[today’s run: 3 miles with the dog (to the white house)]
I’m not exactly sure how my father got interested in ham radio. But I do remember going with him to the home of a fellow church member who was a WW2 radio operator and long time ham.
Later, my dad got his ham license and I tagged along at various times. He took me to the Des Moines Radio Amateur Association meetings a few times. One time we went up on the roof of the KRNT building, the base of the tower, the “Red – warmer weather ahead” weather beacon.
Over the years I have collected a fair amount of ham radio literature, sales brochures, old catalogs, etc.
I don’t know exactly how I got this thing, but I have a program for the 1954 DMRAA ARRL convention at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. (This is quite awhile before I came on the scene.)
The president of the DMRAA was Bob Denniston (W0NWX) a long time DX-er. Earlier in 1954 Denniston and four others from Iowa made the famous Clipperton Island DX-pedition that used the Hallicrafters SX-88 receiver. Sure enough, there are two slots in the program for hour-long presentations about the Clipperton trip. Later Denniston became ARRL president and eventually retired to the British Virgin Islands. There’s quite a bit on the internet about Denniston.
The DMRAA is still around today.
