Prof Emil Heisseluft

Theodore J. (Ted) Cohen, N4XX (ex W9VZL, W4UMF, NNN0XTV (Navy MARS)), aka Prof. Emil Heisseluft, holds three degrees in the physical sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been involved in communications and electronics for more than 68 years. First licensed as WN9VZL in 1952, he has held an Amateur Extra Class license since 1974. An avid DXer who has earned multiple phone and CW DXCC and WAZ awards (including some for 160m), Ted probably is best known for his early (c. 1964) work (together with Copthorne Macdonald, WA2BCW/VY2CM (SK), and Don Miller, W9NTP (SK)) in slow-scan television (SSTV); for his pioneering efforts (together with Vic Clark, W4KFC (SK)) on technical and legislative approaches to solving the problem of radio frequency interference (RFI) to electronic home-entertainment equipment; and for his seminal work with George Jacobs, W3ASK, on the development of simplified techniques for the preparation of ionospheric propagation forecasts.

For these and other contributions to the radio art, Ted was inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame in 2005. He previously received the American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) 1975 Technical Merit Award for his work on RFI. Ted is a Life Member (LM) of the League.

Ted also is known as Professor Emil Heisseluft of the Lauton Institute, Grossmaul-an Der Donau, Austria, whose articles have graced the April issues of CQ magazine since 1977. For more than 40 years, and always in the April issue, CQ magazine has carried the intriguing Amateur-related articles written by Ted (ah, Emil).

During his professional career, Ted has been a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, and a Regional Vice-President At-Large for the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA). As a contractor, he assisted both the Navy and the Department of Defense with their preparations for the World Administrative Radio Conference of 1979 (WARC-79). In 1981, Ted created the first radio feature on Personal Computers (PC), which, between 1981 and 1985, was heard continuously in the Baltimore-Washington markets on WTOP 1500-AM. Selected features also were syndicated nationwide by the CBS Radio Stations News Service (RSNS) both in the US and Canada.

Ted’s writings include his fictionalized autobiography based on his life as a violinist, six ripped-from-the-headlines mystery/thrillers, two collections of unusual short stories titled The Road Less Taken (Books 1 and 2), a series of eight Flash Fiction anthologies titled Creative Ink, Flashy Fiction, an anthology titled Mementos, which is comprised of short stories and flash fiction, two screenplays based on his mystery/thrillers, and a series of three, illustrated, childrens’ storybooks (K-3). His YA novel The Hypnotist—written under the pen name “Alyssa Devine”—is one of two books used in a local high school’s Core Genre (Mystery) reading program.

From December 1961 through early March 1962, Ted participated in the 16th Chilean Expedition to the Antarctic, during which he operated from CE9AF (North Antarctic Peninsula), CE9AS (South Shetland Islands), and CE9AY/mm (Fleet Tug Yelcho) and CE9AW/mm (Fleet Transport Piloto Pardo). The US Board of Geographic Names in October, 1964, named the geographical feature Cohen Islands, located at 63° 18' S. latitude, 57° 53' W. longitude in the Cape Legoupil area, Antarctica, in his honor.

Finally, since 1973, Ted has published more than 450 papers, articles, columns, essays, and interviews, most of which can be found in CQ magazine, though some also have appeared in QST, WorldRadio, 73, Ham Radio, SIGNAL, and other communications and electronics publications, including those pertaining to shortwave listening (SWL) and the Citizen’s Band (CB).