The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast July 25, 1990

     One radio amateur who has greatly advanced the state of the art of many kinds of radio communications was Arthur Andrew Collins, WØCXX.  In 1923, at the age of 14, he received his amateur radio license.  Then in 1925 he was front-page news when he was able to maintain daily radio contacts with the MacMillan Arctic Expedition.  One of the explorers was Lieutenant Commander Richard E. Byrd.  The U.S. Navy was trying to make contacts but was only partially successful.  Art Collins' exclusive contacts became nationwide news that won him acclaim as a "radio wizard."
     In 1926, at the age of 16, he was asked to write a technical article for Radio Age.  One statement foreshadowed the motivating force that was to lead him to great radio ambitions.  Collins said, "The real thrill in amateur work comes not from talking to stations in distant lands ... but from knowing that by careful and painstaking work and diligent and systematic study you have been able to accomplish some feat or establish some fact that is a new step toward more perfect communication."
     In the dark years of the Great Depression, Art Collins, at the age of 23, turned his hobby into a business with one employee making amateur radio transmitters in his basement.
     Then in 1933, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, remembering how Collins helped the MacMillan expedition, took three Collins transmitters to Antarctica where Byrd made two-way broadcasts from Little America each week through the CBS Network.  By 1939 the company expanded into larger buildings and employed over 150 people.
     During World War II, Art Collins Company developed and manufactured many kinds of radio electronic equipment for our armed forces.  To mention just one, they developed the first high-power, automatically-tuned, long-range transmitter that was used in all B-17 bombers and is credited with saving the lives of many Allied pilots in World War II.
After the war, Collins developed many kinds of radio electronic equipment for the fast- growing aviation and space industries where he was a recognized leader.
     Collins was the first to apply a unique communications technique.  He bounced his signals off the moon and sent the first formal message from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Washington, DC.  Then in August 1960, Collins sent the first photograph and voice communication via the NASA "Echo" artificial passive satellite.
     On July 20, 1969, much of the world watched as Neil Armstrong made man's first steps on the moon.  It was an anxious and heartwarming achievement for all America.  But, for Arthur Collins and his many talented people, it was a much greater sense of pride and accomplishment.  Arthur said, "It was the people who did it."  Yes, it was Arthur Collins and his people who made it possible for the world to see man's first landing on the moon.

July 25, 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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