W8DX - 9DPX Radio Inspector Richard J. Cotton *1905-1995* Dick a former FCC engineer incharge at the Detroit Field Office, expired 29 July 1995, in Detroit. He was 90 years old.
Richard was firstlicensed in thespark era the year
1917 and issued
9DPX - He wasp ro ud of hi sOOTC
membership
Number 1613. In
the twenties hebecame W8LEC
and eventually
W8DX.
An active DX’er(331 Mixed as of1986) He was oneof the first amateurs on the Oscar satellites and held satellite DXCC. His successor as EIC of theDetroit Office, Ed Atems W8BX remembered Cotton as someone who got on amateur television bywinding his own deflection yoke coil.
Dick graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in “radio engineering.” He attended
university in the 1920s and was a relief operator on cargo ships. He had a lot of interesting stories
to tell of his foreign travels and shipboard operating as 9DPX. With a wonderful knowledge ofgeography, Dick would have no trouble recognizing the national flags of foreign ships passing on
the Detroit River in the view from the FCC on the 10th floor of the Federal Building, WQ4L John
Reiser said.
Following a stint at a US Govt monitoring station on Mt. Hood, Oregon, Dick joined the Federal
Radio Commission’s Detroit office in the early 1930's. Legendary, no-nonsense, terse, stiff necked,archly. The titles still come in this very day about Radio Inspector Cotton.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol had an individual signal number devoted to R.I. Cotton when hecame on station to inspect the two way radio’s. The Patrol Post would hurriedly call district
headquarters and say Signal 46, signal 7. Meaning R.I. is on station, Chief Technician comeimmediately. The R.I. in the beginning could usually find a FM transmitter out of tolerance andwrite them up. He respected the Columbus OSHP HQ and usually didn’t raise any issues with them.
It was also said, concerning R.I. Richard Cotton “If ever there were a face to the Federal
Communications Commission, it was this man: stern, imposing, black-suited. He collected the form
610's from a hand full of quivering, fearful civilians and allowed the clattering, paper tape machine
to send a series of shrill “V’s” “Hear it Okay?” He would ask, spearing extra, inefficient words. Dick
retired in 1971 - An impression from your author, I never had contact with him in my duties on thewestern side of Ohio in the State Highway Patrol. Sometimes I wondered if he would show up before
he or I retired! Yet he was one of us and a great Dx’er both HF and VHF/UHF - Continued

One of Dick’s nautical assignments was “The S.S. Liberty Bell” - radio call KUJX was laid down
for the U.S. Shipping board in 1920 at the A.I. Shipbuilding Co Pennsylvania. 5590 gross tons at 390
feet long, designation; cargo vessel. Steam engine single screw, service speed 10 knots. On charterto Amr. Premier Line, sold to British Ministry in 1941 and renamed SS Empire Mahseer, installed
as a cargo ship for Ministry of War UK service and torpedoed by U160 commanded by Capt Georg
Lassen. CDR Lassen would sink a record 30 plus British and U.S. ships. U130 would be destroyed
herself by British war ships in 14 July 1943.
Thus the SS Liberty
Bell was one of
Cotton’s shipboard
experiences, luckily
he had otheremployment beforethe fateful day when
she was torpedoed. I
wonder if he everlearned the fate ofthe SS Liberty BellAKA Empire
Mahseer?
John Reiser said
“Dick was alsointerested in VHF/UHF operations and amateur TV and constructed his own equipment.” He told
us that of investigating reports of a mysterious unlicensed TV station in Flint Mich - during the mid
1950's built entirely by a high school student. The station was supposed to be closed circuit with atransmission line from the small RF modulator to a receiver in another part of the house. Yet there
was sufficient radiation from the line so a number of homes in Flint could pick the signal.
At the same time there were no TV stations in Flint and most homes had tall poles on their roofs withhigh gain antennas to pickup Detroit stations located about 75 miles to the south. Dick Cotton was
so impressed that he decided to build his own amateur TV station entirely from scratch...
Some of the Ohio Highway Patrol technicians remember Dick coming on station and checking
frequency tolerances to the letter. Many low band channels were perfect, others were off frequency
that would require a FCC pink slip. If it were an unlucky day for you Cotton would ask you how doyou derive the actual power input from that transmitter? You would be greatly embarrassed if you
didn’t remember the old formula plate input power was plate voltage times plate current.
Dick had a lot of well known amateur friends such as John Krauss W8JK and General Windom
W8GZ. He and I (Reiser) would go together to the Dayton Ham Convention in its early days to give
ham license tests there. Cotton is still a fond subject of many today.
Partially scripted from arrl.org - homepage.mac/chapter91 & outadaloop.com/livedx22 - QSL’s via
www.w8jyz.com W8SU 2007