silent key

For most of my life, I lived with a soundtrack of blips and bleeps emanating from my grandfather's "radio room." A dedicated "Dx-er" and operating first as W6ANN and later as W6BA, Bill Adams pursed contact with fellow ham radio operators located in the most distant regions of the world. First licensed in 1923, he remained active until his death in 1999, when he became a "silent key."

The series "Silent Key" maps these communications which occurred across vast political divides and shifts in territorial alliances. It is derived from his archive of 6000 "QSL" cards spanning 1923 -1996. QSL cards are exchanged by amateur radio operators to verify a 2-way contact. In ham lingo, QSL means, "I hear you" or "I acknowledge receipt." Each card contains the ham's call sign, location and the details of the communication. Because much of amateur radio is in Morse code, hams use the QSL cards to express their personality and/or something about the region in which they live, resulting in an amazing visual array of graphics, images and vernacular typography representing virtually every country in the world.

Installation views Deleted Entites 1925 - 1996
Portraits Antennas
Station videos