Early Years

Don and Sue Miller have been amateur radio operators for over 50 years. Don started building radios when he was 8 years old. He must have tried all the crystal set circuits in the world since he did not have electricity available. When the time came to build tube circuits, he picked up used telephone batteries along the country roads. They had been thrown away by telephone servicemen.

Sue and Don were kids together. They went to the same church and school. Eventually, they attended several universities in the Indiana\Illinois\Ohio area together. Don became a ham during the war in 1943. He spent 3 years in the service. Most of the service time was spent at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico.

After the war, they married. In 1946 Sue became an amateur radio operator. She now holds an extra class license, and the call W9YL. She designs PC (printed circuit) boards and takes care of the business.

After many college years, they both graduated with several degrees, including Don's PhD from Purdue University. Sue became a teacher in the local high school and Don worked for thirty years in the field of military weapons systems.

Early SSTV

Don has been continuously active in Slow Scan Television (SSTV) since the late 1950s. He worked closely with Cop Macdonald during the development of SSTV. Originally the system was an amplitude modulated 27 MHz system. Tests were conducted between the United States and England. The tests were successful but showed the need for more noise immunity, therefore the frequency modulation (FM) system was adopted.

Later, a group formed through a Special Temporary Authorization (STA) and wrote over 15 proposals to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) trying to get SSTV authorization for all amateurs. They were unsuccessful for many years. Finally the MARS system permitted the sending of morale (baby pictures) to the South Pole expedition during the late 1960s. This opened the FCC authorization of SSTV for higher licensed amateurs. These early experiences will be high-lighted in a new book by W9NTP.

Don's interest in fast scan television (FSTV) amateur television (ATV) goes back to 1952, when he visited England and saw the great progress that the British amateurs had made in ATV. G3NOX, Jeremy Royle, was the driving force in England and the ideas obtained from these pioneers motivated him to start operating ATV in the USA.

No cameras were available except the so called "Bikini cameras". These were designed by his group at Bikini Atoll for atomic bomb testing. One of these cameras became Don's first ATV video source. W9NTP has been continuously active on ATV since then. He may be the longest operating ATV ham in the world.

Start of Wyman Research

In 1983, Don retired from government research and purchased the Silvernail Company and renamed it Wyman Research Inc. after his wife's maiden name. Sue, W9YL, is the president of the company. The company has manufactured hundreds of ATV transceivers and transmitters since that time. Wyman Research Inc. mainly uses technicans who build equipment in their homes. Quality control is done at the Wyman Research laboratory, near Waldron Indiana, by W9NTP.

Don (W9NTP) and Sue (W9YL) Miller continue to design new ATV and SSTV equipment in the Wyman Research laboratory. The location is approximately 40 miles southeast of Indianapolis Indiana, near exit 119 of Interstate 74, south of Shelbyville Indiana, as shown in the map below. All amateurs are welcome to visit the laboratory.