Tom Kneitel

From HFUnderground

Tom Kneitel, W4XAA, K2AES, SK (1933-2008)

As a teenager growing up in New York City, Tommy operated an AM pirate station known as WISP. During a DX test in 1949, he received reception reports as far away as Ohio. Later he became the first, and only, journalist to visit Swan Island and Radio Americas, and his article about the journey appeared in the July, 1968 issue of Electronics Illustrated. According to Art, N2AH, Tom actually operated an amateur radio station from Swan Island as KS4CH. The article hit newsstands at almost exactly the same time Radio Americas left the air!

Tommy was Editor of Popular Communications from its launch in 1982 until 1995, when he gave up day-to-day responsibilities for the magazine and became Senior Editor. He served as an advisor and resource to his successors until recently before his passing. In addition to innumerable articles in Popular Communications, he also published numerous radio and DX related articles in "Popular Electronics", "S9" and "CB Horizons". Occasionally he used the pen name "Alice Brannigan".

Kneitel was inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame in 2004.

Books by Tom Kneitel

QSL card of Tom Kneitel, K2AES, showing his former callsigns, including KS4CH used from Swan Island.

Kneitel had authored a multitude of books on CB, scanning and other radio-related topics, most of them published by CRB Research Books, Inc, in Commack, NY. This is an incomplete list of his books:

• Electronic circuits handbook (1963)
• 103 simple transistor projects (1964)
• Surplus conversion handbook, including "command sets" (1967)
• Robert M. Brown & Tom Kneitel: "49 Easy Entertainment & Sience Projects", Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc (1969)
• CBers' SSB handbook (1977)
• The "top secret" registry of U.S. Government radio frequencies, 25 to 470 MHZ (1979-1986)
• Air-scan directory of aero band scanner frequencies (1981)
• Rail-scan directory of railroad scanner frequencies (1982)
• National directory of survival radio frequencies (1982)
• Air Scan Guide to Aeronautical Communications (1984)
• Radio station treasury, 1900-1946 (1986)
• Tom Kneitel: "Guide to embassy & espionage communications", CRB Research, ISBN 0939780062 (1986)
• Tune in on Telephone Calls (1988)
• Tomcat's Big CB Handbook (1988)
• Tom Kneitel: "Directory of U. S. Army Forts, Camps, and Airfields 1789 to 1945", CRB Research, ISBN 093978016X (1992)