Former ARRL and QCWA president Harry Dannals, W2HD, became a Silent Key on August 30 at age 95. Dannals served as ARRL president from 1972-1982, according to the ARRL, and was named President Emeritus in 1984. He was also president of the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) from 1989-1994, and was later named President Emeritus of that organization as well. During his time leading the ARRL, Dannals presided over preparations for the 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-79), which led to amateur radio’s acquisition of “the WARC bands,” 30, 17 and 12 meters. Dannals lived in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Bob Miller, K2RM, became a Silent Key on August 27. He was 79 and lived in Mesa, Arizona. Miller was a major player in the amateur radio industry in the latter part of the 20th century, as a vice president of RadioShack. Bob was responsible for bringing amateur radio gear into the company’s product line. He is also considered the father of the Family Radio Service (and was a longtime friend of all of us at CQ).
Finally, SETI pioneer Frank Drake (who was not a ham but influenced many of us) passed away at his home in California on September 2. He was 92. Drake had a wide-ranging career as an astronomer, including discovery of a radiation belt around Jupiter and more. But his life’s passion was always the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI. He is perhaps best known for developing the “Drake Equation” which estimates the likely number of advanced civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.
