred M. Link AwardDan Clark, Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio AwardStanley Reubenstein, Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer AwardJohn S. Oblak, Ralph Batcher Memorial AwardMarc F. Ellis, Frank A. Gunther AwardRobert A. Rude, Vivian A. Carr AwardMercy S. Contreras, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard DeMello AwardPaul Patrick, President ’ s AwardJohn E. Dettra, Jr., Special Recognition AwardRobert B. Famiglio, RCA Young Achiever AwardDivyam Mishra Awards/Medals

Fellows

2016.02.06 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE 2016 Fellows: Robert J. Hobday, James H. Kreuzer, Robert E. LaRose, W. Brent Lee, Andrew C. Maxymillian, Stephanie McCall, Thomas L. Morrow, Edward F. O ’ Connor, Walton L. Stinson, Sandra J. Wendelken

–INCLUDES 20 1 420 2 3

TEN YEAR UPDATE TO THE COMPREHENSIVE INDEX PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO CLUB OF

RCA Symposium

Bart, David; Cohen, Nathan “Chip” Interview

2016.02.07 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA’s 2016 Technical Symposium In New York City: Developing Secure Tactical MultiRole, MultiMission, MultiChannel Radios with Increasing Demands for Data Everywhere (Charles Datz, Harris Corp.), Removing Economical Constraints of Rural Deployments with RAN Hardware Innovation (Rajesh Mishra, Parallel Wireless), Maj. Edwin H. Armstrong: Student Inventor to Great Radio Engineer (Misha Schwartz, Columbia Univ.), Reactive to ProActive: Using the Raspberry Pi Computer to Build a Home Sensor Network: Youth Present ation (Divyam Mishra), Progress Report on RCA ’ s Youth Initiative (Carole Perry), 5GWhat, Why, and When? (And rew Seybold, Ted Rapport), InBuilding Communications (Rob Lopez, Doug Fishman), Inside Enigma: Breaking the Top Secret Enigma Codes of WWII (Tom Perera)

Weisberg, Joel M., Taylor, Joseph H. Space/Astronomy

2016.02.08 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE The Work of Dr. Joe Taylor and an Interview w ith Dr. Joel Weisberg

2016.02.09 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE The Relativistic Binary Pulsar B1913+16: Thirty Years of Observations and Analysis

2016.02.10 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications: New Results For Rural Connectivity Rappaport, Theodore 5G/6G/mmWaves

2016.02.11 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE The First Pocket Radio Pager: From Inception to Obsolescence (They Didn ’ t Always Go Beep Beep) Clarson, Michael History

RCA News and Notices

Bart, David and Julia History

2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE New Partnership Program Expands RCA ’ s Reach and Membership Offerings (APCO, AWA, ETA, IWCE, NCVA)

2016.02.12

2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Some Early History of RCA Portable Radios

2016.02.13

2016.02.14 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Amateur Radio and Public Safety Communications Wright, John Public Safety

RCA News and Notices

NewsIndustry

2016.02.15 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Fresh Content on the RCA Website

2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Signal Magazine ’ s 70th Anniversary Essays on Communication

2016.02.16

2016.02.17 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE State of China Technology NewsIndustry

2016.02.18 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE China Launches First Quantum Satellite Space/Satellites

2016.02.19 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Radio Signal Monitoring for Drones NewsIndustry

2016.02.20 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Claude Shannon IEEE Milestone MuseumsIEEE

2016.02.21 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE New Duplex Radio Chip NewsIndustry

2016.02.22 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Voices of Tomorrow: From Reactive to Proactive Mishra, Divyam Cellular & Digital

2016.02.23 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Voices of Tomorrow : SoftwareDefined Radios: Design and Implementation Shaler, Austin Software Defined Radio

2016.02.24 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Welcome New Members MembersNew

2016.02.25 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE 29th Youth Forum and Counting Plus a Quick Trip to the Rockies Perry, Carole Education

2016.02.26 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Book Review: Thunderstruck (Erik Larson) Facella, John Books

2016.02.27 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE The Book ShopFrom MachinetoMachine to the Internet of Things Books

2016.02.28 2016 Vol 88 No 2 Fall ONLINE Business and Professional Directory RCA Directory

2017.01.01 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Officer s, Directors Committees For 2017 RCA Board/Officers

Duffy, Tim RCA President

2017.01.02 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From Your President

2017.01.03 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From the Publications Chairman Bart, David RCA Proceedings

TEN YEAR UPDATE TO THE COMPREHENSIVE INDEX PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA –INCLUDES 20 1 420 2 3

2017.01.04 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA Technical Symposium RCA Symposium

Seybold, Andrew M. Public SafetyFirstNet

Perry , Carole; Lyons , Margaret Interview

Kirmuss, Charles B. History

Clarson, Michael RCA History

Bart, David and Julia Cellular & Digital

Yamamoto, Ken ; Yoshinori , Takao ; Bart, David Amateur Radio

2017.01.05 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE What Is FirstNet ?

2017.01.06 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE A Visit w ith Vivian CarrShe Continues to Break The Glass Ceilings

2017.01.07 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE A Reflective Essay For Our Youth (And Others) Technology Witnessed First HandA Kodachrome of 40 Years in Industry

2017.01.08 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE The Radio Club of America 100 Years Ago (1917)

2017.01.09 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE A Primer On IOT Vocabulary (The Internet of Things)

2017.01.10 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Origins of Japanese Ham Radio

2017.01.11 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2016 Technical Symposium and Banquet Were A Huge Success! Banquet

Awards/Medals

2017.01.12 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA Banquet Awards: Lifetime Achievement AwardJoseph H. Taylor, Armstrong MedalMorgan E. O ’ Brien, Sarnoff CitationWilliam T. Murphy, Henri Busignies Memorial AwardDr. Mischa Schwartz, Fred M. Link AwardDan Clark, Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio AwardStanley Reubenstein, Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer AwardJohn S. Oblak, Ralph Batcher Memorial AwardMarc F. Ellis, Frank A. Gunther AwardRobert A. Rude, Vivian A. Carr AwardMercy S. Contreras, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard DeMello AwardPaul Patrick, President ’ s AwardJohn E. Dettra, Jr., Special Recognition AwardRobert B. Famiglio, RCA Young Achiever AwardDivyam Mishra

2017.01.13 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2016 Technical Symposium and Awards Banquet Banquet

2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award Acceptance Speech –Joseph Taylor Taylor, Joseph H. Awards/Medals

2017.01.14

2017.01.15 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2016 Armstrong Medal Addres s O’Brien, Morgan E. Awards/Medals

2017.01.16 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2016 Fellows AddressRobert E. LaRose2 016 Fellows: Robert J. Hobday, James H. Kreuzer, Robert E. LaRose, W. Brent Lee, Andrew C. Maxymillian, Stephanie McCall, Thomas L. Morrow, Edward F. O ’ Connor, Walton L. Stinson, Sandra J. Wendelken LaRose, Robert E. Fellows

2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE New Wireless Women Section On Website RCA News and Notices

2017.01.17

2017.01.18 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2016 E.F. Johnson Award Address Oblak, John S. Awards/Medals

2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE It’s Time to Honor the Distringuished and DeservingAwards Nominations

2017.01.19

2017.01.20 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Voice of America Celebrates 75 Years

2017.01.21 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Wireless History Foundation Names David Diggs as President and CEO

2017.01.22 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA Hosts IWCE Breakfast RCA News and Notices

Facella, John RCA History

2017.01.23 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE China Opens World ’ s Largest Radio Telescope

2017.01.24 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Unique Restoration of Original Edison Recordings

2017.01.25 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Radio is Key Item in Technology Survey of Concerns

2017.01.26 2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA Participates In 1BCG Commemorative Event

2017 Vol 89 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Youth Activites News & Awards Where Are They Now? Perry, Carole Education

2017.01.27

Man Who Networked the World (Marc Raboy) Bruton, Elizabeth

Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE From the Publications Chairman Bart, David RCA Proceedings 2017.02.04 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE 2017 Technical Symposium Abstracts & Speaker Biographies: The KDKA Tower (Mike Rhodes, Cavell, Mertz & Associates), The New ASTV 3.0 TV Standard (Dennis Wallace, Meintel, Sgrigoli, & Wallace), Robots and Radio –Youth Presentation (Carissa Ferguson, Student), Progress Report on RCA ’ s Youth Initiative (Carole Perry), Transmitting Encrypted Public Safety Video and Data over Broadcast Television Signals (Mark O ’ Brien, SpectraRep), Amazing Breakthroughs and Future Trends in Radar (Eli Brookner, Ph.D.), TV Channel Repacking (Joe Seccia, GatesAir), Fractal Metamaterials and the New Class of Directional Antennas (Nathan “ Chip ” Cohen and Brian Thistle, Fractal Ante nna Systems), Mesh Networks for Emergency Communications for the State of Delaware (Bill Greenhalgh) RCA Symposium

2017.02.05 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE 2017 Banquet Features Keynote Speaker Director Glenn Cannon Banquet

2017.02.06 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA 2017 Banquet to Feature Dr. Ulrich Rohde Banquet

2017.02.07 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE Inside Track with Dr. Ulrich L. Rohde Browne, Jack Interview

Interview

2017.02.08 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE An Interview with Dr. Eli Brookner Bart, David; Cohen, Nathan “Chip”

Awards/Medals

Fellows

Books

RCA News and Notices

2017.02.09 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE Spotlight On 2017 RCA Banquet Awards: Lifetime Achievement AwardUlrich Rohde, Armstrong MedalEli Brookner, Sarnoff CitationJames Breakall, Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio AwardMichael Kalter, Ralph Batcher Memorial AwardThomas F. Peterson, Vivian A. Carr AwardMary Ann Weitnauer, Jack Poppele AwardRobert Hobday, Fred M. Link AwardPeter J. Madsen, R CA Special Services AwardCharles Kirmuss, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard Demello AwardKevin Mc G innis, R CA Young Achiever AwardCarissa Ferguson

2017.02.10 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE 2017 Fellows: David P. Bart, Nathan Dr. Cohen, Brent Finster, Cheryl J. Greathouse, Sean E. Johnson, James M. Roden, Bruce Roloson, Nancy Smith

2017.02.11 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE Book Review: The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors (John Gribbon) Bart, David

Kirmuss, Charles History

2017.02.12 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE In Celebration of Carole Perry ’ s 30th Annual Dayton Hamvention Youth Forum –Morse Code Trainer

2017.02.13 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE Imaging Alphabet Soup to Savor (Video Imaging)

Clarson, Michael

Morgan Books)

Duffy, Tim

Bart, David and Julia History 2017.02.17 2017 Vol 89 No 2 Fall ONLINE Hands On At The Maker Faire

Witkowski, David

Adams, Michael

Schuler,

Awards/Medals

Technical Symposium SpeakersThe KDKA Tower ( Mike Rhodes, Cavell & Mertz & Assocs. , The New ASTV 3.0 TV Standard ( Dennis Wallace , Meintel, Sgrigoli, & Wallace) , Robots and Radio ( Carissa Ferguson , Youth Presentation) , Progress Report on RCA ’ s Youth Initiative ( Carole Perry ), Datacasting for Public Safety ( Mark O ’ Brien , SpectraRep) , TV Channel Repacking ( Joe Seccia, GatesAir) , Amazing Breakthroughs and Future Trends in Radar ( Eli Brookner, Ph.D. ), Fractal Metamaterials and the New Class of Directional Antennas (Nathan “ Chip ” Cohen and Ryan Thistle , Fractal Antenna Systems) , Mesh Network for Emergency Communications for the State of Delaware ( Bill Greenhalgh )

Award RecipientsLifetime Achievement AwardUlrich Rohde, Armstrong MedalEli Brookner, Keynote SpeakerGlenn Cannon, Sarnoff CitationJames Breakall, Fred Link AwardPeter J. Madsen, Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio Award (Michael Kalter), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award (Thomas J. Peterson), Vivian A. Carr Award (Mary Ann Weitnauer), Jack Poppele Award (Robert Hobday), National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard Demello Award (Kevin McGinnis), RCA Special Services Award (Charles Kirmuss), RCA Young Achiever Award (Carissa Fergusson).

201 8 .0 1 18 201 8 Vol 90a No 1 Spr ONLINE Some Candids f rom t he Reception a nd Banquet

Banquet 201 8 .0 1 19 201 8 Vol 90a No 1 Spr ONLINE R CA’ s 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award AddressUlrich Rohde Rohde, Ulrich L. Awards/Medals

201 8 .0 1 20 201 8 Vol 90a No 1 Spr ONLINE RCA’s 2017 Armstrong Medal AddressEli Brookner Brookner, Eli Awards/Medals 201 8 .0 1 . 21 201 8 Vol 90a No 1 Spr ONLINE Fresh Content on the R CA Website RCA News and Notices 201 8 .0 1 22 201 8 Vol 90a No 1 Spr ONLINE RCA’s 2017 Jack Poppele Award AddressRobert Hobday Hobday, Robert Awards/Medals

8 Vol 90a No 1 Spr ONLINE 2018 Wireless Technical Symposium Call For Abstracts RCA Symposium

8 .0 1 23

8 .0 1 24 201 8 Vol 90a No 1 Spr ONLINE RCA’s 2017 Fellows AddressDavid Bart , 2017 Fellows: David P. Bart, Nathan Cohen, Brent Finster, Cheryl J. Greathouse, Sean E. Johnson, James M. Roden, Bruce Roloson, Nancy Smith Bart, David Fellows

90a No 1 Spr ONLINE In celebration of Carole Perry ’ s 30+ Years at Dayton Hamvention Youth ForumMorse Code Trainer

& Speaker BiographiesThe Science & Technology Behind 5 G (Nathan “ Chip ” CohenFractal Antenna Systems , Jonathan LevineMobilitie, Ted RapportNYU Tandon School of Eng.) , Working w ith a Solar Powered Digipeater (Tucker Dunham a nd Abigail Heim, Youth Presentation), Progress Report On R CA’ s Youth Initiative (Carole Perry), Latest Trends In H F Data Transmission (Alan Spindel, Hal Communications), R F Propagation During The August 2017 Eclipse (Nathaniel Frissel, N JIT ), What Will the Market Rollout of 5G Look Like ? (Jonathan Levine, Mobilitie), Interim Report: First N et (Andy Seybold , Mary DohertyMotorola Solutions, Roman KalutaJPS Interoperability Solutions, Mike WorrellFirstNet) , I OT Implementation: Pros and Cons (Paul ScutieriBlack & Veatch, Greg AlbrechtOrion Labs, Barry EinsigCisco, Clint SmithRivada Networks) , A Tribute to W WI The U.S. Naval Radio School a t Harvard University (David Bart, R CA & A WA )

Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE R CA 2018 Banquet to Feature 5 G / m m W ave Pioneer and 2018 Armstrong Medalist Professor Ted Rappaport

2018.02.07

ONLINE 2018 Lee De Forest Award Dr. Nathan “ Chip ” Cohen

No 2

Bart, David; Cohen, Nathan; Rappaport, Theodore Innovation

2018.02.09 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE 2018 Medals: Armstrong Medal (Theodore “ Ted ” S. Rappaport), Lee De Forest Award (Nathan “ Chip ” Cohen), Fred M . Link Award (Joseph L. Yurman), Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer Citation (Mark Allen), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award (June Poppele), Special Recognition Award (Chief Harlin Mc E wen), R CA Young Achiever Award (Abbie Heim and Tucker Dunham), National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard Demello Award (Susan Swenson), U.S. Navy Captain George P. McGinnis Memorial Award (James Stephen Walters), RCA President ’ s Award (Carroll L. Hollingsworth), RCA Patron Award (Robin Sorley)

2018.02.10 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE 2018 Fellows: Steven Ahmed, Bryan Casciano, Martha Carter, Charles Kirmuss, Patti Ryg

Vol 90a No 2

ONLINE Fresh Content on the R CA Website RCA News and Notices 2018.02.13 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Birthplace of Silicon Valley a nd Moore ’ s Law Become I EEE Milestones

2018.02.12

Bart, David MuseumsIEEE 2018.02.14 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Revisiting t he PreHistory o f Silicon Valley Radio and Telegraphy w ere First Bart, David History

2018.02.15 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Voices of Tomorrow : P J 2 YCuraçao Y DXA , July 1924, 2018 Rebba, Dhruv Education

2018.02.16 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Robert Hobday Elected AWA Director and Bruce Roloson Elected AWA Deputy Director NewsIndusry

2018.02.17 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Facebook Satellite Explores Radio Communications Space/Satellites

2018.02.18 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Mysterious Radio Signals Caused by Neutrino? NewsIndusry

2018.02.19 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Chinese Lunar Satellite Sends Images for Amateur Radio Space/Satellites

2018.02.20 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE LED Lighting Interferes with Marine Radios NewsIndusry

2018.02.21 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE New Radio Exhibit Opens –The Sound of the Times: The Michael Molnar Collection, Red Mill Museum Village, Clinton, New Jersey Museums

2018.02.22 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE WiFi Security Update Unveiled NewsIndusry

2018.02.23 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE New Voluntary Television Standards Take Hold Television

Bischoff, Glenn Movies

Facella, John Books

2018.02.24 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Movie Review: Bombshell (on Netflix)

2018.02.25 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Book Review: Antenna Physics: An Introduction (Robert J. Zavrel)

2018.02.26 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE The Book Shop: Next Generation Wireless Communications Using Radio Over Fiber (Nathan J. Gomes, Paulo P. Monteiro, Atílio Gameiro) Books

2018.02.27 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA Strategic Partnerships: APCO, AWA, ETA, IWCE, NATE, NCVA, QCWA RCA News and Notices

Bart, David History

2018.02.28 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE The First Christmas Speech (BBC Radio)

2018.02.29 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Call for Papers & Editorial Comments RCA News and Notices

2018.02.30 2018 Vol 90a No 2 Fall ONLINE Business and Professional Directory

2019.01.01 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Officers, Directors Committees For 2019 RCA Board/Officers

Hollingsworth, Carroll RCA President

Bart, David RCA Proceedings

2019.01.02 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From Your President

2019.01.03 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE From the Publications Chairman

TO

–INCLUDES 20 1 420 2 3

YEAR

Awards/Medals

2019.01.04 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2019 RCA Technical Symposium

2019.01.05 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Special AnnouncementR CA 2019 Banquet to Feature Deputy Commissioner, Intelligence & Counterterrorism John J. Miller

2019.01.06 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA ’s 2018 A rm strong Medal Addre ss –My Life in WirelessTheodore “Ted” Rappaport Rappaport, Theodore “ Ted ”

2019.01.07 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA ’s 2018 Technical Symposium and Banquet Were A Huge Success!

2019.01.08 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE 2018 Technical Symposium and Awards Banquet

2019.01.09 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2018 Award Recipients: Armstrong Medal (Theodore “Ted” S. Rappaport), Lee De Forest Award (Nathan “Chip” Cohen), Fred M. Link Award (Joseph L. Yurman), Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer Citation (Mark Allen), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award (June Poppele), Special Recognition Award (Chief Harlin McEwen), RCA Young Achiever Award (Abbie Heim and Tucker Dunham), National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard Demello Award (Susan Swenson), U.S. Navy Captain George P. McGinnis Memorial Award (James Stephen Walters), RCA President’s Award (Carroll L. Hollingsworth), RCA Patron Awar d (Robin Sorley)

2019.01.10 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Some Candids from the Reception and Banquet Banquet

2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2018 Lee De Forest Award Acceptance Address –Nathan “Chip” Cohen Cohen, Nathan Awards/Medals

2019.01.11

2019.01.12 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2018 Fellows Address –Martha Carter; 2018 Fellows: Charles Kirmuss, Martha Carter, Brian Casciano, Patti Ryg, Steven R. Ahmed Carter, Martha Fellows

2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Florida Engineering Students Treated to Special Presentation o n Life i n Space and Ham Radio Communication Perry, Arielle and Ashley Education

2019.01.13

Amateur Radio

2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Voices of Tomorrow : Solar Powered Amateur Radio Digipeater f or Emergency Applications Dunham, Tucker J. ; Heim, Abagail

2019.01.14

NewsIndustry

NewsIndustry

NewsIndustry

Amateur Radio

2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Radio Club of America (RCA) and the Interna tional Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) Announce the 2019 Young Professionals Award Recipients

2019.01.15

2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Convention Signed to Establish Governing Body for the Square Kilometre Array

2019.01.16

2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE “ RF Seismograph ” May Be Real Seismograph

2019.01.17

2019.01.18 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE US Navy Explores Amateur Radio as a Training Adjunct

2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE OvertheHorizon Radars Raising the Ire of European Monitoring Systems NewsIndustry

2019.01.19

2019.01.20 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE The Book Shop: Tactical Wireless Communications and Networks: Design Concepts and Challenges (George F. Elmasry), The Birth of Electric Traction: T he Extraordinary Life and Times of Inventor Frank Julian Sprague (Frank Rowsome, John L. Sprague)

2019.01.21 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Book Review: The Long Arm of Moore ’ s Law: Microelectronics and American Science (Cyrus C. M. Mody) Bart, David Books

2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY SECTION: APOLLO 11 50 TH ANNIVERSARY

2019.01.22

2019.01.23 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Milestones In Space Exploration Leading to Apollo 11

2019.01.24 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Upcoming Special Exhibits Relating to the Apollo 11 Anniversary

2019.01.25 2019 Vol 90 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Communications On the Moon (Aug. 1969 Electronics World Reprint)

2019 Award Recipients : Armstrong Medal ( Thomas Marzetta ), RCA Lifetime Achievement Award ( Henry Richter ), Lee de Forest Award ( Frederick Baumgartner ), Barry Goldwater Award ( Martin Jue ), Vivian Carr Award ( Margaret Lyons ), Frank Gunther Award ( Robert Strickland ), Alfred H. Grebe Award (Bob Heil), RCA President ’ s Award ( Barney Scholl ), RCA Special Service s Award (David Bart), RCA Special Recognition Award ( Bryan Casciano on behalf of PMC Wireless ), National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard DeMello Award ( Chief Barry Luk e), Fred M. Link Award (George Stoll), RCA Young Achiever Award ( Padraig Lysandrou ), USN Captain George P. McGinnis Memorial Award ( Michael Lee Heenan ), RCA Jay Kitchen Award ( Dr. Kim Kitchen ) Awards/Medals

2019.0 2 .0 8 2019 Vol 90 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA’s 2019 Fellows : Louis Fiore, Dana Hanford, Donald Root, Alan Spindel, Lee Ward, Holly Wayt Fellows 2019.0 2 .0 9 2019 Vol 90 No 2

Free Commemorative Code Practice Oscillator If You Donate to the R CA Youth Program

90 No 2 Fall ONLINE ARRL Awards Technical Innovation Award to RCA Member Joe Taylor and Steve Franke

2 12

Ludwig, George H.

Richter, Henry; Pilkington, William; Eyraud, John P.; Shipley, William S.; Randolph, Lee W.

Hollingsworth, Carroll

Bart, David

Miller, John Banquet

Marzetta, Thomas L. Awards/Medals

RCA Symposium

RCA Symposium

John Miller

2020.01.06 2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2019 Armstrong Medal Address –Thomas L. Marzetta

2020.01.07 2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2019 Technical Symposium Was A Huge Success!RF for Connected and Highly Automated Vehicles (Barry Einsig (CAVita), Jason M. Conley (OmniAir

Consortium)), Massive MIMO and Beyond: Innovation in the Wireless Physical Layer (Thomas Marzetta, NYU Wireless), Wireless Network Virtualization and Evolution: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Headed (Bassem Iskander, JMA Wireless), Progress Report on RCA ’ s Youth Initiative (Carole Perry), The Explorer 1 Satellite Program (Henry Richter, JPL), Since Last Time: Exploration of the New Space Industry (Padraig Lysandrou, University of Colorado, Boulder, GNC Engineer at SpaceX), Television on the Moon (David Bart, RCA/AWA, Alex Magoun, IEEE Outreach Historian), AMSAT ’ s CubeSat Satellite (Alan Johnson, Villanova Univ. & AMSAT), The Edge of Space Sciences DMR Eclipse Project (Mike Pappas, Orban Labs)

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Some Candids from the 2019 Technical Symposium

2020.01.08

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Call For Abstracts RCA’s 2020 Technical Symposium in Pittsburgh RCA Symposium

2020.01.09

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Some Candids from the 2019 Banquet Banquet

2020.01.10

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2019 Award Recipients : Armstrong Medal ( Thomas Marzetta ), RCA Lifetime Achievement Award ( Henry Richter ), Lee de Forest Award ( Frederick Baumgartner ), Barry Goldwater Award ( Martin Jue ), Vivian Carr Award ( Margaret Lyons ), Frank Gunther Award ( Robert Strickland ), Alfred H. Grebe Award (Bob Heil), RCA President ’ s Award ( Barney Scholl ), RCA Service Award (David Bart), RCA Special Recognition Award ( Bryan Casciano on behalf of PMC Wireless ), National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Richard DeMello Award ( Chief Barry Luk e), Fred M. Link Award (George Stoll), RCA Young Achiever Award ( Padrai g Lysandrou ), USN Captain George P. McGinnis Memorial Award ( Michael Lee Heenan ), RCA Jay Kitchen Award ( Dr. Kim Kitchen ) Awards/Medals

2020.01.11

TEN YEAR UPDATE TO THE COMPREHENSIVE INDEX PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA –INCLUDES 20 1 420 2 3

Date CD Archive Title Author

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2019 Fellows Address –Dana Hanford; 2019 Fellows: Louis Fiore, Dana Hanford, Donald Root, Alan Spindel, Holly Wayt Hanford, Dana Fellows

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2019 Lee De Forest Award Acceptance Address –Fred Baumgartner Baumgartner, Fred Awards/Medals

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE New I EEE Milestone Celebrates Hemt and Radio Applications Bart, David MuseumsIEEE

Ahmadi, Hamed ; Katzis, Konstantinos ; Shakir, Muhammad Zeeshan ; Arvaneh, Mahnaz ; G atherer , Alan NewsPandemic

RCA News and Notices

RCA News and Notices

Item

Space/Satellites

Education

2020.01.12

2020.01.13

2020.01.14

2020.01.15 2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Wireless Communication and the Pandemic: The Story So Far

2020.01.16 2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Radio Club of America Announces New Partnership with Government Wireless Technology and Communications Association (GWT&C)

2020.01.17 2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Radio Club of America Announces New Partnership w ith I EEE Communications Society (COMSOC)

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE AMSAT Celebrates 50 Years of Satellite Operations Bart, David

2020.01.18

Facella, John

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA Helps West Point

2020.01.19

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Dayton Hamvention Cancelled and IWCE is Going Virtual NewsPandemic

2020.01.20

Space/Amateur Radio

NewsIndustry

NewsIndustry

Bio/Memoriam/Obit

Bonte, Frances Education

Facella, John Books

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE ISS Receives Interoperable Radio System from ARISS

2020.01.21

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Radar Could Detect Cosmic Neutrinos in Antarctic Ice

2020.01.22

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Undersea Expedition to Retrieve Titanic ’ s Radio

2020.01.23

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Silent Keys: Michael Clarson, Clifford E. Bade

2020.01.24

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Voices of Tomorrow : Citizen Science i n Data Collection and Experimentation

2020.01.25

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Book Review: Energy Choices for the Radio Amateur, Your Power Sources in the 21st Century ( Bob Bruninga )

2020.01.26

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Book Review: Code Girls, The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II ( Liza Mundy ) Facella, John Books

2020.01.27

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Book Review: The TVs of Tomorrow: How RCA ’ s FlatScreen Dreams Led to the First LCDs ( Benjamin Gross ) Bart, David Books

2020.01.28

RCA News and Notices

RCA Directory

RCA Board/Officers

Hollingsworth, Carroll RCA President

Bart, David RCA Proceedings

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Call for Papers & Editorial Comments

2020.01.29

2020 Vol 91 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Business and Professional Directory

2020.01.30

2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE Officers, Directors Committees For 2020

2020.02.01

2020.02.0 2 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE From Your President

3 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE From the Publications Chairman

2020.02.0

2020.02.0 4 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE Special Announcement Dr. Nathaniel Frissell Headlines RCA ’ s 2020 Virtual Awards Program Banquet

Awards/Medals

Fellows

Awards/Medals

Interview

TEN YEAR UPDATE TO THE COMPREHENSIVE INDEX PROCEEDINGS OF THE RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA –INCLUDES 20 1 420 2 3

2020.02.0 5 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE 2020 Technical Symposium Agenda: Recent Progress in Observing Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Using Amateur Radio (Nathaniel Frissell, Univ. of Scranton) , The KDKA Tower (Mike Rhodes, Cavell Mertz), The Modified Franklin Tower –A Look Back at the Past 20 Years (Chris Hudak, KDKA), Listen to What We Started (Jim Graci, KDKA), Progress Report on RCA ’ s Youth Initiatives (Carole Perry, RCA), Youth Presentation:Stranger Things (Frances Bonte, Case Western Reserve), Modern AM Modulation Techniques ( Geoff Mendenhall, Mendenhall En gineerin g), Near Field Drone Measurements of Broadcast Antennas ( Nicole Starrett , Dielectric Corp.) , Next Gen Interactive TV & Advanced Emergency Alerting & Informing ( Fred Baumgartne r, One Media 3.0) , History of Westinghouse Radio & TV Manufacturing on the 100 th Anniversary of KDKA (Mike Molnar), Rail Wireless Communications –What ’ s Next? ( Barry Einsig , Econolite and Umberto Malesci , Fluidmesh Networks)

2020.02.0 6 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE R CA’ s 20 20 Award Recipients : The Sarnoff Citation ( Robert Rouleau and Norman Pearl ), Vivian Carr Award ( Emily Calandrelli ), Young Achiever Award ( Frances “ Frankie ” Bonte ), Jay Kitchen Leadership Award ( Michael T.N. Fitch ), Barry Goldwater Award ( Bob Bruninga ), Jack Poppele Award ( John Schadler ), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award ( Eric P. Wenaas ), U.S. Navy Captain George P. McGinnis Memorial Award ( John A. “ Gus ” Gustafson ), R CA Special Services Award ( Ernie Blair ), R CA President ’ s Award ( Ron Jakubowski )

2020.02.0 7 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA’s 2020 Fellows: Jim Bugel, Raymond L. Grimes, Tracey M. Hilburn, Paul A. Scutieri, David Witkowski, Alan S. Tilles

Amateur Radio

Rouleau , Robert

2020.02.0 8 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE Sarnoff Award Acceptance –It All Began o n Ham Radio –My Dataradio Journey –Robert Rouleau

Space/Astronomy

Space/Astronomy

Space/Astronomy

MuseumsIEEE

Antennas

MuseumsIEEE

Bio/Memoriam/Obit

HistoryBiographical

Facella, John

2020.02.0 9 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA Launches New Interview Series –Ted Rappaport (NYU Wireless), Angel Vazquez (Arecibo Observatory)

2020.02. 10 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE R CA Member Paul Gilbert Becomes A RRL’ s First Director of Emergency Management

2020.02. 11 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE Dr. Joe Taylor Makes First Moonbounce Contact Using F T 8

2020.02. 12 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory T racks Sporadic E

2020.02. 13 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE New Model Predicts Solar Flares That Affect Radio Propagation

2020.02. 14 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE IEEE Commemorates Alohanet with an IEEE Milestone

2020.02. 15 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE The Future of Flying Antennas

2020.02. 16 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE IEEE History Center Celebrates 40 th Anniversary

2020.02. 17 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE Silent Keys: Marc and Carol Ellis

2020.02. 18 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE Brothers In Wireless –Part I ( Sal Barone and John DiBlasi )

2020.02. 19 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE SPECIAL SECTION: 100 YEARS OF KDKA Broadcast/Transmission

Equipment

Bart, David and Julia Broadcast/Transmission

2020.02. 20 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE Past RCA Event Sparks New Company and Changes t he Way Records a re Preserved and Restored (2017 Visit to KDKA)

2020.02. 21 2020 Vol 91 No 2 Fall ONLINE KDKA ’ S 1920 Broadcast Centennial

RCA Symposium

Symposium Was a Huge Success!Recent Progress in Observing Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Using Amateur Radio ( Nathaniel Frissell, Univ. of Scranton ), The KDKA Tower ( Mike Rhodes, Cavell Mertz) , The Modified Franklin Tower : A Look Back at the Past 20 Years ( Chris Hudak , KDKA) , Listen to What We Started ( Jim Graci , K DKA) , Progress Report on RCA ’ s Youth Initiatives ( Carole Perry ), Youth Presentation: Stranger Things ( Frances Bonte , student , Case Western Reserve University) , Modern AM Modulation Techniques , Geoff Mendenhall, Mendenhall Engineering ), 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)

1

6

2021.01

9 2 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 2020 Technical Symposium RCA Symposium 2021.01 .0 7

1 Vol 9 2 No 1 Sprg ONLINE R CA’ s 20 20 Award Recipients : The Sarnoff Citation ( Robert Rouleau and Norman Pearl ), Vivian Carr Award ( Emily Calandrelli ), Young Achiever Award ( Frances “ Frankie ” Bonte ), Jay Kitchen Leadership Award ( Michael T.N. Fitch ), Barry Goldwater Award ( Bob Bruninga ), Jack Poppele Award ( John Schadler ), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award ( Eric P. Wenaas ), U.S. Navy Captain George P. McGinnis Memorial Award ( John A. “ Gus ” Gustafson ), R CA Special Services Award ( Ernie Blair ), R CA President ’ s Award ( Ron Jakubowski )

RCA’s

Fellows: Jim Bugel, Raymond L. Grimes, Tracey M. Hilburn, Paul A. Scutieri, David Witkowski, Alan S. Tilles Fellows

Collins, Kristina ; Kazdan, David ; Frissell , Nathaniel A. Space/Amateur

Welsh , Robert H.

Zavaleta, Jason

Facella, John

Walsh, Elaine

QSO Party Kicks off Transatlantic Centennial RCA News and Notices 202 1 .02.0 9 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA’s 2021 Technical Symposium Will Celebrate Centennial of 1921 Transatlantic Tests RCA Symposium 202 1 .02. 10 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE R CA’ s 20 21 Award Recipients : Jay Kitchen Leadership Award (Dale N. Hatfield), Jerry B. Minter Award (Don Hume), Vivian Carr Award (Ellen O ’H ara), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award (Robert Hobday), R CA President ’ s Award (Alan Spindel), R CA President ’ s Award (Tim Duffy), U.S. Navy Captain George P. McGinnis Memorial Award (Matthew T. Zullo), Richard Demello Award (James Goldstein), R CA Young Achiever ’ s Award (Audrey Mc E lroy) Awards/Medals

202 1 .02. 11 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA’s 202 1 Fellows: Jeffrey G. Knight , Denis Marin , Margie Moulin , Jorge Saad , Donald R. Whitney , Jane Winter Fellows

ONLINE Radio Club of America Member and HamSCI Founder Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, Awarded NASA Research Grant NewsIndustry

202 1 .02. 30 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE FCC and GAO Studies Released About Small Business Broadband Needs NewsIndustry

Amateur Radio 202 1 .02. 32 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE Book Review: Covert Radio Agents, 19391945 ( David Hebditch )

202 1 .02. 31 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE ARRL, RSGB Announce Joint Events to Celebrate Centenary of Ham Radio Transatlantic Success –Additional Events and Commemorations

CalaLazar, Philip Books 202 1 .02. 33 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE Book Review : Cutting the Cord, The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity ( Martin Cooper ) Facella, John Books

1 .02. 34 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE Centennial of A RRL’ s 1921 Convention Bart, David and Julia Amateur Radio

1 .02. 35 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE Silent Keys: Archibald Colville Doty Jr. , Carl Mathis , Robert J. Strickland , Mark David Pallans , Raymond Trott , Donald Taylor Vaughan, Jr.

CENTENNIAL OF THE 1921 TRANSATLANTIC TESTS

1 .02. 37 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE 1921 Transatlantic Tests Photo Montage

1 .02. 38 202 1 Vol 9 2 No 2 Fall ONLINE Organizational Resources to Explore The 1921 Centennial of the Transatlantic Tests

Marinaro, Michael

Bart, David and Julia

Kelley, Bruce

Bart, David and Julia

Taylor, Bruce

Oelke, Ken; Facella, John

Silver, Ward; Donovan, Frank Antennas

Facella, John

Bart, David

2 Vol 9 3 No 1 Sprg ONLINE R CA’ s 20 21 Award Recipients : Jay Kitchen Leadership Award (Dale N. Hatfield), Jerry B. Minter Award (Don Hume), Vivian Carr Award (Ellen O ’H ara), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award (Robert Hobday), R CA President ’ s Award (Alan Spindel), R CA President ’ s Award (Tim Duffy), U.S. Navy Captain George P. McGinnis Memorial Award (Matthew T. Zullo), Richard Demello Award (James Goldstein), R CA Young Achiever ’ s Award (Audrey Mc E lroy) Awards/Medals

Fellows

2022.01 .0 8 202 2 Vol 9 3 No 1 Sprg ONLINE RCA’s 202 1 Fellows: Jeffrey G. Knight , Denis Marin , Margie Moulin , Jorge Saad , Donald R. Whitney , Jane Winter

2022.01 .0 9 202 2 Vol 9 3 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Candids from the 2021 Symposium & Banquet RCA Symposium

2 Vol 9 3 No 1 Sprg ONLINE Views from the 2021 Technical Symposium RCA Symposium

O’Hara, Ellen Awards/Medals

Hatfield, Dale Fellows

Winter, Jane Fellows

Seybold, Andrew Cellular & Digital

Witkowski , David

Sacks , Benjamin J.

Bart, David

to Everyone for Providing RCA’s Online Programs: Jeff Bratcher, Ted Rappaport, Ellen O’Hara, Robert Bell, Nick Tusa, Cheryl Giggetts, Angel Vazquez, Marilyn Ward, Chief Harlan McEwen, Margaret Lyons, Ken Claerbout, Alan Tilles, John Facella, Nathan Cohen, Geoffrey Mendenhall, Jim Graci, Rob Lopez, Greg Glenn, Frank Donovan, Tim Duffy

HamCation 2022 Displays CuttingEdge Technology Amateur Radio

35 202 2 Vol 9 3 No 1 Sprg ONLINE AWA Installs New Exhibit Dedicated to Tom Peterson, RCA Member and Award Recipient

MuseumsAWA 2022.01 . 36 202 2 Vol 9 3

2022 Technical Symposium Agenda November 19, 2022 : From Maxwell to Nanotechnology ( Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Pennsylvania State Univ .), A Look at Current Lower Ionospheric Sensing Techniques and a Movement Towards a Unified Approach ( David Richardson, Georgia Tech Univ .), Antennas and Arrays for Future 5G Systems ( Nima Ghalichechian, Georgia Tech Univ .), Big Problems Solved for Small Satellites ( Nathan Cohen, Fractal Antenna Systems ), The Current State of Satellite Security ( Rachel “ RC ” Jones, Univ North Dakota ), RCA Youth Activities ( Carole Pe rry ), From High Schooler to Ramblin ’ Wreck: Youth in Amateur Radio from the Perspective of a Youth Woman in Engineering ( Audrey McElroy, Georgia Tech Univ .), Designing a Scalable 5GEnabled Connected Intelligent Edge ( Divyam Mishra, Qualcomm ), The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, “ HAARP ” , A Brief History and Engineering Review ( Steve Floyd, HAARP, Alaska ), Advanced Packaging for 6G Communications ( Madhavan Swaminathan, Georgia Tech Univ .)

RCA’ s 20 22 Award Recipients : Lifetime Achievement Award ( Akhlesh Lakhtakia ), Wireless Innovation Award ( Arlene Harris ), Excellence In Sales and Marketing Award ( Patti Ryg ), RCA Special Recognition Award ( Don Root ), RCA Special Services Award ( Ellen O ’H ara ), Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio Award ( Edward M. Gable ), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award ( Jim and Felicia Kreuzer ), RCA Special Recognition Award ( Evan P. Rolek ), RCA President ’ s Award ( Paul Scutieri ) , RCA Emerging Professional Award ( Divyam Mishra ), Collegiate Achievement Award ( Audrey Mc E lroy ) Awards/Medals

Fellows

Seybold, Andrew Public

Kreuzer , Jim and Felicia MuseumsAWA

9 3 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA’s 2022 Fellows: Lynn J. Bisha, Jim Breakall, Jason Kern, Neil Horden, Pete Varounis

2

2 .02. 11

Recipient, Passes Away Bart, David ; Breakall, Jim ; Cohen , Nathan Bio/Memoriam/Obit

Bart, David

(Microwave J. reprint and

202 2 .02. 12 202 2 Vol 9 3 No 2 Fall ONLINE PushToTalk Is Public Safety ’

Viterbi

2022 Technical Symposium Program and Speakers: From Maxwell to Nanotechnology ( Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Pennsylvania State Univ .), A Look at Current Lower Ionospheric Sensing Techniques and a Movement Towards a Unified Approach ( David Richardson, Georgia Tech Univ .), Antennas and Arrays for Future 5G Systems ( Nima Ghalichechian, Georgia Tech Univ .), Big Problems Solved for Small Satellites ( Nathan Cohen, Fractal Antenna Systems ), The Current State of Satellite Security ( Rachel “ RC ” Jones, Univ North Dakota ), RCA Youth Activities ( Carole Perry ), From High Schooler to Ramblin ’ Wreck: Youth in Amateur Radio from the Perspective of a Youth Woman in Engineering ( Audrey McElroy, Georgia Tech Univ .), Designing a Scalable 5GEnabled Connected Intelligent Edge ( Divyam Mishra, Qualcomm ), The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, “ HAARP ” , A Brief History and Engineering Review ( Steve Floyd, HAARP, Alaska ), Advanced Packaging for 6G Communications ( Madhavan Swaminathan, Georgia Tech Univ .)

Bart, David

; Mackay, Tom G.

Was a Huge Success!From Maxwell to Nanotechnology ( Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Pennsylvania State Univ .), A Look at Current Lower Ionospheric Sensing Techniques and a Movement Towards a Unified Approach ( David Richardson, Georgia Tech Univ .), Antennas and Arrays for Future 5G Systems ( Nima Ghalichechian, Georgia Tech Univ .), Big Problems Solved for Small Satellites ( Nathan Cohen, Fractal Antenna Systems ), The Current State of Satellite Security ( Rachel “ RC ” Jones, Univ . North Dakota ), RCA Youth Activities ( Carole Perry ), From High Schooler to Ramblin ’ Wreck: Youth in Amateur Radio from the Perspective of a Youth Woman in Engineering ( Audrey McElroy, Georgia Tech Univ .), Designing a Scalable 5GEnabled Connected Intelligent Edge ( Divyam Mishra, Q ualcomm ), The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, “ HAARP ” , A Brief History and Engineering Review ( Steve Floyd, HAARP, Alaska ), Advanced Packaging for 6G Communications ( Madhavan Swaminathan, Georgia Tech Univ .)

Bart, David; Facella, John Interview

Bart, David Cellular

Handheld Mobile Telephone

9 4 No 1 Sprg ONLINE An Essay Considering Paradigms, Cell Phones, a nd t he Contributions o f R CA Members t o t he World

Bart,

Seybold,

(1)

Fellows

A.

Seybold, Linda

RCA’ s 20 23

Recipients : Armstrong Medal (Ajay Poddar), Jerry B. Minter Award (Eugene Tan), Ralph Batcher Memorial Award (Lynn Bisha), Edgar F. Johnson Pioneer Citation ( Steven Nichols ) , Alfred H. Grebe Award (Ted Henry), RCA Special Recognition Award (Alan Tilles), RCA Special Service Award (Ray Novak), Lee DeForest Award (Chuck Soulliard), Sarnoff Citation (Steve Floyd), RCA Business Award (Tim Duffy and DX Systems), RCA Jay Kitchen Award (Todd Schlekeway), RCA President ’ s Award (Karen Clark), Carole Perry Young Professional Awar d (Ruth Willet), Richard Demello Award from the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) (D. Terry Hall)

3 Fellows: Angela R. Batey , Jon Paul Beauchamp , Jeff Bratcher , Cheryl Giggets , Walter (Tom) Loughney Jr. , M icheal J. Pappas , Chester “ Barney ” Scholl , Phillip Kirmuss

3 Technical Symposium Program and Speakers: Antennas & Microwave SGSP (Signal Generations Signal Processing) Electronics, Sensors, and SDR (SoftwareDefined Radio) for the A pplications in C urrent and L ater G eneration C ommunication S ystems and Sustainable Developments ( Dr. Ajay Poddar, Synergy Microwave Corp. ), The Road to LTE HPUE (High Power User Equipment) ( Robert “ Bob ” LaRose, Assured Wireless Corporation , Retired), When “ Old ” is “ New ” Again ( Charles B. Kirmuss, Kirmuss Audio ), Engineering My College Radio Station, WUVT, Provided a Diverse and Practical Engineering Experience That Is Key to My Professional Success ( Steve Floyd, Ultra Electronics , former Chief RF Systems Design Engineer for HAARP ), The Next Generation of Shared Spectrum ( Richard Lee, iPosi Inc .) RCA Youth Activities ( Carole Perry, Youth Activities ), BARC Jr at the Dayton HamVention Youth Forum ( Eric Permut , Youth Presenter), Amateur Radio and Acoustics –The Frequencies That Connect My Life ( Ruth Willet, Graduate Student in Acoustics, Penn State University ), Rapid DNA: Combining Microfluidics, Optics, and Analog to Digital Conversion to Make the World a Better Place ( Dr. Eugene Tan, ANDE Corporation ), Introduction to RF Hacking and Impacts on Satellites ( Rachel Jones, Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Ph.D. Student , Univ North Dakota )

Public Safety Advocate: Andy Seybold, W8GEC, Silent Key

Seybold, Andrew

Bart, David

lroy, Jack

Bart, David; Poddar,

Witkowski, David

Teisberg, Thomas

Yirka,

Clarivate

Patel, Prachi NewsIndustry 202 3 .02. 23 202 3 Vol 9 4 No 2 Fall ONLINE The Holmdel Horn, A Cosmic Shrine i n New Jersey, Stays Put

Wearers Exercise

Overbye, Dennis Space/Astronomy 202 3 .02. 24 202 3 Vol 9

RCA Congratulations to the 2023 Interviewees: Rich Berliner, Ira Wiesenfeld, Karmel Thomas, Ron Taylor, Debra Jordan, Michael F. Paul, June Matt Deutch, Glenn Nelson

3 .02. 27 202 3 Vol 9 4 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA Participates i n a Record Number of Events i n 2023 a nd Considers Where to Go i n 2024 RCA News and Notices

202 3 .02. 28 202 3 Vol 9 4 No 2 Fall ONLINE RCA Launches Experts & Legends o n t he Website RCA

Facella,

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

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.

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.

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

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

• Broadband communications

• Broadcast

• Cellular telephony

• FirstNet

• Ham (amateur) radio

• Land mobile radio

• Long-Term Evolution (LTE)

• Military communications

• Regulatory topics

• Robotics

• Satellites

• 4G/5G Cellular

• Semiconductors, LED or other devices supporting wireless communications

• Any other wireless/radio technologies

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.)

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.

READY TO INVEST IN THE FUTURE?

Thanks to our sleek new RCA website, opportunities to host innovative virtual programs and more new ways to connect with RCA members, being an RCA sponsor is a better-than-ever investment in the future.

Details are coming soon. If you can’t wait, contact Karen Clark, Sponsor Committee Chair at kjclark33@comcast.net to get a sneak peek!

The Annual RCA Awards Banquet is the premier industry event to honor exceptional achievements by those who devote themselves to wireless communications. The event also showcases the achievements of middle and high school students involved in the RCA Youth Activities Program. Through your sponsorship your Company will receive: Recognition, Logo Visibility, Opportunity to reach a targeted market of Technical Executives, not to mention…your Sponsorship makes it possible for us to keep this event affordable for attendees and shows your support for our industry’s finest performers—both established and up-and-coming— whose invention, ingenuity and dedication benefit us all.

Logos on event banners at Tech Symposium and Banquet

Logo on Banquet PowerPoint

Logo in commemorative Banquet program

Logo and URL on RCA website

Full page ad in Aerogram and Proceedings (full membership distribution)

Company logo on signage supporting Young Achievers Company logo in Proceedings

Inclusion in all commerials and soundbites during Symposium

Branding on all Symposium videos on RCA YouTube channel

Half page ad in Proceedings, logo in Aerogram

Lanyard with logo

Quarter page ad in Proceedings logo in Aerogram

Table signage

6 tickets to Tech Symposium

Logo on speaker podium

Event signage

Exclusive networking opportunity

Logo on cocktail napkins

VIP cocktail named after you

7’ x 7’ step and repeat backdrop featuring your logo and RCA logo

2 Banquet and Tech Symposium

tickets

Social media branding

Special pre- and post event recognition

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.

COMPANY NAME (as you would like it to appear in promotional materials):

You can pay online at www.radioclubofamerica.org or call Karen Clark at kjclark33@comcast.net for more information, to pay by check or for the specifications for your company logo.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

ANTIQUE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION

Robert Hobday, President and Chairman David Bart, Board of Directors

PO Box 421

Bloomfield, NY 14469

PHONE: (847) 542-9873 jbart1964@gmail.com www.antiquewireless.org

Preserving the Past for Posterity

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

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.

PANTHER PINES CONSULTING

John Facella, P.E., BSEE, MBA, Principal

PHONE: (978) 799-8900 pantherpinesconsulting@gmail.com www.pantherpinesconsulting.com Communications & Management Consulting

BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY

RADIORESOURCE MEDIA GROUP

Paula A. Nelson-Shira, Owner

7108 S. Alton Way, Building H Centennial, CO, 80112

PHONE: (330) 792-2390 x112

FAX: (330) 792-2391

pnelson-shira@RRMediaGroup.com RRMediaGroup.com

Information leader on wireless communications since 1984.

ROYAL COMMUNICATIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Maggie Lynch, President 3135 Coachman Ct. Oceanside, CA 92056

PHONE: (760) 529-9518 sales@royal-communications.com royalcominc.com

Specializing in the sales and service of Barrett High Frequency, Single Sideband transceivers that are dependable and easy to use.

TWR

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

RFI AMERICAS

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

Manufacturer of antennas and RF conditioning equipment for LMR

TOWER INNOVATIONS, INC.

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 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

RLA COMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING, LLC

Robert A. Lopez, P.E., President 8305 Bergenline Avenue #9

North Bergen, NJ 07047

PHONE: (973) 449-5249

rlopez@rlacommunications.com

www.rlacommunications.com

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

TSR CONSULTING ®

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

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

RCA CALENDAR EVENTS

CALENDAR

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

RCA EVENTS INDUSTRY EVENTS

2024 RCA BANQUET AND TECHNICAL SYMPOSIUM

November 23, 2024 New York City

CONNECTIVITY EXPO

May 14-16, 2024

Atlanta, GA

DAYTON HAMVENTION

May 17-19, 2024

Dayton, OH

UTC TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY

May 20-24, 2024 Mobile, AL

APCO INTERNATIONAL

August 4-7, 2023 Orlando, FL

SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS

October 24-26, 2024 Chicago, IL

Do you want to see RCA at more shows? Please drop us a line and help organize an RCA booth. We are ready to come to you!!

DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD BE A GREAT FIT FOR RCA?

With our new online membership application it’s easier than ever to get involved! RCA members include inventors, scientists, industry professionals, members of the press, the FCC, government agencies, and world class amateur operators. We were there at the dawn of radio history and are committed to keeping our members up to date on the latest in wireless technology. RCA believes in the future of the industry and your membership will help us with the important work of encouraging the next generation of wireless pioneers and entrepreneurs.

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!

SHARE YOUR RCA STORY

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.

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

SHOP AMAZON & HELP RCA

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.

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) 430-6995.

HEADQUARTERS OFFICE

ADDRESS: 13570 Grove Drive #302 Maple Grove MN 55311

PHONE: (612) 430-6995

EMAIL: amy@radioclubofamerica.org

WEBSITE: www.radioclubofamerica.org