3W3RR Jail-pedition continues

one of his many DX pedition call signs. he used the 3WRR call in 1989.

http://www.dokufunk.org/amateur_rad...55&PHPSESSID=ba12dc15f7fcd77849691255902c98e7

 

I still have my P5RS7 card I need for him to get validated so it counts for NK!!!

 

I believe so, yes.

 

Don was the featured speaker at the San Diego DX Club last night!

Don is still going strong and looks great!! He said something about still running Marathons! He had great stories to tell of his DXpeditioning adventures. I was most pleased to hear him and get a copy of his book!

 

He should be shunned and forgotten, IMHO.

 

No, that was Don Miller, W9WNV. Fake, liar and con man. Good operator, though.

https://dxspot.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/most-famous-dxer-of-all-time-don-miller-w9wnv/

Why anyone would revere him or even give him the time of day is beyond me.

 

Sure. But the most famous one was W9WNV.

In one case that really got him in hot water, (PY0XA, 1966) he claimed to have operated from St. Peter and Paul's Rocks. But in fact he actually operated from a boat 1800 miles away from the Rocks. He finally 'fessed up.....when he was cornered and his accomplice turned on him.

http://hamgallery.com/qsl/country/StPeter_Paul/py0xa.htm

There's a lot more on the guy. After some of the whoppers he's told, why should anyone trust anything he says?

 

Pat if my card was valid I would be at the top of the HR....but alas I still need only a valid P5 confirmation to have them all.

 

Everyone has their skeletons in the closet. Lord, don't look in my closet!! (You will find lots of SMT PARTS!!!)

no matter what happened in the past, everyone has had indescretions and errors in life. I remember the time I was conned into stealing a Mad Magazine from the local store. Tough kids I was trying to fit in with set me up to do it, and then bagged me when I made it out of the store with the magazine. We are talking 35 cents here! YES, it was wrong, but as I said we ALL have done something wrong in life.

Don might have screwed up in this instance, but he did activate bunches of countries legitimately and gave the Deserving a New ONE!!! (many many times)

So lets not trash him for one mistake in life.
You know what Jesus said about STONES!!

 

Here's some more:

Dr. Don Miller, ex-W9WNV, was a top DXer in the 1950s and 1960s. He would travel to exotic DX locations and put them on the air, giving many thousands of hams all over the world multiple ATNOs.

Many considered him the #1 DXer in the world - for all time. By all accounts he was a top notch operator.

His stories of his travels were legendary. He was the #1 attraction at conventions, meetings, or any ham gathering. Being an MD only elevated his status; in those days, a medical doctor was respected and revered at the same level as a clergyman. He was admired by almost all and practically worshiped by many. Everyone, including ARRL, took him at his word. Everyone listened to Dr. Don Miller with awe. He knew how to charm an audience - just as every con man does.

But then.....there began to be problems. Some of his stories just didn't add up.

- He claimed to have operated from reefs and islands that magically appeared as his boat approached.

- Requests for documentation and verification were not honored in good faith.

- There were reliable reports that some of his DXpedition signals came from directions very different from where he claimed to be.

- He developed "selective deafness" to certain famous callsigns because they hadn't contributed to his DXpedition fund (they said) or because they were "DX hogs" (he said).

- There were questions about whether he'd actually been licensed to operate from some of the places he claimed.

After several requests for more information were refused, the ARRL disallowed several of his operations for DXCC credit. Miller sued the ARRL for $550,000 for defamation (about $4 million in today's money) because ARRL would not credit 5 of his operations.

But, under oath, the story came out that several of his operations were faked. He'd never been anywhere near where he claimed, and had repeatedly lied about what he'd done.

The one I remember best is the one to St. Peter & Paul's Rocks (PY0XA) - which actually took place from a boat 1800 miles from the Rocks. There were others: Chagos, Heard Island, Laccadive Islands, and Navassa.

See QST for October 1968. See also other QST articles. Note that CQ magazine, at the time, published misleading articles and outright lies about the whole mess.

A few years later, Miller was convicted of trying to get a hit man to kill his estranged wife. He got 25 to life in prison, but he's out now.

https://www.amateurradio.com/tag/w9wnv/

Miller changed DXing and Amateur Radio - but not for the better. If you wonder why LoTW is so complicated, and why there are so many rules about verification of DXpeditions - ex-W9WNV is the cause.

Why would anyone with any morals admire such a disgrace to amateur radio?

 

Well if indeed I did send a QSL to the jail it would be the first one I ever actually received from Romeo despite working him on a number of his expeditions.
P5RS7 was a fraud as were his credit card thefts, but let’s hope that he comes out of jail a changed and better man.

 

I heard he is getting into the soap on a rope business for obvious reasons

 

Just to inform the HAM society - Romeo was released and as of 2/2/2020 already in Moscow, Russia.

 

Yep, released ~ 5 months early (see https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ and search for inmate number 59198-004).

 

That's great!