Amateur Radio Television Pioneer Don Miller, W9NTP, SK

Amateur Radio television Pioneer and past ARRL Central Division Director Don C. Miller, W9NTP, of Waldron, Indiana, died March 22. He was 91. An ARRL Life Member, he was licensed in 1943. In the 1960s Miller was instrumental in developing slow-scan TV (SSTV) for ham radio, working with Cop MacDonald, VY2CM, and others. Miller wrote several articles on SSTV for QST. In 1972, Dayton Hamvention® honored Miller as Amateur of the Year. Miller served as Central Divison Director from 1977 until 1980.

During World War II, Miller served in the US Army Signal Corps before being recruited to work at the Trinity atomic weapons test site in New Mexico as part of the Manhattan Project.

“I went to work one day and finally figured out that we were building a nuclear bomb. But that’s all I knew about it,” Miller told The Rushville Republicannewspaper in 2007. Miller said he worked with J. Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the Manhattan Project.

Miller also was a collector of Native American and other historical artifacts, and in 2014, FBI agents raided his Indiana home and confiscated objects alleged to have been collected in violation of federal and state laws and of several treaties. Miller’s collection included artifacts from all over the world. He told investigators that he had began collecting as a youngster.

Miller held a PhD from Purdue University. After a stint as a researcher at Naval Avionics in Indianapolis, Miller and his wife, Sue, W9YL (SK), in 1984 founded Wyman Research Inc, which developed and marketed Amateur Radio SSTV and ATV equipment. Wyman Research engineered the SSTV gear used onboard the Russian Mir space station. — Thanks to The Shelbyville News; The Daily DX

Source : ARRl.org