K4FW - June 15, 2005

Albert R. 'Al' Kahn
Gatlinburg, TN

QCWA # 9885
OOTC # 813
Spark Operator

K4FW, Albert R. Kahn, passed away on June 15th. Al started Ten-Tec after being bored with retired life. He was also a member of FOC.

He had previously started the speaker/ mic company Electro Voice.

The company was founded by Al Kahn and Lou Burroughs in the basement of the Century Tire and Rubber Company in South Bend, Indiana as Radio Engineers. 1930 Kahn and Burroughs develop a public address system for Knute Rockne, the football coach at Notre Dame University. Rockne uses the system to address his team during drills on 4 adjacent fields. He calls the system his "Electric Voice.....

He was active on the bands till a few years ago, always attending the annual "oldtimers picnic" at W9EFL 's (Noel ex of Deerfield & NORA) antenna farm in Michigan.

We lost another great ham....

Bill Steffey NY9H

Al Kahn was a great ham and a great human being. Under his management, both Electro-Voice and TenTec, the two great companies he founded, were leaders in their field, were professionally managed, and focussed on both quality and customer service. A recent piece in QST pointed out the major support that Al Kahn gave to ARRL at critical times of their existence. Al was also a major supporter of the Heath company. Ham radio would be very different if Al Kahn had not walked our way.

Jim Brown K9YC