Tower Manufacturer - Donald D. Rohn - passed away November 21, 2011

[WA9UDW]

Funeral Home Obituary: http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Donald-Rohn&lc=4137&pid=154723024&mid=4894820&locale=en-US

WirelessEstimator.com - Wireless Industry News (scroll down to story):http://www.wirelessestimator.com/breaking_news.cfm#Don_Rohn

QRZ.com - Don Rohn, leader of Rohn Towers (SK): http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?323827-Don-Rohn-leader-of-Rohn-Towers-%28SK%29

[n1ps]

I only read the Wireless Estimator article...TNX for posting this.

I never met Don Rohn, but knew several people who worked for him.  As I understand it, Don pretty much built that company on his own and that he was a savy businessman.  I competed against Rohn for several years and do recall the time that Pirod and Rohn tried to merge.  I was working for Pirod at the time.  At some point in the 90s (as I recall) Don sold the company.  I don't recall the exact timing, but the Rohn Co. went bankrupt...but it had nothing to do with what they were doing.  The firm that bought them (Unarco?) got taken down in an asbestos suit and Rohn went with them.  Today the Rohn product is still sold as there are a few derivitives left from the old company.  Most of the old tower companies are no longer around, but a few remain.  Another legend passes.

~ps

[WQ9E]

I drove out to the Rohn plant in nearby Peoria in 1991.  It was cheaper to buy the 55G sections at a ham owned electronics store in Bloomington but they didn't keep 55G in stock and it  took about 10 days for the store to get them.  I ordered the straight sections, top plate, torque bars, etc. from the store but paid near retail PLUS a pickup fee to get the short base in a hurry so I could have the concrete poured and curing to speed up the tower process.

I saw a little bit of the Rohn facility when I was there and the main activity was some custom pieces being hot dipped galvanized for another company.  A few years later one of my business students (former military) was hired by Rohn to train welders for a special contract they had to supply wind towers for the Department of Energy.   Rohn and my student differed on how much training was needed and they parted ways.  The next year he sent me a little news clipping reporting that the DoE had rejected most of the towers after Rohn had shipped them to the test wind farm in the west.  The problem was poor weld quality.

[WA3VJB]

Over the years when I have encountered Rohn's commercial towers I am always impressed at the construction and longevity, that today provide a legacy for those who founded the company.