Special event station IIØTRM will be QRV from November 16 until November 22, 2009 to celebrate the World’s Champion Radio Telegrapher T.R. McElroy (1901-1963). Activity CW-only by:  IKØIXI Fabio, IZØDDD Lino, IKØLZR Raoul and IK5TSZ Patrizio, all INORC members.

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Theodore R. McElroy -- Ted, or T.R., or Mac (he hated his given name) -- was born in September 1901 (Boston, MA - USA). He began his telegraphic career at age 14, as a Western Union messenger, and within a year he was a telegraph operator. By age 21 he was winning code receiving contests and setting records. In 1936 he had his ham radio callsign of W1JYN. He set the all-time, still-unbroken official record of 75.2 words per minute in 1939 (corrected to today's 25-dot word standard, that would be 72.2 wpm).

McElroy began manufacturing telegraph keys (his "Mac-Key") in late 1934. By 1941 he had put out about twenty variations of his semi-automatic key, and several variations of straight (hand) keys. There were also code practice oscillators, inked tape keyers and, for the military during WWII, many automatic Morse devices and code training equipment.

Mac made millions of dollars during the war, but when demand shrivelled after the war, he lost most of it. In 1955 he sold his company (by then located in Littleton, Mass.). He continued to work for it for a while, then for other electronics companies. He gave code demonstrations, and became interested in local politics. McElroy died in November 1963. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Boston. (text by Tom French - W1IMQ, McElroy collector).

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The IIØTRM QSL card is sponsorized by INORC, Italian Naval “Old Rhythmers” Club.

QSL Manager:

Fabio Bonucci - IKØIXI

via delle Sterlizie, 10

I-00053 Civitavecchia

ITALY

VIA DIRECT or BUREAU