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.
