The Evolution of Ham Radio Deluxe: A Legacy of Innovation and Change

The Early Days (2003–2011)

Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) was born in 2003, founded by Peter Halpin (PH1PH) and Simon Brown (HB9DRV). What began as a labor of love quickly grew into a global phenomenon, reaching over 100,000 registered users by 2010. When Simon decided to pursue other interests in late 2011, a new chapter began to ensure the software's survival.

The 2016 Transition: Accountability and Change

Every long-standing company faces challenges. Ours came in December 2016. Following a widely reported incident involving unauthorized "blacklisting" code used by a former managing partner, the remaining founders took immediate and decisive action.

• Decisive Leadership: Upon discovering the situation, Michael Carper and Randy Gawtry conducted an immediate investigation.
• Total Removal: The individual responsible was removed from the company on December 31, 2016.
• Code Purge: The "blacklisting" capability was permanently stripped from the software.
• Customer First Policy: We overhauled our End User License Agreement (EULA) to remove restrictive clauses, ensuring our focus remained on supporting our community.

The Path to Modernization (2017–Present)

As of August 1, 2021, HRD Software became a family-owned and operated business, with Dr. Michael Carper (WA9PIE) becoming the sole owner. This transition enabled a bold new technical vision to eliminate legacy "technical debt."

Breaking the "Bloat" with HRD 6.9

For years, our users requested a more stable, modern backend. We answered with the release of HRD 6.9—the most significant architectural shift in our history:

• Transition to SQLite: We replaced Microsoft Access with SQLite, providing the speed and reliability modern hams demand.
• Qt Framework: We moved to the modern Qt framework, improving performance and Windows 11 compatibility.
• The Most Intelligent DX Cluster: The WA9PIE-2 node remains the world's most advanced cluster, tied directly to real-time awards tracking.