ank (Henry R.) Bennett W2PNA - WDX2FT - Earlier days from Collingswood, NJ& Cherry Hill NJ born in 1924. Associated with radio all of his life, WWII service withth250 Signal Corp Battalion European Theater. Mr Bennett is now living in Terrytown LA From the old school, obtaining his first ham ticket in 1939, a featured writer & contributor.

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What a vocation, to be paid editing a shortwave column for The Newark News. Hank Started
out early as a young listener issued R1342 RADEX Magazine being one of the manycontributors with his timely DX info. RADEX was originally long running, published inCleveland Oh and printed in Conneaut, home of the valued D-104 Astatic Industries.
From RADEX, additionally there was Joe P. Morris in Cleveland, having a SWL programissuing WRØ listening post call-signs in the 50's. Morris eventually couldn’t keep up withthat system. K2AES Tom answered the SOS and it all then morphed into the WPE POPTronics SWL registration program.
Hank Bennett was an influential long time member of the original Newark News Radio Club,
edited the shortwave column for that publication for some 30 years, as well managed theW D X
r a d i omonitor
registration
programstarting in1970.
Bennettalsoashortwave editor for Popular Electronics magazine from 1955 until August 1970. The WDX
program, which was independent of the club, succeeded the WPE program once sponsored
by Popular Electronics.
Bennett’s column from theNNRC Bulletin - courtesy ofO n th e s h ortw ave s .c o m Featured a comprehensive
list of stations andfrequencies. He also wrotefor Monitoring Times.
Here is an interesting passagefrom Hank Bennett andHarry Helms from the“C omplete ShortwaveListener’s Handbook - 2 nd edition.” Continued on page two.

The average person nowadays, though, seems to have a built in bit of knowledge that, tohim, means that anyone with a shortwave radio of any kind is automatically a ham radio
operator. That is one of the most erroneous impressions that I have ever ran up against...”“Oftentimes the average person, when encountering a Shortwave Listener, will ask the SWL
why he doesn’t get a license and actually get on the air for two way contacts. For the SWL
to reply that he doesn’t want to might give the impression that he’s too good for that sort ofthing, the SWL to say that he can’t would leave the impression he is too dumb to get alicense. Both impressions are totally incorrect..
In my own 30 years of being a ham radio operator, I have had the opportunity of meetinglarge numbers of SWL’s and I know for a positive fact that the great majority of them preferto simply listen, rather than engage in on the air communications. Just like the baseball fan
who’d rather watch than play, radio is a spectator sport to the Shortwave listener.
“Admittedly, there are many SWL’s who cannot get a license but it usually is not due to any
lack of ability.” The average SWL is perfectly content to be a listener and believe me, someof them are real addicts! The SWL more often than not, continues to be actively engaged in
the hobby and many of them eventually go on to the ham radio portion of the hobby.
Conversely, I know of a number of ham radio operators who for various reasons of theirown, have elected to allow their ham radio licenses lapse, after which they once again
become active SWL’s. In most cases, it was learned that they found preference for the one
way aspect of the hobby.
Experience has also proven that many ham radio operators continue to be active SWL’s. This
fact is confirmed by the considerable number of ham radio operators who, through the years,
have reported on shortwave station reception to my columns and to the shortwave stations
themselves in the form of reception reports.”
In the DX Listening Digest of 2002 there were inquiries of folks who looked forward ofHank Bennett continuing the WDX program from Hank’s old 3 by 5 card file, which he had
accomplished earlier before leaving NJ.
It was learned Hank was trying to convert the original membership data over to CD-Rom.
Hank W2PNA was not active, then in his 80s. The static has a way of making one lessdesirous over the years to put the headphones on for extended periods of time such as theearlier years were. We invent filters of all kinds, yet nothing to take the bang and pop of theatmospheric noises, worse in the summer months averaging 10 to 20 db over S/9.
Today Hank lives in retirement and his XYL Amelia (who has helped in the registration
process of WDX) they reside in Louisiana. Nostalgia has its roots and is a very hard thing
to lay aside from ones memory banks. Many never understood the registration program, but
it takes a certain few with a vision, long may it live in our memories.