Prolific Authors of
Collins HF Radio Equipment

Jay H. Miller produced the two most important collector’s reference works for Collins amateur radio equipment. Both were published by Trinity Graphics Systems, Dallas, TX, and dedicated to the memory of Art Collins. The Pocket Guide (1995) spans 108 pages in a 3½″×7″ spiral-bound format, covering every Collins amateur product from the 75A-1 through the KWM-380, with a technical reference section including rear panel diagrams, tube charts, and S-Line connector data.¹ The 1999 Pictorial History expands coverage to 176 pages with hundreds of original photographs and reportedly includes interviews with Collins engineers.

Ben Stearns was Public Relations Manager at Collins Radio Company’s Cedar Rapids Division from 1962–1977. His journalism background and decades of insider access to Art Collins and his engineers produced the definitive biography of the founder. Arthur Collins: Radio Wizard (2002) won the IEEE-USA 2002 Award for Distinguished Literary Contributions Furthering Public Understanding of the Profession.² The book covers Collins’ teenage radio exploits through the Arctic expedition contact (1925), WWII production, SSB development, Apollo programme communications, and the Rockwell takeover — told by someone who was there for much of it. The Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association (AACLA) now holds publishing rights.

Arthur Andrews Collins (1909–1987) founded Collins Radio Company in 1933 and drove every major product line from the 75A series through the KWM-380. While not a traditional book author, Collins and his engineering staff produced an extensive body of company publications — training manuals, engineering notes, service bulletins, equipment catalogues, and two company newsletters (The Collins Signal, from February 1933, and Collins Column, 1945–1946) — that collectively form the primary technical literature for Collins HF equipment. The most important standalone publication is Fundamentals of Single Sideband (1959), the company’s definitive technical explanation of SSB technology.³

Archie Frederick Collins was one of the most prolific technical writers in the early history of radio. He claimed to have invented the wireless telephone at Narberth, Pennsylvania in 1899.⁴ Over a career spanning five decades he published more than 30 books covering wireless telegraphy, radio operation, electronics, chemistry, astronomy, and related subjects for both technical and popular audiences. His Radio Amateur’s Hand Book (1922) is the most referenced single work on early amateur radio practice and is freely available on Project Gutenberg.

Mel L. Doelz was Director of Engineering for Collins Radio’s Western Division in the 1950s, heading the research group that developed the KINEPLEX system. In California he formed a research group under the direction of Mel Doelz to develop new methods of encoding or modulating voice and data signals with precisely shaped pulses that formed a binary code. KINEPLEX, introduced by Collins in 1955, offered up to 40 channels in the same bandwidth as a single voice circuit — an extraordinary achievement. Its most significant by-product was the world’s first practical, mass-produced modem.⁵

Doelz’s contributions are primarily in the form of technical papers rather than books. His 1957 IRE paper is the foundational published description of the KINEPLEX data transmission technique. His name appears in the University of Iowa Collins Radio Records (MsC 814, Series I, Administrative Files) confirming his senior engineering role. The Collins KINEPLEX system documentation is available via the Internet Archive.

This 8½″×11″ spiral-bound book is a recent compilation by retiree, Jim Shanklin about the Collins Radio Company’s many technical contributions — as America worked its way to the moon. Shanklin retired from Rockwell Collins in 1996 after a career spanning the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programmes. He was a founding board member of the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association (AACLA) and contributed extensively to the historical record of Collins Radio’s involvement in American space communications.⁶ His presentation material — delivered under the title Apollo Gemini: Collins Role in Space Communications — is publicly accessible via the Collins Aerospace Museum.

Bill Carns is the most influential individual in the long-term preservation of Collins Radio history. A founding CCA board member since 1994 and past president, he transformed The Signal from a black-and-white newsletter into a professional full-colour 20–24 page quarterly. His decades of writing in The Signal cover every aspect of Collins equipment: company history, biographical profiles of Collins engineers, and technical restoration guides. He co-founded the Collins Radio Heritage Group (CCA and AWA alliance) and the Mogollon Rim Collins Collecting Club (K0CXX).⁷

Ray Osterwald edits Electric Radio magazine — a monthly publication devoted entirely to vintage amateur radio — and is the source of the Collins Compendiums: three substantial binder volumes reprinting every factory service bulletin for the S-Line, the KWS-1, and the 75A-4. These are the primary working references for Collins equipment restoration, containing factory-authorised modifications and repair procedures not easily found elsewhere.⁸