====== Al Kahn, K4FW (SK) ======
{{alkahn-early.jpg?200|}}{{k4fw.jpg?150|}}

Al Kahn, K4FW, founder and former chairman of the board of Ten-Tec, was one of the two founders of the [[http://www.electrovoice.com/index.php|Electro-Voice]] corporation back in the 1920's.  EV was named by none other than the great [[wp>Knute_Rockne|Knute Rockne]] ("The Gipper").  Al had set up a microphone and speaker system on the practice football fields of Notre Dame in 1927 for Rockne to use in directing the Irish practices, and Rockne called the set-up his "electric voice", hence the name.  Al Kahn is originally from South Bend, In. and that is where Electro-Voice was founded, moving just over the border into southwest Michigan in 1946 to bigger production facilities.  

Al was instrumental in the founding of [[wp>Heathkit|Heathkit]] in the post-WW2 period. Heath was located some 25 miles away from the EV factories in Michigan and Al provided a traincar full of war surplus electronic parts that evolved into Heath's first kit project, an oscilloscope.  

In 1965, Al came to Tennessee to open two Electro-Voice plants, one in Sevierville, TN (home of Ten-Tec) and one in Newport, TN, 20 miles away. To this day the Sevierville EV plant is located directly across the street from Ten-Tec.  Al always had an interest in manufacturing amateur radio gear.  He was a fanatic CW op since the 1920's, and in 1968 sold his interest in Electro-Voice, bought 15 acres of land across the street, put up our building and he and co-founder (still President) Jack Burchfield, K4JU (a former EV employee) started doing tool and die work and building QRP ham gear at that time.

Al was a member of the ARRL, the First-Class CW Operators Club, and the A-1 Operator Club and was elected to the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20021021232301/http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com:80/hrhof.html|CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame]] in 2002.




===== Related Links =====
  *[[http://web.archive.org/web/20050911223706/www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/06/17/6/?nc=1|ARRL]] Web Article (from the Internet Archive)
  *{{al_kahn.pdf|Article on Founding Electro-Voice}} (1.7 MB)
  *{{k4fw_interview.pdf|Interview with Al Kahn, K4FW}}