The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast February 23, 1990

     In order to obtain the best performance from any transmitter or receiver, you must first start with a good antenna.  Radio amateur and engineer Michael Ercolino, W2BDS, of Asbury Park, New Jersey, knew this better than most.  Mike has worked in radio communication systems since 1921.  He started as a radio officer aboard ships.
     In 1942, Mike was a radio development engineer in the U. S. Army Research and Development Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where he designed many specialized antennas to meet stringent military performance.
     After World War II, television broadcasting started to expand.  Channel four was the first in the New York area but TV reception in suburbia was poor.  Mike lived about fifty miles from the station and he felt that he could design antennas that would give a good TV picture.  He made a few and the public quickly noticed that TV reception was much better with his antenna.  He called it the Conical Double X Antenna, organized the Telrex antenna company and moved from his small garage operation to much larger facilities to meet the demand for orders.  He expanded several more times and opened up a hilltop laboratory and test facility.
     Mike stayed active in amateur radio using a tall multiple antenna array that he called "Big Bertha."  He had an outstanding signal and his call, W2BDS, was familiar to many radio amateurs the world over.  He received many patents and became known as a leading designer of high-power communication antenna systems.  They are used in the Military Early Warning Air Defense System in the north polar regions, Satellite Tracking, and in the global Military Affiliate Radio System.
     Since the advent of high-power TV stations and cable TV, outdoor antennas are not seen too often now but during the late 1940s, 50s and part of the 60s, Telrex employed about 100 people and manufactured over thirty million Double X television antennas that were seen on roof tops in cities and especially in suburban areas bringing television pictures into living rooms all over America.
     Michael Ercolino's radio is silent now.  He died in November, 1982.  His son, Charles, follows in the tradition of his father developing and manufacturing antenna systems.  Without question, Michael Ercolino, W2BDS, was a trailblazer.  He made significant contributions to the state of the art in the development of radio and television communications and has played an important part in the development of military, commercial and amateur radio antenna systems.

February 23, 1990

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

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