The History Of The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. “MRAC” Version 2015 1917-2015 – 98 YEARS! The History of The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 2015 Edition Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................... 2  Credits/Revision History ...................................................................................... 6  The Amateur’s Code ............................................................................................. 8  A Historical Timeline ............................................................................................ 9  The Beginning as Told By Someone Who Was There ..................................... 78  From Dollars To Doughnuts............................................................................... 81  The MacArthur Parade ....................................................................................... 82  Emil Felber W9RH ............................................................................................... 83  A Letter From The Founder ............................................................................... 85  A Brief History of MRAC Bylaws ....................................................................... 86  MRAC and Field Day .......................................................................................... 88  The Story of MRAC VEC ..................................................................................... 91  FM Simplex Contest ........................................................................................... 95  The W9RH Repeater ........................................................................................... 99  MRAC / MAARS Interclub Hamfest ................................................................. 108  Reminisces of The Daughter Of Our Second President ............................... 109  Meeting Program History .................................................................................. 111  Past Presidents Of MRAC ................................................................................. 116  Past Officers and More of MRAC ..................................................................... 117  Members Holding Positions with Other Organizations ................................. 142  All Members of Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club ......................................... 143  Silent Keys ........................................................................................................ 158 Introduction For a group in existence as long as the Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club, no effort was made to compile an official history of the group until 2000. I mentioned at a board meeting that we should undertake a project to create a written club history. I was hoping to form a committee of 2 or 3 people but Jim Tromblay, WB9LNU, the club Secretary, Custodian, Historian, Trustee, etc offered to give it a shot himself. As Custodian and Historian, he had most of the club historical records in his possession. A couple of months later Jim handed me his take on the club history written in an outline form, year-by-year. As is the case when sifting through 80+ years of documents, there were some gaps in the time-line. Some of those gaps were filled with general world news headlines (taken from newspaper clippings found in the club archives by Jim). Those headlines serve to add to the ambiance of the MRAC story. I dug through some pictures (while working on the club photo album/scrapbook), and added them to Jim’s text to create a 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 booklet which we had printed and handed out to all members. I then created a “normal” size 8-1/2 x 11 document with some color added (because we can) that was published on the club Internet site for download. Shortly after publication, Hans Schroeder, AE9G, asked if I would mind a critique of the document (after all, Hans was a recently retired college professor). I said sure, go ahead, and at the next club meeting Hans handed me a marked up document with corrections in punctuation, grammar, and some other comments. I put this in the pile for future work and in 2003, incorporated Hans’ comments, added info for the years 2000-2003, filled in a few other bits and pieces and published the 2003 version of the history on the club Web site (we did not offer a printed version due to costs). I was then Historian as Jim Tromblay had retired and moved out of town. In 2005 the history was updated to pick up information of the years 2003 on, and even add some additional history information. In 2003 Ed Seruga KE9JJ produced a box of photos and papers he had. In 2005 the club received from Robert Felber, the son of Emil Felber W9RH SK, 2 boxes of club papers, a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about the club and still more photos. The recent finds produced a number of documents that were written by club members over the years that covered some of the milestones of the club. Those documents have been included in versions of the MRAC History since 2005 in their entirety. I also added a written history of the club repeater before those details are lost and forgotten. All those articles appear following the history timeline as originally developed by Jim. Some of the articles have appeared in past club newsletters. Also the beginnings of a complete list of club officers was added (from a list compiled by Emil Felber). The 2006 edition marked the first in annual updates. Of course those updates include recent news items about amateur radio and the club and the world around us as listed in the timeline. Also included in 2006 is a letter from Yvonne Robel, the daughter of Clarence Crapo W9VD SK (the second President of the club), which accompanied a collection of 75 glass mount slides of club activities from almost the beginning through the 30’s. Jim Tromblay, WB9LNU while cleaning up his stuff from moving to northern Wisconsin, presented me with a continuing list of club officers (picking up from where the Emil Felber list left off through 1997) as well as a brief write up of by-laws history he prepared for a by-laws change in the mid nineties. I have added to the officer list and the by-laws history to sort of bring them up to current time. I say sort of as the officer list is a big project and is not yet 100% complete. The repeater story was also approved by one of the principles in the project, Dave Karr, KA9FUR, and I added some additional new information. For 2007, the officer list was added to greatly. It is still not 100% but much closer. MRAC Club History Version 2015 - copyright © 1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 2 Besides additions to the timeline for 2006 and 2007, there were additions and corrections to entries from earlier years. Of course, 2007 marked the 90th birthday of the club. For 2008, new items include the beginning of a complete member list. It is only a beginning (started with around 800 names, currently over 1200) as with almost 100 years of members it will take some time to get everyone in the list. Once again, some work by Jim Tromblay was the genesis of this project as Jim gave me a list he started compiling while he still had the club archives (an entire note pad filled with handwritten calls, names and dates). In the very early years, full names were not used in lieu of first and middle initials and last name. Also call signs were also not always listed with a person’s name, so very early data compilation requires a lot of work. In recent years the constantly changing call signs make things difficult. Of course, the timeline picks up recent information as well as more information added to past years, including more on the beginning years of radio and radio clubs. Some data has been expanded where more detail is found. 2009 brings a couple of new articles, including the FM Simplex Contest, the club’s involvement with Field Day, and the club’s involvement with the VEC testing program. As usual the timeline has additions and enhancements and more info is added to the officer and member lists. Currently the Field Day story is just a small beginning, dealing with recent operations and little bits of info from previous years. The FM Simplex Contest story will of course have additions each year as the contest continues. Also new is the beginnings of a listing of club members who have held elected or appointed positions with national organizations (ARRL, NCVEV, etc). We are also adding a list of Silent Keys. At some point everyone who is a member would probably appear in this list. I started the list as for a few years in the 2000s the club kind of neglected to mention / honor members who recently passed. For a time this was the only mention of them. It is being included not just to take up space, but to act as a final tribute to a club member and is listed by the year a member passes. For 2010 thru 2012 there are no new major articles/stories, but there are updates and additions to the timeline, the officer list, the total member list and the silent key list along with additions to some of the existing stories. Officer duties have kept revisions low. Nonetheless, the book has grown to 113 pages. 2013 brings the usual additions and updates to the timeline and other date sensitive sections (Field Day, FM Contest, etc.). Of course there are more additions to the all member lists and unfortunately the Silent Keys list. In recent years the timeline has seen additions relating to some of the pioneers of the amateur radio equipment field as well as general electronics and audio electronics. After all, amateur radio is a technical hobby and over the years many hams have been involved in and certainly been a consumer of audio equipment and other types of electronic equipment. Also, any reprints of existing documents are printed exactly as found. There may be misspelling, wrong grammar, slang from a particular era. Things are left as they were originally written. For 2014, there are significant additions to the timeline covering more general amateur radio history along with more general technical, electronics science and consumer electronics history (remember, Amateur Radio IS a technical pursuit). More members are added to the all- time members list. There is also the beginning of a chapter listing meeting programs through the years. With the number of new hams entering the hobby, we would like to present as much history relating to the hobby as possible. Yes much of the information can be found elsewhere (information is culled from numerous sources), but often only in bits and pieces. The 2015 edition as usual adds items to the timeline both new and past news. The usual chapters have additions like Field Day, FM Simplex Contest, Hamfest, Officers, Members, etc. The date of last revision of a chapter is also now added below chapter titles. Doing so MRAC Club History Version 2015 - copyright © 1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 3 makes it easy to find a chapter which may have had some changes since the last book publication. Hopefully we can keep this a living document so future amateur radio operators can fully appreciate the long and illustrious (and sometimes not so stellar) story of the Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club. The plan is to still try update the document every year with at least the important events of the past year (both for MRAC and the world). With each passing year more club information is uncovered and additional articles will be added as discovered. If anyone has any information (or comments) on important topics as well as any information for the officer list, member list, or any other topic from our past (including the desire to write an article yourself) please contact us. More general electronics, radio, and technology news and history will be added to the timeline. This is so more people can be informed of the history and significance of technology and amateur radio’s place in that history. Also many new hams may find this document as one of their first exposures to this information. From the beginning, MRAC has always been interested in the technical education of its members and hams in general. Something which may be noticed while reading the book. MRAC is not afraid to air it’s occasional dirty laundry. The club is not about to hide or distort the truth just to make itself look good. Only a proud, vibrant, and professional organization can operate with full and honest disclosure. This book of club history is really not the whole story. There is also a photo album/scrapbook which currently fills 2 - 3 ring binders on paper and makes up a large slide show presentation. Recently, the slide show has been turned into a series of short (5-20 minute) computer videos. At this time the videos are 99% silent, but a soundtrack of music and narration and more is high on the list for future enhancements. Besides the photos there are a couple of video collections of Field Day activities and even TV news coverage of a Field Day from the 1980’s. Finally, there is a never ending project of scanning all the collected club documents (or collecting electronic versions from recent computer generated documents) from the beginning of the club to current. Currently there are almost 1GB of Adobe Acrobat files in the electronic archives (over 1900 files). All of this information is available to any club member or anyone interested in the club. We are investigating trying to get much of that information available on-line for all to access at any time. For a number of years the club touted itself as the oldest continuously active amateur radio club in the world. In recent years we have discovered information that contradicts that. However, while a number of clubs actually started before MRAC. Only a handful remain and few have remained continuously active. So MRAC is one of a very few of the world’s oldest continuously active amateur radio clubs. Interestingly, as one of the newly discovered documents show, MRAC was not the first club formed in the Milwaukee area. The Milwaukee Radio Association was formed previous to MRAC. That club died out during World War I and its membership was absorbed into MRAC. (maybe we should change our start date?). According to a letter from ARRL in 1969, MRAC at that time (50 years of affiliation) appeared to be the oldest continuously active radio club affiliated with ARRL. But why not read the story for yourself. Why should you care about the history of a lowly radio club? If you are an officer of the club it is good to know what has been done before or maybe not done before. What worked and what did not. If you are a member of one of the many other local radio clubs, discover that just about everything any other local club does or has done was done first by MRAC. If you are a member of MRAC or just a visitor to the history, why not read about some of the lives of the people who were involved with amateur radio and the MRAC over the last 95+ years. Recently, a newer club member and recent board member told me that every board member should be required to read the history to understand the heritage of the club. While that makes me feel MRAC Club History Version 2015 - copyright © 1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 4 good, I won’t go that far (sometimes board members do not even know what’s in the by-laws, sorry, editorial) Amateur radio is a very unique hobby. Why not learn everything you can about this strange and fascinating pursuit. After all, like it or not, you are carrying on the tradition started by the people listed in this document. Even though many are gone now, make them proud of what has come of their work and passion and don’t let them down! So let’s travel through the years and see the highlights of MRAC, amateur radio and the world around us. Dave DeFebo, WB9BWP President 1982-1984, 1998-2002, 2010-2012, other past offices, Janitor, current history guy (2003-), part of repeater technical committee and license trustee and (usually) proud club member since September 1968 (finally made it to life member 2015). MRAC Club History Version 2015 - copyright © 1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 5 Credits/Revision History (2015) 2000 – Initial creation including timeline and Past Presidents. Created a 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 printed booklet with photo montage on back cover and distributed to all club members. Jim Tromblay WB9LNU – initial and continuing research and text Dave DeFebo WB9BWP – document formatting, master printing photo montage for printed book back cover John Merkl WB9PSE – hard copy printing and member distribution 2003 – Continuing timeline enhancements and general corrections. Reformatted for 8-1/2 x 11 page and published only electronically in PDF form. Dave DeFebo WB9BWP – “Introduction” Hans Schroeder AE9G – proofreading 2005 – Continuing timeline additions and enhancements. Expanded the Introduction. Added articles on the early years of the club, the communications van, MacArthur Parade, and the W9RH Repeater. Loy Schell Hillegas-Baird 9HO – “The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club” – the beginning Dave DeFebo WB9BWP - “The W9RH Repeater”, Dave Karr KA9FUR – Proofreading and approval of the article “The W9RH Repeater” Mark Tellier AB9CD – proofreading and master printing 2006 – Continuing timeline additions and enhancements Jim Tromblay WB9LNU - “A Brief History of MRAC By-Laws” Yvonne Robel (daughter of Clarence Crapo W9VD) – letter to MRAC 2007 – Continuing timeline additions and enhancements 2008 – Continuing timeline additions and enhancements, Beginning of All Members List. Jim Tromblay WB9LNU – “The All Members List” initial data collection. Mark Tellier AB9CD – proofreading 2009 – Continuing timeline, member list, officer list additions and enhancements. Added the beginnings of articles on the VEC, Field Day, FM Simplex Contest and lists of officers of national organizations and Silent Keys. Ray Adams W4CPA – VEC history portion of VEC Story Tom Fuszard KF9PU – Various parts of the VEC Story and proofreading of whole chapter. 2010-2011 – Continuing timeline, member list and Silent Key additions, officer list additions and miscellaneous enhancements. 2012 – Continuing timeline, member list and Silent Key additions, officer list additions and miscellaneous enhancements (enough so you have to read through everything). The introduction of the article on the MRAC / MAARS Interclub hamfest. Starting for this year, any chapter/section of this book will contain the year of the latest revision to that chapter/section beneath its title. 2013 – Continuing timeline, member list and Silent Key additions, officer list additions and miscellaneous enhancements. A reprint of a newsletter story on Emil Felber W9RH. L. S. Hillegas-Baird x9HO - letter from the club founder to a later club President. Dan Workenaour N9ASA – Master printing. MRAC Club History Version 2015 - copyright © 1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 6 2014 - Continuing timeline, member list and Silent Key additions, officer list additions and miscellaneous enhancements. The addition of a chapter (just the beginning) on the history of club meeting programs. The timeline is greatly enhanced with information on various electronic and other technology items as well as more general ham radio history. Dan Workenaour N9ASA – Master printing. 2015 - Continuing timeline, member list and Silent Key additions, officer list additions and miscellaneous enhancements. The timeline is greatly enhanced with information on various electronic and other technology items as well as more general ham radio history. Added the Amateur’s Code and the beginning of meeting program history. Dan Workenaour N9ASA – Master printing. Past Officer Listings - Emil Felber W9RH, Jim Tromblay WB9LNU, Dave DeFebo WB9BWP Member list - Jim Tromblay WB9LNU, Dave DeFebo WB9BWP And also thanks to the members of the Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. since 1917 who helped create all this history… Unless otherwise noted, all material Copyright  1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. Various copyrighted sources have been referenced to check material contained within. MRAC Club History Version 2015 - copyright © 1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 7 The Amateur’s Code (2015) For many years, MRAC reprinted “The Amateur’s Code” in rosters and other printed material. It has also been printed by the ARRL, QCWA and various other publications. It is reprinted here for your future reference. The Amateur's Code ONE The Amateur is Considerate… He never knowingly uses the air in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others. TWO The Amateur is Loyal ... He offers his loyalty, encouragement and support to his fellow radio amateurs, and his local club and to the American Radio Relay League, through which Amateur Radio is represented. THREE The Amateur is Progressive ... He Keeps his station abreast of science. It is well-built and efficient. His Operating practice is above reproach. FOUR The Amateur is Friendly ... Slow and patient sending when requested, friendly advice and counsel to the beginner, kindly assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interests of others; these are marks of the amateur spirit. FIVE The Amateur is Balanced ... Radio is his hobby. He never allows it to interfere with any of the duties he owes to his home, his job, his school, or his community. SIX The Amateur is Patriotic ... His knowledge and his station are always ready for the service of his country and his community. -PAUL M. SEGAL W9EEA (first printed 1928) MRAC Club History Version 2015 - copyright © 1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 8 A Historical Timeline (2015) 1836  Samuel F. B. Morse (an artist), Joseph Henry (a physicist), and Alfred Vail (an inventor) developed a system of sending electrical pulses along a wire controlling an electromagnet to generate clicking sounds representing a “code” to transmit messages. 1837  William Cooke and Professor Charles Wheatstone patent a multi-wire landline telegraph system using multiple batteries along the wire’s path. Their system also did not use sound but a series of needles which pointed to the alphabet printed on charts. 1848  Friedrich Clemens Gerke created what was known as the Continental code or Modern International Morse code which was a variation of the original Morse and Vail developed code. Gerke changed half of the alphabet and all of the numbers from the original code. The original form of Morse code became what is known as American Morse (and was primarily used on landline telegraphs, not radio). 1865  May 17 – The International Telegraph Union (ITU) is established as a standards organization for landline telegraphy. It would later become the International Telecommunications Union. 1876  March 7 - The first US patent for a telephone (an "apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically") was granted to Alexander Graham Bell. Over the years there have been disputes over who actually “invented” the telephone. March 10 - Bell transmits the sentence "Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you!" using a liquid transmitter and an electromagnetic receiver to his assistant Thomas Watson.  The International Telegraph Union (ITU) begins branching out from landline telegraphy by drafting international rules for the new telephone service. 1877  Thomas Edison applies for a patent on a carbon (graphite) transmitter (microphone). 1882  The Milwaukee Journal newspaper is founded (November 16). 1892  Due to litigation, Edison’s patent on a carbon (graphite) transmitter (microphone) is finally granted. 1896  The first public presentation of a projected motion picture takes place at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City. MRAC Club History Version 2015 - copyright © 1917-2015 The Milwaukee Radio Amateurs’ Club Inc. 9