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Donald J. Merten Port St Lucie, FL QCWA # 1322 |
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Donald J. Merten W2UOL - K2AAA *1916-1996* - Developer, engineer, owner and CEO, Don was Mr. Eldico of N.Y.- The first product I was aware of in the Eldico line was their EE-2 morse keyer in the 50s. It was clunker and difficult to tap the big red paddle. It made a lot of racket with all of the mechanical relay action. Not many remain today.
Merten located his company (ELDICO) to Queens NY in the late 40s, his plant offered employment to many and hams on a limited post war budget gained a means of getting on phone and CW with higher power equipment (K5UJ) They eventually had an extensive military contract for electronic equipment. QST and other magazines garnered in advertising dollars.
Some say Collins didn.t like Merten look alike design and fought it, eventually giving up because of Sommerkamp and Heath. Others say Collins didn.t mind the competition. Take your pick. Had I lost contracts, I.d fight. The company became R.E.L and others. By 1996 Don located to Port St. Lucie FL and expired at age 79. He was an outstanding contest operator and enjoyed mobile operations. Note the small insert of the Eldico plant on Long Island in the K2AAA card. Our Eldico R-104 by LA5KI at QSL dot Net. W8SU 2013
