Grant Bingeman, known for his design and software work in the often-arcane area of complex AM RF engineering, has died.
Grant Bingeman, photo courtesy of AntenneX
He passed away early Monday, according to an obituary on the website of the Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home, at age 66. A funeral service is set for Friday in Plano, Texas.
[Read the obituary and funeral notice.]
Bingeman was considered an expert in network design, antenna couplers and phasing systems for AM radio, as well as computer control and programming.
According to longtime friend and colleague Jack Sellmeyer, Bingeman did technical work for Gates/Harris, then joined Rockwell/Collins in the late 1970s. The Collins broadcast division was acquired by Continental Electronics in 1979; Bingeman worked there for some years. At one time he held the title of principal engineer at Continental, according to an earlier bio published by amateur radio magazine AntenneX.
He designed phasing and coupling equipment and was an early developer of Method of Moments modeling of AM antenna systems, writing early versions of MININEC code to help manufacturers design systems and predict driving point impedances on directional systems. Sellmeyer said Bingeman’s work was used by a number of respected industry consultants in their phasor designs.
Bingeman wrote his own software programs for AM modeling and for ham radio applications; his call sign was KM5KG. In his career he published numerous technical articles — such as “Solving AM Bandwidth Problems” in Broadcast Management/Engineering in 1978 and “An Economical Directional Antenna for AM Stations” in the 1987 NAB Engineering Conference Proceedings — and he was author of the book “Short Antennas for 160 Meter Radio.” His work also appeared in the early years of Radio World.
According to the AntenneX biography, Bingeman was a registered Professional Engineer and held a BSEE from the University of Virginia and an FCC Commercial Radiotelephone License (First Class). He also did work as a registered electrician and FM station chief engineer. He was medically retired in later years. According to the undated biography, Bingeman had had two liver transplants.
[Read the AntenneX biography (PDF).]
Consultant Tom Osenkowsky, a Radio World contributor, called Bingeman’s death “a tragic loss for the industry. I remember Grant when he designed phasors for Harris. He was largely responsible for converting the AFCRL Moment Method Fortran code in a form useful for analyzing AM arrays.”
Engineering consultant Ron Rackley knew Bingeman for four decades. Rackley last spoke with him in September. “We had a good time reminiscing and I had a chance to thank him for all the things I learned in our discussions years ago. He was one very smart and accomplished person.”
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