G[mloulnal - Quarter Century Wireless Association

I)on Casc KA(4All\,I
Don B. Case
(QC\7A #14064) received
his first license as
9DTXin 1921. Recently,
Chapter 58 honored Don
by presenting him 80 Year
Certificate number 19.
This is indeed a rare
honorwithin the QCVA
and ham radio. Several
members of Don's famiiy
amended the presentation
including his son DonJr.,
grandson, and greatgranddaughter.
Don explained that
his first exposure to ham
radio was via a friend
whose brother was a ham.
He was fascinated by the
spark transmitter and the lure of electronics never left him. tiTorld
\Var I interrupted amateur radio in the United States, but afterwards
he was boodegging to get on the air. Don can recail that
CliffFay, KTBQwas
born in 1903 in St. Louis,
Missouri. At the age of 16
he and some other members
ofhis high school science
club went to take the
exam for a radio license.
Cliff received the call
9ARG in 1920 and set up
a rotary spark gap transmitter
in his Mother's
kitchen. He had a regenerative
receiver and
worked stations in Elizabeth,
NJ and Roswell,
NM using an inverted L
antenna about 60 feet off
Cliff Fav, KTRQ
the ground. Cliff mentioned
hearing a commercial
experimental station 8XK in the ham band before KDKA was
on the air. \X.&ile in high school Cliff had a job replacing liquid
batteries for door bells with the new #6 dry cells.
C1iff attended the January 20th Arizona Chapter QC\7A 16
meeting in Surprise, AZ to receive his 80 year award.
Robert E Baird \\''9NN
D. B. "l)oc" Appleton K1RR
QCWA Iournal - Summer 2001
when 9QL found out about this bootlegging he was seriously admonished
and encouraged to get a proper license, which he soon
did receiving 9DTX.
In 1937 Don's interest in electronics led him to opening his
own radio repair shop in Denver, Colorado. He recoliected that he
took a TV repair course from Denver Universiry in 1951. People
were showing up in the area with broken TVs, however, the first
broadcast station in Denver did not go on the air until 19521 Don
was fixing TVs in Denver before there was TV in Denver. He said
if he could just get snow on the screen he had to consider the set
fixed.
Raising a family and running his business took a toll on his
ham activiry and he let his original license lapse. But in the 70's
the CB craze again sparked his interest in communication and he
was licensed as KAOABM. Don just turned 97 on February lst
and is still active from the care center at which he lives, most often
checking in to the Denver RADOPS net.
Chapter 58 would like to congratulate Don on his accomplishment
and wishes him the best. tWe only hope that we can
present him an 85-year award in five years.
By Skip \Withrow VBOBBE - Secretary/Tieasurer - Colorado
Chapter 58
Bill Svrnons KlIH
-|oe Strazzarino W(jBWZ