The 90-Year Saga of a Collins 30W Transmitter by: Rod Blocksome, November 19, 2021
Before Collins Radio Company existed, there was Collins Transmitters, a very small company owned and operated by Arthur A. Collins located in the basement1 of his home at 1720 6th Avenue SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Clair Miller2, a fellow amateur radio operator (9EFS in 1925; later WØKFA), was the only employee and he was part-time. Miller was a recent graduate of Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) when Arthur hired him in June 1932. He spent 15 years with Collins, then left to later become President of Rex Manufacturing which he founded in 1948. He also was president of Quality Casting, Inc. of Monticello, Iowa. Clair passed away January 28, 1976 at age 66.
In 1932 Arthur began running small advertisements in the ARRL Journal QST. The July 1932 issue contained the first ad (Figure 1) for the model 30W transmitter. The ad stated that it came complete, less vacuum tubes and the frequency determining crystal. The transmitter produced 30 Watts on the 160, 80, 40 and 20 meter ham bands (1.8 to 14 MHz) and sold for $95.60. Accounting for inflation, this is equivalent to $1,930 in 2021. Today you can buy a new Yaesu FTDX-10 transceiver, speaker, and power supply for this amount.
Benton White, W4PL, from Chattanooga, Tennessee was traveling through the Midwest in July of 1932. He noticed the Collins ad in his new issue of QST and decided to visit the Collins factory when he arrived in Cedar Rapids for the weekend. He managed to purchase a Collins 30W transmitter that day.
Thought to be only the second 30W transmitter built, this unit resides today in the Collins Aerospace Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Its journey from the 1932 basement factory to the museum is a fascinating odyssey.
We begin with an excerpt from the book Arthur Collins – Radio Wizard by Ben Stearns…
• A glimpse of the firm’s operations in those early days was described in an article entitled, “From Little Acorns, The Great Oaks Grow,” written by E.H. Marriner, W6BLZ, which appeared some years later in CQ Magazine.
• Here is a success story which had amateur radio for a beginning as viewed by Mr. Benton White, W4PL. This is the story as he told it:
Figure 1 – The Collins 30W advertisement from QST July 1932.
• The article concluded by noting that Benton White used the transmitter for many years, with few modifications. He replaced an electrolytic condenser and coils, the 47 tube became a 46 and the 510 a 901. The original coils were wound on Bakelite forms and were replaced with ceramic.
• The transmitter which White purchased was the 30W, for which he paid $95.
• Clair Miller, Arthur’s first full-time employee (the “associate” referred to in the account), recalled Arthur was reluctant to sell the transmitter to Benton White because he had promised it to a customer in Minneapolis. Telling a friend about the incident years later, Miller said he had to take Arthur upstairs to the kitchen to convince him they should sell it to White and build another one for the other buyer.
• An issue of the Collins Signal dated April-August, 1933, included this item in a column about activities of hams: “Mr. Benton White, W4PL, reports that he is working K6’s regularly on both 40 and 80 meters with his 30W and that he is beginning to make contact with VK stations.”
A similar version of this story was published in the April 1956 issue of CQ Magazine as “The Story of Collins Radio” by Ed Marriner, W6BLZ. At the end of that article we learn a bit more:
The April-August 1933 issue of the Collins Signal contains further information on the 30W transmitter…
Sometime in the mid-to-late 1960’s this photo of Arthur Collins (Figure 2) was taken showing three items of personal significance; the 30W transmitter originally sold to Benton White, a framed mounting of Collins vacuum tubes manufactured per the Robert Goddard patent, and thirdly he is holding what appears to be a silver dollar whose significance is presently unknown.
In 1983 the Collins Museum in Building 120 was created in conjunction with celebrating the 50th anniversary of the company. This 30W transmitter (Figure 3) has been on display there ever since.
Figure 2 – Arthur Collins and the 30W transmitter he sold Benton White in July 1932
Figure 3 – The Collins 30W on display in the Collins Museum
Now, in November 2021, another addition to this story has come to light. Joe Knight, of San Pedro, CA at the urging of AACLA Board Member Jim Stitzinger, donated a stack of vintage QSL cards to the AACLA for use in the Attic Ham Station replica. One of the cards was from Benton White, W4PL, dated May 6, 1935. Benton’s 1935 card is very unusual as it contains a good quality photograph of Benton and in the background you can see the Collins 30W transmitter that he purchased from Art Collins three years earlier.
Further research on the internet has turned up another, later, QSL card from Benton White (Figure 6) with a photo showing his station in 1940 still containing the Collins 30W transmitter.
Figure 4 – W4PL QSL Card from 1935
Figure 5 – High Resolution Scan of Benton White and his Collins 30W Transmitter in 1935
Figure 6 – A 1940 version of Benton White’s QSL Card -click to embiggen.
Figure 7 – The Collins 30W is visible at the top of the second rack from the left. It is described on the card in terms of its vacuum tube line-up: 47X – 46 - 210
Now we ask “Who was Benton White – this man whose 1933 vacation trip intersected with a young Arthur Collins just starting to manufacture amateur radio transmitters in his home?”
From page 359 in “Standard History of Chattanooga, Tennessee” – edited by Charles D. McGuffey; pub. by CREW and DOREY, Knoxville, 1911, we learn:
Additional information was found on page 85 of the March 1963 issue of QST:
The web site for the “Hit and Bounce Net”5 provide more details on Benton White who is listed as the founder of this traffic net.
This Collins 30W transmitter, used extensively by Benton White through the years, is currently resting quietly on display in the Collins Aerospace Museum, Building 120, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Footnotes:
1. Later in 1933, Arthur moved his factory from his basement to the Metropolitan Building at 2920 1st Avenue.
2. Clair was born in 1910, making him just one year younger then art - who was born in 1909.
3. Benton’s XYL was Harriett Kate (Baumaun) - 1882-1963.
4. BPL is ARRL’s Brass Pounders’ League.
5. “Hit and Bounce Net” web site URL: hitandbounce.net/hit-bounce-history-2