ARRL Handbooks from 1953 and 1959 are the two most recent additions to the collection. I’m just a custodian for these two handbooks though, because they really belong to the club. I don’t know if anybody from the club will ever ask for them but until then, they’ll have a good home with the rest of the collection.
Front cover of the 1953 30th edition ARRL HandbookFront cover of the 1959 36th edition ARRL Handbook
They’re in fairly decent condition for their age (73 and 67 years respectively) with the usual wear and tear from use along the spines.
The name of a former owner, William E Horton, is written (with very nice penmanship) on the inside title page of the 1953 Handbook. The rest of the book doesn’t have any other unusual writings or features in it.
The lower half of the 1959 handbook’s spine is blacked out with black marker for some reason.
ARRL Handbooks from the 1950s: 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959
The 1959 Handbook also has the name, street address (no city or state though), and phone number of a previous owner, Charlie Gober, written inside the front cover. The inside cover also has a section blacked out with a marker. The words “University Library” (possibly a library stamp) are faintly visible in the blacked out area.
Blacked out area inside the front cover of the 1959 ARRL HandbookColour enhanced area of the blacked out region on the inside front cover of the 1959 ARRL Handbook
The collection now has 4 handbooks from the 1950s, which ties with the 1970s for the most number of handbooks in each decade.
A 1937 ARRL Handbook with a distinctive orange cover, that I picked up at Hamvention 2025, is now part of the collection. It’s in relatively decent shape for its age, although the cover has become unglued from the spine, so I’ll need to glue it back on at some point.
The call sign W8NYY is written on the front cover, and on the inside front page is the former owner’s name and call sign, Lloyd H. Miller W8NYY.
A short blurb in the June 1937 QST talks about a 160m “round-table QSO party” he organized.
On Easter morning, 1937, fifty-two ‘phone stations in thirty states, coast-to-coast, all operating on frequencies between 1955 and 1965 kcs., took part in a “round table’’ QSO party, organized by Lloyd Miller, W8NYY, O.P.S., Akron, Ohio. The stations were selected in advance as consistent at W8NYY and were invited by card to participate. Starting at 2 a.m., EST, W8NYY called the roll in numerical and alphabetical order. Each station then called the Round Table for one minute while the rest listened, and after the round each station reported the other stations heard, with signal reports. The party lasted until 6:20 a.m., and a “good time was had by all.” Souvenir QSL’s were sent to all participants.
In a December 1942 QST article, he’s listed as a WERS operator in Barberton OH.
Sounds like Mr. Miller was a fairly active and involved amateur radio operator.
I think it’s always neat to get my hands on stuff like this and be able to find out a little bit about their owners. I wonder what other journeys this book has had between being owned by Mr. Miller and when it entered my collection.
In this year’s ARRL Auction, I managed to score a 1985 ARRL Handbook to add to the collection.
It’s in pretty decent condition, although the binding is broken in about the middle of the handbook. Going to have to see if there’s a good way to patch or fix that.
This handbook probably would have first gone on sale in late 1984, so I would have been in the middle of my first year of high school when this handbook came out. Even as late as 1985, there’s still a pretty big section devoted to vacuum tubes and vacuum tube gear. Aside from an old broken radio that was in our basement, I don’t think I had encountered any electronics that used vacuum tubes back then (well, televisions perhaps, but those are a different kind of vacuum tube).
The table of contents covers radio topics you might expect for radio technology from 37 years ago.
Interestingly enough, there seems to be more on vacuum tubes in the 1985 Handbook than there is in the 1980 Handbook. At some point between the 1980 and 1985 Handbooks, the Handbooks gained a considerable amount of weightpages.
Might be interesting to go through the two and see what kind of content got expanded on with all the added pages.
With the 1926 1st edition ARRL Handbook bookending my collection at one end, I now have the 2023 100th edition ARRL Handbook to be a bookend at the other end of the collection.
Cover of the 2023 100th edition of the ARRL Handbook
It’s a pretty hefty tome, and like previous handbooks, stuffed full of pretty much everything a person needs to know about amateur radio.
The hardcover Handbook also gets you the electronic version of the Handbook as well (I was sent a link to download both the Mac/Linux and Windows versions), which includes a ton of supplemental content for each chapter, project PDFs, and some software as well. What I haven’t seen in the electronic version (yet) is the insert between pages 15.18 and 15.19 giving a look at the evolution of the Handbook over the decades.
Insert in the 2023 ARRL Handbook providing a look at the ARRL Handbook over the decades.
It’s a nice little review, starting with an interview with K1NKR and his collection of QSTs and Handbooks (sounds like he’s got all but two of the Handbooks…quite the impressive collection) and then highlighting changes in the Handbook by decade.
Looks pretty good on the shelf with the other Handbooks.
2023 100th edition handbook added to the ARRL Handbook collection
The capstone for my ARRL Handbook collection is a 1926 first edition ARRL Radio Amateur’s Handbook that Connie gave me for Christmas. I happened to see it come up on eBay with an interesting description, and she said “BUY IT.”
This particular Handbook is hardcover bound and embossed with the name of the original owner, Harry T. Carroll/W4AEE.
Hardbound copy of the 1926 First Edition ARRL Radio Amateur’s Handbook
The Handbook comes with a pretty cool story related to me in a letter (and also part of the eBay listing description) from Harry’s grandson (now W4AEE).
On the title page are the names of three previous owners: Harry T. Carroll/W4AEE, James McKennon/W4ATD, and Wm Ray /W4CUP.
Title page of the First Edition ARRL Radio Amateur’s Handbook
Harry/W4AEE was given the Handbook by his father as a birthday present, hardcover bound and with Harry’s name on the front cover.
The front cover bears the name of my grandfather as the original cover did. It was given to him by his father as a 20th birthday present in 1926.
W4AEE, eBay listing description
Harry received this book when it was a brand new publication. What a great birthday present it must have been!
Harry/W4AEE later loaned the book to James McKennon/W4ATD (who perhaps misinterpreted the gesture or just forgot, which might explain why he wrote “Property of W4ATD” on the title page). Harry/W4AEE was later unable to get back in touch with W4ATD to get the handbook back.
A few years later, Harry remembered the loan and wanted to get his handbook back. So, he attempted to contact Jim without success; relatives said Jim had joined the Navy.
W4AEE, personal correspondance
At some point (apparently in 1937), the book ended up in the possession of Wm Ray/W4CUP, who added his name on the title page.
Eventually, after many years and happy circumstance, the handbook found its way to Harry’s grandson:
Many years later, in the 1990s, I was listening to stories being shared by some OMs (old timers) at the Chattanooga Hamfest. The subject turned to old radio books. I mentioned that my granddad had once owned a 1st Edition ARRL Handbook but never saw it again after loaning it out in the early 1930s. One of the men in the group (Bill Ray, W4CUP) asked me my graddad’s name and callsign. I told him and he began to grin and said “I have your granddad’s handbook on the shelf at home! I’ll put it in the mail to you next week!” And, so he did. I had it rebound to match the original black covers that were shelf-worn. It has been with my collection for about 30 years.
W4AEE, eBay listing description
Now it has passed into my care (as the 5th owner) where it will have a special place in my collection. I love the story behind this Handbook as much as I love having it as part of my collection.
Maybe, after a few years or decades, the Handbook will find its way back to Harry’s family. If any of W4AEE’s children, grandchildren, or greatn grandchildren happen to discover the fun of amateur radio and stumble on this blog post, well, get in touch!
