[JMS] A Quest for the Millen Calls

[Don Buska]

I just checked the on-line QST search.  Millen was W1AXL in a Sept 1931
QST Article. So I will send an email to John Stoughton and find out if
he can remember when he really got the call.

73

Don N9OO

-----Original Message-----
From: james_millen_society-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:james_millen_society-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Don
Buska
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 2:00 PM
To: james_millen_society at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [JMS] A Quest for the Millen Calls
Importance: High


Hi All,

I have always had it in the back of my mind to determine just what
callsigns and when James Millen held them in the past.  If you've ever
read through the articles on our JMS site you will find some references
to old calls, but seldom any real dates.  From what I have gathered he
started with 2BYP.  This would have been his callsign back when he was
in Long Island.  Now Millen did begin working for National in the
1926-27 time frame.  Thus it would be expected that he moved to New
England during this period also.  In the July 1971 CQ article on the
SW-3 receiver it indicates Millen's call was W1AXL.  As most of you know
the W1HRX call came about when the HRO receiver was developed and was
suppose to be W1HRO.  Per John Nagle's wonderful article (on our site)
on the History of National it places the HRO's announcement as October
1934.  So I suspect that W1HRX wasn't issued until 1934.  Now here is a
twist.  If you look up W1AXL on QRZ.COM it is held by John Stoughton and
he states he's held that call since May 1930!  

So who has more info?  Maybe I should email Merrill Bancroft to see if
he has any documents from those early days which may shed some light on
this topic.  If Millen did hold the call W1AXL then he must have had a
different call between 1930 and 1934.  That seems unlikely though.
Perhaps the CQ article got the early 1-land call incorrect, or John
Stoughton made a mistake on the year.  I have never seen a reference to
a W2BYP used and that would make sense if Jim moved to New England
before the prefixes got added.

So does anyone know for certain what Millen's call was between 1926-27
and 1934?

I also would love to find a QSL sent by Millen during the 1927-1929 time
frame.  Bascially to find out what equipment he was running for general
ham work.  Those being his first years at National as General Manager
and also during a period where he wrote a great deal about his TV work.
This is also the time period of the SW-2 development (See the article "A
Non-Radiating Short-Wave Tuner" on our website).  Hey I wonder how much
time he even had to play radio??

I guess it may be time to visit the Milwaukee downtown library again and
go through all the early Radio News, Radio Broadcast, etc. magazines and
see if I can find any news items which may reference his call.  First I
guess a page-by-page going through of QST's for that time frame should
be my first attempt.  I have those on CD.  I'm sure Millen must have
wrote some QST articles in that time frame which would have had his
call.  The problem with the other radio mags of the time the calls don't
often get used. 

Any ideas folks?

More to come - 73

Don N9OO
 
______________________________________________________________
James_Millen_Society mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/james_millen_society
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/faq.htm
Post: mailto:James_Millen_Society at mailman.qth.net