SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX016   
   ARLX016 Former "How's DX?" Conductor Rod Newkirk, W9BRD (SK)   
      
   ZCZC AX16   
   QST de W1AW     
   Special Bulletin 16  ARLX016   
   From ARRL Headquarters     
   Newington CT  November 21, 2012   
   To all radio amateurs    
      
   SB SPCL ARL ARLX016   
   ARLX016 Former "How's DX?" Conductor Rod Newkirk, W9BRD (SK)   
      
   Rod Newkirk, W9BRD/VA3ZBB, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada -- who penned   
   the QST column "How's DX?" from 1947-1978 -- passed away on Monday,   
   November 19 after a long illness. Newkirk was credited with coining   
   the term "Elmer," as well as for his humorous take on DX in his   
   column, especially with limericks in his DX Hoggery and Poetry   
   Depreciation Society and the accompanying cartoons of Jeeves by Phil   
   "Gil" Gildersleeve, W1CJD (SK).   
      
   In March 1991, QST Associate Editor Jim Cain, K1TN, profiled Newkirk   
   in "How's Rod?" in the pages of QST. "Newkirk wrote 'How's DX?'   
   through the Korean War, through the Fabulous '50s, the Vietnam war,   
   incentive licensing and the W9WNV DXpedition controversy," Cain   
   wrote. "While six American presidents moved in and out of the White   
   House, 'How's DX?' documented the rise of SSB in Amateur Radio and   
   DXing, saw the birth of DX lists and nets and the growing number of   
   2 meter spotting groups."   
      
   The term "Elmer" -- meaning someone who provides personal guidance   
   and assistance to would-be hams -- first appeared in QST in   
   Newkirk's March 1971 "How's DX?" column, where he wrote that "too   
   frequently one hears a sad story in this little nutshell: 'Oh, I   
   almost got a ticket, too, but Elmer, W9XYZ, moved away and I kind of   
   lost interest.' Sure, the guy could have burned through on his own,   
   maybe, but he, like others, wound up an almost-ham. No more Elmer.   
   We need those Elmers. All the Elmers, including the ham who took the   
   most time and trouble to give you a push toward your license, are   
   the birds who keep this great game young and fresh." Newkirk was   
   probably not trying to coin a term at the time, but the name stuck,   
   becoming a general term for the mentors Newkirk called "the unsung   
   fathers of ham radio."   
      
   Beginning in May 1951 (and appearing each May after that), Newkirk   
   wrote about the annual meeting of the DX Hoggery and Poetry   
   Depreciation Society. The DXHPDS featured such notables as Noyes E.   
   Tester, Loda Watts, Harry Uppensign, Lotta Chassis and Hal R. Lauder   
   -- as well as limericks that skewered deserving lids:   
      
   Splashy-voiced Boomboom MacSwine   
   When told that his gain's out of line,    
   Is prompt to reply,    
   If '8' is too high    
   Then why is it numbered to '9'? (May 1970)   
      
   First licensed in 1937 as W9BRD at 14, Newkirk was involved with   
   radio all his life. After graduating from high school, he became a   
   civilian radio operator in Washington, DC with station WAR; when   
   World War II broke out, he joined the US Army as a member of the   
   Army Signal Corps where he served in Florida, Papua-New Guinea and   
   the Philippines. He remembered these times in his first QST article,   
   "Christmas, 1944," which recounted a "heart-warming yarn involving   
   the combination of the Amateur and the Christmas Spirit in far-off   
   Hollandia."   
      
   After a stint as a radio operator with the Illinois State Police,   
   Newkirk moved to Connecticut in 1947 where he worked at ARRL   
   Headquarters as a W1AW Station Operator with a new call sign, W1VMW.   
   It was while Newkirk was in Newington that then-ARRL Communications   
   Manager Ed Handy, W1BDI, asked Newkirk to take over the "How's DX?"   
   from Byron Goodman, W1JPE. A few years later, Newkirk returned to   
   his home state of Illinois to go to college. While in Illinois, he   
   regained his W9BRD call sign and resumed his job with the Illinois   
   State Police. He continued to write "How's DX?" from Illinois.   
   Newkirk's last "How's DX?" column was published in February 1978.   
   Newkirk retired from the State Police in 1986. In 1984, he was   
   inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame as its 23rd member, and in   
   2002, he was the 87th inductee into the CQ Hall of Fame.   
      
   Newkirk was a former member of the ARRL and a member of the Radio   
   Amateurs of Canada, the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club, FISTS, the   
   Morse Telegraph Club and the Quarter Century Wireless Association   
   and QCWA Chapter 70. In May 2007, he was presented with the QCWA "70   
   Years Licensed" Golden Certificate and lapel pin, and in May 2010,   
   with the QCWA Century Certificate.   
      
   In 1997, Newkirk married Betty, VE3ZBB, and moved to Canada, where   
   he got the matching Canadian call sign VA3ZBB. A private family   
   funeral will be held. Friends are invited to join the Newkirk Family   
   at the Garden Chapel of Tubman Funeral Homes on Thursday November 22   
   from 2-4 PM for a celebration of Newkirk's life.   
   NNNN   
   /EX   
      
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