Ten-Tec Co-Founder Al Kahn, K4FW, SK

Kahn's Ten-Tec QSL card.

NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 17, 2005--Albert R. "Al" Kahn, K4FW, of Cassopolis, Michigan, died June 15. He was 98. An ARRL member, Kahn--with Jack Burchfield, K4JU, co-founded Ten-Tec following his retirement from Electro-Voice, which he'd also founded and served as president. Kahn remained a member of the Ten-Tec Board of Directors until his death. Kahn's daughter, Carol Bieneman, said her father had continued his regular CW schedules with his old friends until just a few days before he died.

"It's a sad day, but few of us will leave the sort of footprints that Al did during his long and productive life," remarked ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. Ten-Tec, on its Web site, this week acknowledged Kahn's passing "with the deepest regret."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kahn family and friends," the company said.

Kahn's daughter says that from her father's childhood on, radio and sound communication fascinated him. "At age 12 he joined a Boy Scout troop and was sent home with a radio to repair," she recounts. "This was the start of his lifelong passion for radio."

An early photo--probably from the 1940s--of Kahn at his Amateur Radio station.

First licensed in 1921 as 9BBI, Kahn--who was born in LaSalle, Illinois, and moved as a child to South Bend, Indiana--later held the call sign W8DUS in Michigan. As Burchfield tells it, Kahn (with Lou Burroughs, a local machinist) in 1927 started a radio service shop in South Bend. Legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne needed a device to amplify his voice during practice session, so the players could hear him clearly, and he came to Kahn for help.

Although most microphones of the day were carbon-button types, Kahn decided to construct a velocity--or ribbon--microphone and put together a public address system, which Rockne called his "electric voice." In 1930, Kahn and Burroughs adopted the name Electro-Voice for the business and began making velocity microphones, which they also supplied to the military during World War II. During the war, Kahn invented and patented a noise-canceling microphone and marketed it successfully to the military. The design is still in use.

After the war, Electro-Voice relocated to Buchanan, Michigan, and in the late 1940s, the company merged with RME, which manufactured receivers and receiving converters for the Amateur Radio and commercial markets.

At around this same time, Kahn also made available to the Heath Company a trainload of military surplus components, some of which found their way into the O1 oscilloscope kit--the first Heathkit product.

Kahn celebrates his 98th year at an Old Timer's picnic hosted by Noel Kindt, W9EFL, in Marcellus, Michigan [N9VV Ten-Tec History Web page]

E-V added "high-fidelity" equipment and speakers to its product line, and, in 1960, the company built two plants in Tennessee and shifted its operations there from the Midwest. Kahn was president of E-V until 1969 when it merged with Gulton Industries. After departing Electro-Voice, Kahn bought acreage adjacent to the E-V plant in Sevierville, and he and Burchfield founded equipment manufacturer Ten-Tec, now in its 37th year of manufacturing HF radio equipment for Amateur Radio, commercial, and military applications. The Electro-Voice company still supplies microphones, speakers and audio equipment.

Kahn accumulated many honors over his more than eight decades as a radio amateur and industry figure. He was inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame and was a member of the First-Class CW Operators Club (FOC), the Old Old Timer's Club, the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA), and the A-1 Operator Club. In 2002, the QCWA honored Kahn on his 80th anniversary as an amateur licensee. He also received an Army/Navy "E" Award in 1945 for supplying the War Department with thousands of microphones during World War II. The Boy Scouts of America presented Kahn with its Silver Beaver Award for staffing Amateur Radio stations at international scout jamborees.

ARRL Archivist and veteran staff member Perry Williams, W1UED, recalled working with Kahn at several of the Boy Scout events. Williams said he was saddened to learn of Kahn's passing.

Kahn's wife, Anne, died in 2001. Three daughters and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren survive.

A memorial service for Al Kahn is set for Saturday, July 16, at the Diamond Cove Missionary Church, 22541 Diamond Cove Road, Cassopolis, Michigan. Visitation will be from 2 PM until 4 PM at the church, followed immediately by the memorial service at 4 PM. Contributions in memory of Al Kahn may be made to Cass County Hospice, 310 East Sherwood St, Decatur, MI 49045 or to the Michiana Amateur Radio Club (MARC) in care of Noel Kindt, W9EFL, 90888 Bluff Dr, Marcellus, MI 49067. --Some information from the N9VV Ten-Tec History Web page

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