[Hallicrafters] W9NZM Bob Bauman

[Carl]

So youre the culptit!

I purchased large numbers of turns counters and knobs from Bob in the 80's 
and early 90's and when he started to have health problems I offered to buy 
the tooling, etc. He told me he had promised them to someone in FL if I 
remember. He could certainly talk my ear off on the telephone and had sent 
me several photos and articles of the old days.

I met him when I was living in Roselle, IL earlier thru another Itasca ham.

BTW. Don Miller, W9WNV,  became one of the biggest frauds and cheats in the 
ham radio Hall of Shame and later went to prison for murdering his wife.

Carl
KM1H




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill" <bmarx at bellsouth.net>
To: "Hallicrafters" <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 6:44 PM
Subject: [Hallicrafters] W9NZM Bob Bauman


> After seeing Dave's comment below about my old and dear friend prompted
> me to
>
> also comment about Bob W9NZM.  Bob was a very unique individual  and ham 
> as
> well.  His uniqueness begins with his QTH north west of  Chicago.  At one 
> time
> it was relatively isolated, 10 acres in the midst  of Illinois cornfields.
>
> His QTH was once a contest group shack (I think W9LNM) and featured 
> wooden
> "power poles" as antenna supports. Mono band 10m  20m and two  elements on 
> 40m.
> A beam on 40m was pretty unusual back in the 50's.   Other towers as well,
> Tri-Ex crankup with 20m, and at least two or more  towers lying 
> horizontal, some
> day to be erected (they never were).  Back in the fifties a very talented 
> young
> ham named Don Miller operated from this station, a winning score only to 
> later
> be disqualified do to (unnecessary)padding of the log.
>
> Later Bob  acquired the "club site" and began to build a home essentially 
> by
> himself.  He was very accomplished in many venues, including carpentry.
>
> One of the challenges of having a ham station in this location was the AM 
> radio
> station, WBBM at 50,000w which was a close neighbor. You could  light a 
> neon
> lamp or fluorescent bulb from the energy collected on the  fences.  The
> house/shack was essentially a "screen room" as it was  completely shielded 
> with
> copper screening. It was very effective.
>
> Bob  was essentially an old time manufacturers rep. Specialized in 
> components,
> knobs, switches and most anything a customer wanted.  Bob  had a very 
> complete
> model shop, lathes, mills, presses and even molding  machines.  He could
> fabricate a prototype control or switch for the  design engineer to 
> review, and
> it was a model for the manufacturer to go  to production with.  He had 
> quite a
> collection of tools, and on several  occasions I accompanied him when 
> checking
> out a shop closure for that  unique piece of equipment.  My first lathe 
> came
> from
>
> Bob's shop -  and later it turned out to be a unique collectors piece. 
> Bob
> called on most of the electronics manufacturers then in Chicago, 
> Hallicrafters,
> Zenith, Motorola, Warwick, and dozens of small component suppliers that he
> represented. Bob did  acquire the design and tooling from Groth Dials and
> continued to make turn counters for many years.  His declining health
> (Alzheimer's)unfortunately  left many unfinished orders that I recall 
> seeing
> scattered over his desk.
>
> I had just acquired the Cubex Quad company and was hoping to
> take on  the Groth Dials as well.  The challenge of moving the heavy 
> equipment
> to Florida, and Bob's continued rapid decline never allowed that to come 
> to
> fruition.
>
> As the DX community in the northwestern suburbs  know, Bob and his XYL 
> Edna were
> very generous with Christmas parties  being held at their club in Itasca, 
> and
> the summer picnics in his  backyard.  Bob was a charter member of the 
> Northern
> Illinois DX  Association, a competitive ham, and a resource to many of the
> electronic  equipment manufacturers in the Chicago area as well as a great
> friend.   His thoughtfulness and almost impish smile and dapper mustache 
> will
> not  be forgotten by those who knew him.
>
> Regards,
>
> Norm W4QN
> ====================================================
>
>
> =====================================================
>
>> From the Hallicrafters List:
>>
>>  I saw Bob Bauman listed in the October QST Silent Keys.  Many of you 
>> may>
>>remember him as the designer and later manufacturer of the Groth turn 
>>counter
>>dial.  Later he made what he called the Groth Type counter dial under his 
>>own
>>company name Bauman Manufacturing.
>>
>>  My last contact with Bob was in the late 1980's when he made a few 
>> special
>>counter dials for ON4UN and others.  They do show up at hamfests and Ebay
>>usually as part of a homebrew amp or tuner.
>>
>>  Bob was a very active ham on CW and AM in the 1950's winning his state 
>> for the
>>ARRL SS and DX Competition.
>>
>>  73 Dave K4JRB
>
>
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