By Dave Jensen, W7DGJ

In years past, if you were a visitor to the ARRL web pages and you wanted to know more about the organization, you would see in the 'About ARRL' section (or the Fact Sheet) a statement indicating that the American Radio Relay League was formed in 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence D. Tuska of Hartford, Connecticut.

Today, the recorded history of the association appears to have changed. The current version of the ARRL statement reads, "Founded in 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim as The American Radio Relay League, ARRL is a noncommercial organization that numbers within our ranks the vast majority of active radio amateurs in the United States." While some references to Tuska remain on the site in various archived pages about the League, he's been moved from the front page and from the Fact Sheet.

It's fine to lead with the elder statesman of the Amateur Radio Services, but it feels inappropriate to me to erase a piece of history and mold it to today's social media. Hiram Percy Maxim was indeed a founder . . .  but he co-founded it along with a young man (Clarence Tuska) who took more than a casual role in the development of the League and its publication QST.

In this issue, I'll highlight Clarence in order to bring him back to the attention of Amateur Radio operators who should know more about this historic ham who was a founding member of the League. Tuska had many accomplishments, including several "firsts" in DX communications. He was also the founding Publisher/Editor of QST, and the owner of the C.D. Tuska Radio Company -- a manufacturer of early radios for the masses. 

As with "the Old Man" (Hirim P. Maxim), Tuska is a fascinating study of early radio. He's someone who should be admired today -- not removed from our history.

An Eventful Introduction

The photo to the left shows Maxim practicing Morse alongside young Tuska (age 15 or thereabouts) as he works with his hand on a key. This was indeed an odd couple . . .  they became very close in what was almost a "father-son" relationship.  Oddly enough, this important relationship began when H.P. Maxim bought and then returned a radio he had purchased from a local toy store. 

The owner of the shop spoke to Clarence Tuska and his high school friend Bill Ball, the fellows who had built this set that had been put on consignment. They were taken aback when the shopkeeper told them, "The buyer said the radio was no good." Tuska was determined to learn more about why his radio set was deemed defective, and he asked the shopkeeper to divulge the name of the wealthy fellow who had taken it home. Soon, Tuska and his friend showed up uninvited to the Maxim household and asked what was wrong.

"I didn't say the radio didn't work," Maxim told the young men. "I told the shopkeeper that it didn't meet my expectations. Your radio was more like a toy." After being invited into Maxim's beautiful home, the conversation quickly turned to building him a radio that did meet his expectations. It turned out that Mr. Maxim was interested in a far better unit than the inexpensive little sets that Ball and Tuska had produced thus far. Even though the Ball and Tuska partnership was shortly dissolved, Clarence continued the relationship with both Maxim and his son, Hamilton, and worked Morse with them and studied radio design. And of course, he built them a beautiful radio that lasted for a number of years.

Radio Relay - An Idea with Great Merit

One day the two radio enthusiasts were working out of Maxim's office when the discussion turned to the fact that radio signals could only travel so far. It was frustrating because wired telegraph stations could complete long distance communications as they had long wires and relays.

It was Tuska who brought the idea forward to connect the station operators they knew in the region to one another, so that messages could have the benefit of moving quickly across States. "We're already doing this informally in the New England area," he posed to Maxim. "Why can't we pass messages and use the same relay system to cover other parts of the USA or even the globe?" This light bulb of an idea shone brightly, picked up by Maxim as a concept that could potentially reimagine radio's perceived value.

George Ruddell, Clarence Tuska's uncle, was also present in that meeting and agreed it was a great plan. In fact, Ruddell had been developing the first Amateur call book and map of radio locations, so the pair knew where the operators were located. Shortly thereafter, the Radio Club of Hartford was formed by charter members that included both Maxim and Tuska, with the idea of a relay system still alive (and which later greased the wheels of the club's transition into the American Radio Relay League).

Reviewing what I can find in both ARRL-affiliated and other press, it is clear to me that it was Clarence Tuska who came up with the relay idea to get messages across great distances, a system that worked well for a number of years. It was also Clarence -- and not Hiram -- who imagined the value of a publication like QST in order to promote the Amateur Radio Services as an organ of the ARRL. 

The Birth of QST

The two co-founders of the new organization had a difference of opinion in one key area. Tuska believed that a publication should be developed to promote radio and to build the value of membership in the new association, but Maxim thought that it would be difficult to find enough content (Tuska had proposed a journal of "perhaps 16-20 pages.") Clarence was gung-ho on the idea and took ownership of the publication when Maxim left it to his discretion.

The decision to move forward with a radio publication of this sort proved to be a good one, and in 1915 Tuska began editing and publishing the journal that was under his leadership. As it turned out, good content was not hard to find, and the "Old Man" HP Maxim himself contributed regularly to those early editions as well. But it was Clarence Tuska who drove each issue out to press. When it was later determined to have been successfully launched, the ARRL acquired QST from Tuska (1919) and it became a major benefit for League membership. It remains so today, as you know. 

Not far down the road, there would be stiff competition for Tuska and QST. Hugo Gernsback, of "Hugo Award" fame in the science fiction world, began publishing Radio News Magazine in 1919 after the hiatus in amateur radio caused by WWI. It was also highly successful and ran until 1971.

Both magazines flourished as the market for amateur radio products increased dramatically and as advertising revenues proved to be critical to that growth.

Clarence's Accomplishments

In 1916 (age 20) Clarence Tuska had been experimenting with radiotelephony when literally everyone else was focused on Morse transmissions. He designed and built his own arc transmitter using tungsten electrodes, which allowed him to regularly broadcast phonograph "concerts." Mr. Tuska was always thinking about what might come next in radio, and that inquisitive nature kept him well employed throughout his entire life.

During WWI, he entered the Signal Corps, which was an ideal place for him in the military. Back in private life after the war, he formed his own Radio firm (the C.D. Tuska Company) and built it to over 100 employees before it was acquired by Atwater Kent, where he became Chief Engineer. A few years later Tuska earned a law degree and eventually went on to work under David Sarnoff at the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) as Director of Patents. With his law degree and twenty key patents under his belt, he later wrote books and journal articles for the Franklin Institute and others about the process of inventing and inventions. His key went silent on June 30, 1985, after a rich and productive life.

In this author's opinion, he is (along with Maxim, Hugo Gernsback, and others) the classic radio experimenter whom is owed a debt of gratitude by all of us who came along later. He certainly deserves to be featured on the ARRL front pages as a founder along with Hiram Percy Maxim. As Frank K4FMH opines in the October 2021 edition of The Spectrum Monitor, the public relations arm of the ARRL has worked tirelessly to present its "Maxim Mythology" -- something that has been reinforced over many years of ARRL publications.

"Along the way, with nary a mention of Tuska, the mythology was complete. This "leader" got lost in the League narratives. Without the original amateur radio enthusiasts [DGJ - such as ARRL co-founder Clarence Tuska] , there would have been no need for a national organization." - Frank Howell, PhD (K4FMH)

VY 73,   Dave W7DGJ

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