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Ralph P. 'Tate' Thetreau Detroit, MI QCWA # 1307 Chapter 9 |
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Ralph Peter "Tate" Thetreau was born on December 15, 1902, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Joseph Louis Thetreau (of Michigan) and Rachel Thorpe Healy (of Canada).
The sinking of the S.S. Titanic in April 1912 got him interested in radio, and he had his first 2-way contact four years later. He was first licensed on June 25, 1921, as 8FX, which he held for the remainder of his life. He also obtained a commercial license.
Tate was an officer and member of the Straits Radio Club, the Detroit Amateur Radio Club, and the Michigan (QMC) Traffic Net. He also collected antique gear for the Michigan Hist. (Lansing), the Henry Ford (Dearborn), the Antique Wireless Association, and the W2ZI Wireless Museum (Trenton, NJ).
Tate was married to Gertrude Thetreau (of Canada). He retired from the U.S. Post Office after many years of service, including as a mail carrier. He passed away in October 1972 while residing in Redford, Michigan.
(Source: OOTC and Ancestry.com)
The Origin of QN Signals
I dunno about the authenticity or veracity of this article but it is an interesting read. Reprinted courtesy of the Empire Slow Speed (ESS) Net Bulletin .... ed
QN Traffic Signals
The QNA-QNZ signals listed in September.s SCOPE (a publication...ed.) came not from ARRL, but instead had an interesting origin right here in Michigan where the first one-spot traffic net began in 1935. QMN has been in daily operation these sixty some years on 3663 at 6:30 and 10:00 PM daily and checkins are welcome.
It's always been said nothing good ever came out of a committee, but there have been notable exceptions. One was the King James Bible in 1611. Another, the QN signals devised for net use together with the original concept of a National Traffic System, by the Detroit Amateur Radio Association QMN Net Committee in 1939. The QN signals were published that fall in the DARA/QMN Bulletin and immediately spread far and wide on the new area nets that were following QMN.s pioneering example.
Ralph Thetreau W8FX, aka Tate, chaired the Net Committee and personally saw to it that the QN list, together with an excellent outline of the QMN operation and its national system implications, were given the widest possible dissemination. In recognition of these efforts, W8FX was appointed Secretary/Treasurer of the QMN Net and held that office for over forty years.
Tate was always somewhat bitter though, that ARRL refused to even acknowledge the existence of the QN signals until years after they were in common use nationwide. The League was chicken, he told us, because a couple of the old aeronautical QNs were still being used on some obscure overseas Pan American CW circuit. In a final touch of irony, they were published at last in February 1947 QST, but without any credit to DARA or QMN.
Nevertheless, like QST, Tate was devoted to amateur radio and left a very substantial legacy to the ARRL, specifically for a .decent and adequate. W1AW antenna system. Their startingly improved signal since has been a fitting memorial to W8FX.
Don Devendorf, W8EGI
(Source: "New Jersey Traffic Bulletin," Spring 2006)
