The "official" ARRL presidential portrait of Bob Denniston, then W0NWX. This photograph now hangs with those of other past ARRL presidents in the lobby of ARRL Headquarters.
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The "official" ARRL presidential portrait of Bob Denniston, then W0NWX. This photograph now hangs with those of other past ARRL presidents in the lobby of ARRL Headquarters. |
NEWINGTON, CT, May 15, 2002--UPDATED--Past ARRL President and DXpedition pioneer Bob Denniston, VP2VI and W0DX, of Tortola, British Virgin Islands, died unexpectedly in his sleep May 12 or 13. He was 83. Denniston served as ARRL president from 1966 until 1972 and as International Amateur Radio Union president from 1966 until 1974. He later was elected an ARRL honorary vice president.
"He was an Amateur Radio icon, and he will be missed," said ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP. "Our condolences go out to his family and many friends."
ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, said that Denniston traveled extensively during his years as IARU president to promote IARU membership and build support for Amateur Radio in anticipation of what eventually became the 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference. As a result of WARC-79, Amateur Radio gained allocations at 30, 17 and 12 meters.
Denniston was a founding director of the IARU Region 3 Association in 1968 and served as chairman of the Second IARU Region 3 Conference in Tokyo in 1971. In 1972, he went to Managua, Nicaragua, to deliver equipment and to assist personally in providing communications in the aftermath of a major earthquake.
Among those sending condolences to Denniston's family was Japan Amateur Radio League President Shozo Hara, JA1AN, who called Denniston "a great leader" of Amateur Radio in the US and abroad. "Mr. Denniston's attitude and influence with high spirits about amateur radio will be long remembered among all radio amateurs all over the world," Hara said.
After heading up the "Gon-Waki" VP7NG DXpedition to the Bahamas during the second weekend of the 1948 ARRL International DX Contest, Denniston--then W4NNN--was credited with being the "father of the modern DXpedition." The DXpedition's name was a spoof on Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon-Tiki" expedition the previous year. (The full "Gon-Waki" story appeared in QST, Jul 1948, page 80.)
Denniston has said he didn't realize at the
time that he was inventing the concept, and he credited CM9AA with coining the
expression "DXpedition." Denniston remained active on the ham bands until his
death--including operation on 6 meters during the tremendous openings last year
and early this year.
Then-ARRL President Bob Denniston, W0NWX, Ray Meyers, W6MLZ, and Sen Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, share a moment at the 1968 ARRL Southwestern Division Convention in Phoenix.
The original "Gon-Waki" crew puts VP7NG on the air in the first-ever "modern" DXpedition to the Bahamas in 1948. Shown (l-r) are Charley Orr, W4NND, Buddy Buttizoni, W3GRP, and Bob Denniston, then W4NNN. The "Gon-Waki" name was a humorous reference to the 1947 "Kon-Tiki" expedition by Thor Heyerdahl. |
In recent years, he and a group of friends had commemorated the 1948 "Gon Waki" milestone each March, setting up vintage equipment and using simple wire antennas and hand keys to replicate the flavor of the original DXpedition from his Tortola QTH. Sumner said he had to decline Denniston's most recent invitation to help celebrate the original "Gon-Waki" DXpedition. "I will always regret having missed this unique opportunity," he said.
Denniston's other firsts included Clipperton Island (FO8AJ) in 1954 and Malpelo (HK0TU) in 1969. His strategy of visits to rare prefixes helped earn him a world record ARRL International DX Contest score in 1960 from VP1JH (now Belize).
Denniston was first licensed some 70 years ago as W9NWX at the age of 13. He subsequently held W4NNN while attached to the Pentagon, and later became W0NWX--the call sign he held during much of his tenure as ARRL President.
"Bob Denniston was the operator's operator," said former ARRL staffer John Nelson, K0IO (ex-W1GNC), who lives in Denniston's hometown of Newton, Iowa. Nelson said Denniston promoted use of 160 meters years ago and always encouraged newcomers to get on the air during Field Day. "It was fascinating to watch him use a bug," Nelson said, "sending with an easy-rolling motion of his wrist, and we beginner's took note of how the rate went way up!"
 Bob Denniston, VP2VI/W0DX, retired to Tortola, British Virgin Islands, to run a beach hotel and bar. |
Denniston served for four years in the US Army Signal Corps and was chief of the radio control section of radio station WAR at the Pentagon. It was at WAR that he met his wife, Nell--a Women's Army Corps CW operator. At the end of World War II, Denniston was the radio operator aboard the presidential train--an experience he later described as "a sort of Field Day on wheels."
Denniston was ARRL Midwest Division Director from 1956 until 1966, when he was elected as the League's sixth president. While in Iowa, he had been active in ARES and RACES. He was a Charter Life Member of the ARRL as well as a charter member and past president of the Potomac Valley Radio Club. He was the founder and president of the Virgin Islands Amateur Radio Club.
In his professional life, Denniston was president of Denniston and Partridge, a firm that operated more than two dozen lumberyards at one point. When he retired to the British Virgin Islands, he ran Smugglers Cove Hotel in Tortola.
Jim Livengood, W0NB (ex-KP2L), was a long-time friend of Denniston's and had operated with him during some of the "Gon-Waki" recreations. "Bob was a treasure," Livengood said. "He was my Elmer, the first ham operator I ever met, shortly after Clipperton." Livengood credited Denniston with "lighting the fire" that led him into Amateur Radio and a career in broadcasting. "Bob was coaching new hams in the British and US Virgin Islands as late as this spring," he said, adding that he ran a 160-meter CW net every evening as a code proficiency tool for newcomers.
"Bob loved our hobby, promoted its growth, and was an ardent supporter of the League as long as I knew him," Livengood said.
Denniston's wife, Nell, died two years ago. A son, Matt, and daughter, Carol, are among his survivors. Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
VP2VI QSL Manager Rick Casey, W6RKC, says he will continue to handle requests for VP2VI cards. Send cards via W6RKC, 10640 Tabeaud Rd, Pine Grove, CA 95665.
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