[CQ-Contest] ROSS HULL Who was he?

[Trent Sampson]

Ross Hull was born in St. Arnaud, Victoria<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Arnaud,_Victoria>, a son of (Presbyterian) Rev. Henry Tremlett Hull (1858 – 1 January 1933) and his wife Mabel Constance Josephine Hull (née Amos) (c. 1866 – 13 July 1931), and was educated at Williamstown High School<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamstown_High_School_(Victoria)>[1]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-1> and Ballarat College<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ballarat_College&action=edit&redlink=1>.

He trained as an architect, but had a keen interest in the rapidly developing field of wireless communication. He took a leading part in experiments which demonstrated the value of shorter wavelengths for commercial communication. He was first in Australia to relay (receive and rebroadcast) an overseas wireless programme, through 3LO<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3LO> shortly after it was opened.[2]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-killed-2> He was vice president of the Victorian Division of the Wireless Institute of Australia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Institute_of_Australia> in 1923.[3]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-3>

In 1925 Hull abandoned architecture and began practising in Sydney<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney> as a consulting radio engineer. He was elected Federal Secretary of the Wireless Institute and the Australian Radio Relay League.[4]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-4> He was a key figure in ground-breaking communication experiments between the U.S. and Australia.[5]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-5> In 1927 he went to the United States, to work with the headquarters staff of the American Radio Relay League<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Radio_Relay_League> on the production of the league's magazine QST,[6]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-6> then director of the ARRL Experimental Laboratory.

He returned to Australia in 1929, to take up the post of technical editor of Wireless Weekly in Sydney.[7]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-7> A year or two later he resumed his experimental and journalism work with ARRL at Hartford, Connecticut<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford,_Connecticut>. He was particularly interested in UHF<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF> communication and built a radio-controlled glider<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glider_(aircraft)>.[8]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-8> Early in 1938 he assumed American nationality and was appointed editor of QST.

For over six months he was actively engaged in experiments in television, then was killed when he accidentally received a shock of 6,000 volts while experimenting with television apparatus in the laboratory of his summer residence at Vernon, Connecticut<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon,_Connecticut>.[2]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_A._Hull#cite_note-killed-2>



THE ROSS HULL CONTEST
The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) has run a contest in the memory of Ross Hull since 1950 and this year I have been appointed manager.

The Contest is a DX based Marathon on VHF and up bands for the entire month of January and there is no reason anyone, anywhere doesn’t enter and send in a log.

The Rules are simple – Work anyone on SSB CW or Digital any day over the month, repeat contacts are allowed every day and pick either the best seven days or two days from the entire month. Scoring is 1 point up to 100km 2 points 200km etc, we have N1MM UDC created thanks to Les G4OGB and the VK Contest logger VKCL also caters for the contest.

If you are a Contest columnist for your local club or better still National magazine, please get in touch for more details.

https://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/

https://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/rosshull/



Trent
VK4TS
M0HTT
WW7TT
Po Box 275 Mooloolaba QLD 4557
Mobile 0408497550