New Website Offers Treasure Trove Of Vintage Ham Radio Photos, QSL Cards:

The grandson of Thomas "Tom" Russell Gentry, W5RG (SK), has developed awebsite http://w5rg.donretzlaff.com/ that is certain to be ofinterest to vintage radio enthusiasts. Don Retzlaff, who is not a ham,said his grandfather was among the earliest Amateur Radio operators,getting his license in the early 1920s -- at one point identifying asNU5RG -- and remaining active until he died in 1979. The W5RG call signhas since been reissued.

"He collected QSL cards from other amateur operators all through hislife," Retzlaff said of his grandfather. "In recent years I becameinterested in those cards and my grandfather's hobby."

With the help of his father Donald Retzlaff, W5MIY, Retzlaff locatedall of the QSLs -- some 5700 in all -- as well as other memorabiliadocumenting his grandfather's ham radio activities and his time in theArmy Air Corps shortly after World War I. He painstakingly scanned bothsides of each card along with dozens of photos of now-vintage stations-- many with operators -- that his grandfather had collected and postedthem all on a website dedicated to his grandfather and his life as anAmateur Radio operator.

Among other features, the site offers an opportunity to leave comments."This has definitely been a labor of love," said Retzlaff, who retiredthis year as a Principal Lecturer in the Computer Science Department atthe University of North Texas.

Source:

The ARRL Letter