Milt was a good guy. I believe his title was VP of Engineering when I
was there 1976-1979. Even though he was supposed to be an executive at
that point he still loved to get his hands dirty. I remember him coming
up with creative ideas to solve engineering problems on some designs I
was working on at the time. For example, the MN2700 kilowatt antenna
tuner required some high-voltage, high-current fixed capacitors. We
were quoted a ridiculously high price and a 6-month lead time by the
vendor. So we figured out a way to make our own capacitors from Teflon
printed circuit board (for low loss / high Q) spray-painted with Q dope
to prevent corona discharge.
Milt was a realist about project management. He was very aware that
engineers have a tendency to try to design everything to perfection,
regardless of the schedule or cost. He had a sign over his desk that
read, "Good enough is better than perfect."
Alan N1AL
On Thu, 2010-11-11 at 21:02 -0800, Jim Brown wrote:
> This was in today's ARRL Letter.
>
> Milton A. Sullivan Jr, ex-K8YDO, Former Chief Engineer at R. L. Drake
> (SK)Milton A. "Buddy" Sullivan Jr, ex-K8YDO, of Washington, DC -- the
> former chief engineer at the R. L. Drake Company
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._L._Drake_Company> -- passed away from a
> stroke on October 28. He was 85. Sullivan designed and oversaw the
> designs of all the most significant Drake Amateur Radio products,
> including the 1A, 2B and 2NT transmitter, all the 4 lines and the
> beginning of the 7 line.
>
> After retiring from Drake in 1984, Sullivan ran his own business selling
> and setting up satellite television systems, an offshoot of his later
> projects at Drake that involved designing satellite equipment. After
> that, he went back to work full time as chief engineer for Lytton
> Electronics, where he worked until his final retirement in 1990. In
> 1993, he and his wife Judith moved to South Carolina where Sullivan
> worked for Alpha Delta, the small company owned by his former Drake
> colleague and long time friend, Don Tyrrell, W8AD. Sullivan donated his
> body to science. A US Navy veteran, he will be interred at Arlington
> National Cemetery after a term with the Georgetown University Medical
> School. -- /Thanks to John Sullivan and Don Tyrrell, W8AD, for the
> information/
>
> = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>
> I worked for Milt at R.L. Drake as a co-op EE student from Univ of
> Cincinnati, and was working at a bench in the engineering lab when news
> came over the radio that President Kennedy had been shot.
>
> One correction/addition to the obit. In addition to designing the
> products noted, Milt also designed the TR3, Drake's first transceiver,
> and the beginning of their line of transmitting products. Bob Drake
> established and ran the quality company, but Milt was the chief engineer.
>
> Both were nice guys, and Milt was a fair boss. I never kept track of
> him after leaving Drake, and wondered what he had done with the rest of
> his life. From the obit, quite a lot. RIP, Milt.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
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