[Elecraft] HAMFEST WINNERS & HISTORY CORRECTED

[KENT TRIMBLE]

At the 1961 Quad City ARC W9YCR Hamfest, a Gonset G-76 transceiver was 
the main prize and won by a non-licensed teenage lad who found himself 
under siege from  a dozen or more older hams wanting to keep it in 
licensed hands before he even got it to his dad's car.

Art Collins was forced to sell the Collins Radio Company to North 
American Rockwell (not Raytheon) in order to avoid bankruptcy after 
literally betting the store on his C-system computer. It was therefore 
Rockwell-Collins (not Raytheon) that built the KWM-380 and Senator Barry 
Goldwater received the first production radio.

73,

Kent  K9ZTV



On 3/30/2022 5:53 PM, Scott Manthe wrote:
> Back in the late 70s or early 80's, when I was a teenager and a 
> "lowly" Technician, one of my teenager Technician friends won a 
> KWM-380 at the Cedar Rapids hamfest. The old-timers were not amused. 
> I'd have preferred to win the radio, but barring that, seeing the 
> reaction of those old guys to a teenager Tech winning that KWM-380 was 
> pretty priceless. Of course, now I am one of those old guys...
>
> 73,
> Scott N9AA
>
>
> On 3/30/22 1:40 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:
>> Ummm ... Art Collins had a very large military business in addition 
>> to a small amateur one, and sold his company to Raytheon who, it 
>> turned out, had little interest in building amateur gear.  The 
>> decision to leave the market was voluntary, although I have vague 
>> memories of one incredibly expensive Raytheon-Collins HF transceiver 
>> [KWM-380? or something like that] before the end.  I don't know why 
>> Ten-Tec left, they had a very loyal and well deserved following, but 
>> running a business is really complex, and they expired well before 
>> COVID became a word.  To each his own.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
>> Sparks NV DM09dn
>> Washoe County
>>
>