History of the Original W3DF How It Came To Be

It all began in November 1997 when I was very fortunate to have a contact with Prose Walker - W4BW.  In August 1997 I had returned to ham radio after being inactive for 13 years while my XYL and I raised our two children.

At 11 PM on November 7, 1997 I called CQ on 40 meter CW and Prose answered by call.  During our first QSO Prose said it was very strange to hear the call of his old friend and asked if I knew of George Sterling.  I told him I knew of George but did not know much about him.  After several additional QSOs with Prose in November and December 1997 I began searching for more information about George.  Prose and I kept in touch via regular QSOs on 40 and 80 meter CW and I would "pick his brain" about George whenever I could.  After the passing of his wife, Prose relocated from Tallahasse, Florida to a retirement home near Rochester, NY in May of 1999 to be near his daughter.   Prose turned 90 in February 2000.

In early January 2002, Prose gave me his autographed copy of George's book.  During one of our earlier contacts Prose had told me that he had an autographed copy of George's book, "The Radio Manual" that George had given to him as a gift.  During an 80M CW QSO in November 2001 Prose asked if I was interested in having George's book.  I told him I would be honored to have this momento from the past and thanked him for offering it to me.  I told him that it would be handled with care.  Earlier in 2001 I had purchased the 1928 edition of the Radio Manual to read some of the chapters that Prose had talked about during our QSOs.  The chapter on vacuum tubes was his favorite.  Prose personnaly knew most of the people who had contributed to the writing of George's book and was fortunate to meet most of the radio pioneers of his generation.

Prose erecting the tower at his Tallahassee QTH in 1986		The Tallahassee radio shack in 1989

Prose's workbench in the radio shack was used for small projects		The workshop in the garage was used for large projects

After receiving the book in early 2002, Prose told the story of how he acquired the book during one of our QSOs.  During a visit with George in December 1955, Prose and his wife Ellaine stayed with George and his wife Margaret for the new year celebration.  On new years day, January 1, 1956, George presented an autographed copy of his book to Prose.  Forty-six years later, Prose passed the book along to me.  Prose said George would be pleased to know that the holder of his callsign would be the second owner of his book.  Prose inscribed a note next to George's on the inside leaf.  The inscriptions were made 46 years apart "to the day."  As a point of reference, I was six years old the day George presented this book to Prose and it would be another twelve years before I would obtain my first amateur radio license.

In addition to the book, Prose gave me a photograph he took of George while they were in Hawaii in March 1942 to set up several monitoring stations to support the war.  Prose told me that there were other photos that he would send but unfortnately he was not able to locate them and send them to me before he passed away.  A few months before his death Prose had purchased an Icom 756Pro2 transceiver.  During our last QSO on 80M the evening of May 11, 2002 he raved about it's performance as it compared to the Kenwood TS-570D he used previously.

Since I have put this information on the web I have been contacted by some of George's associates from the Radio Intelligence Division (RID), his grandchildren, great grandchildren, and other amateurs who knew George.  Many of them have provided the information and photographs you see on the my web pages.

The photos below show three of Prose's QSL cards.  The first QSL (left) is from a 40 meter CW QSO in 1935.  The second (middle) QSL is from my first contact with Prose in 1970.  At that time I was stationed in Edzell, Scotland with the U.S. Naval Security Group and was operating with the call GM5ASI.  The QSL on the right is his card from his Tallahassee, Florida QTH from a 80 meter CW QSO made just after he moved to Rochester, New York.  The QSL at the top of this page shows Prose's shack at his Tallahassee QTH.  The picture on the QSL card was taken in 1992 when Prose was 82 years old.  Prose remained active on the air and kept regular 20 meter schedules with his old FCC and Collins Radio colleagues.

Prose's 1935 QSL		Prose's QSL from a 1970 QSO while I was in Scotland.		Prose's Florida QSL from 1997

Prose Walker is considered the godfather of the WARC bands, 30, 17, and 12 meters.  Prose headed the FCC Amateur and Citizens Division from 1971 until 1975 when he retired from the FCC.  He made the initial proposal for three new amateur band allocations at 10, 18 and 24 MHz during the International Amateur Radio Club (4U1ITU) meeting in Geneva in 1972.  He organized and chaired the U.S. preparatory committee for the Amateur Service, the Advisory Committee of Amateur Radio, which took the initial steps to turn the proposal into reality at the 1979 Workd Administrative Radio Conference.

Prose Walker and Dr. Lee de Forest circa 1950s.		1975:  Prose at his FCC retirement party.  Pictured left to right:  Prose Walker (W4BW), John Jacobs (W4ZDN), and Vern Wilson (W4MA).

1992:  Prose in his shack in Tallahassee, Florida		May 2002:  Prose in his shack in Rochester, New York

Prose Walker at the Dayton Hamvention in May 2000.

Prose gave me much insight into the life of George Sterling and helped guide me to the sources for the material I have gathered.  Without his help this project would not have happened.  I continue to update the web pages when I come across new information.  If you have or know of additional information about George Sterling's history I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

In July of 2002 I located a series of articles that George wrote and had published in the Spark Gap Times in 1963 and 1964.  The Spark Gap Times is the newsletter of the Old Old Timers Club (OOTC).  I became a member of the OOTC in 2008.

In September 2002, I was contacted by Al - W3ZIP and Merle - W3OKN who were friends of George and members of the Radio Intelligence Division (RID) during WWII.  Al and Merle complied George's notes and files and published a document that describes the history and accomplishments of the Radio Intelligence Division.  These documents were part of a manuscript for a book that George had worked on after his retirement.  George tried to have it published, however, it is likely that too much time had passed resulting in no interest from the publishers.  The manuscript laid dormant until Merle and Al took on the task to assemble it and make it available to those who were interested in the history and accomplishments to the Radio Intelligence Division.  I have updated this document with photographs that I have collected since 1997.  This document has been updated with new photos several times since it was first published on the web in 2012.

In March 2004, George's granddaughter Suzanne Hilton provided material about her grandmother and grandfather.  The photos of Margaret, the marriage license, George’s business card and the photo of George fishing were provided by Suzanne.

In November 2006, Walt Maxwell (W2DU) provided the 1942 photos of George, Charlie Ellert, Prose Walker in the punch bowl in Hawaii, the Adcock DF antenna and the little grass shack.

In March of 2009, Bob Green (W8JYZ) provided a scan of George’s 1965 QSL card. 

In March 2010, John, VK6AU provided the photos of Prose's Tallahasse shack and workshops.

In August 2010, Berj - KI3U provided a scan of Georges's 1979 QSL card.  In early 1979 Berj had several QSOs with George on 75M SSB.  George was still living on Peaks Island then and kept regular schedules with his old friends.

In February 2019, Brian Duddy (N2BTD) provided a scan of a QSL sent in 1924 to an experimental amateur station (3XX) who was in violation of the radio regulations.