THAN K S T 0

LOYALALUMNI

"".. ... . H

VV 2 S Z H A N\ RADIO

c E L E BRATE S a 0 YEARS

0 F S E R V I c E A N D

A C H I EVEN\E N T

BY KATHY WESTBROOK

4 RENSSELAER

t's 7 p.m. (EDT) October 3,1990. Several time zones and anocean away, East and WestGermans celebrate the hours-oldreunification of their two coun-tries. On such a night, "workingDX" is the only way to go.

"CQ CQ CQ from W2 SZ,W2SZ, W2SZ CQ CQ CQ 20meters, CQ CQ CQ 20 metersfrom W2SZ, W2SZ, W2SZ."

Moments later comes the hoped-forresponse. "W2SZ this is DL2ADS,DL2ADS, DL2ADS."

Right now, you are probably patientlyawaiting the translation of this alphabetsoup. Yet, believe it or not, a large seg-ment of your fellow alumni alreadyknow that some lucky Rensselaer stu-dent is experiencing the excitement ofthis historic night through the eyes ofa German ham radio operator (DL2stands for a German station).

Many alumni members of Rens-selaer's Amateur Radio Club probablycould have shared this student's ex-perience. Still, the oldest hmong themmay marvel at the achievement. Forthey can well remember when workingDX, attempting a long distance or for-eign contact, required days, weeks, oreven months of persistence.

Predictably, Rensselaer students'involvement with amateur radio prac-tically coincided with the technology'sbirth. Numerous students were amongthe first members of the Troy Wire-less Club, initiated in 1911 by WendellW. King, who at the age of twelve wascredited with operating Troy's firstwireless station.

For more than a decade, excepting abrief hiatus in operations during aWorld War I government suspensionof amateur radio privileges, the clubprospered, meeting regularly at theTroy YMCA. Yet with RPI studentscomprising almost 75 percent of theclub's membership, its conversion to aRensselaer-sponsored organizationseemed inevitable. But, as the-studentswho had joined the club followingWorld War I began graduating in 1922-23, it appeared that the dub mightdissolve.

However, Leonard S. Inskip '22, oneof these former student members, hadbecome an instructor at the Institute upon

. graduation.WorkingwithHarryR.Mimno, a senior member of th'e elec-trical engineering faculty, Inskip re-established the club on campus.Maintaining the call sign 2SZ (the Wprefix was later added in accordancewith a 1928 change in federal regula-tions) as well as much of the YMCAequipment, the club moved into acorner of the Sage Laboratory officesofWHAZ, Rensselaer's already exist-ing broadcast station, in December of1924.

Since then, Rensselaer's AmateurRadio Club has been drawing both

student and alumni interest for morethan sixty-five years. Granted, the clubhas experienced peaks and valleysininterest and participation levels. Yet,perhaps because club activities havecontinually evolved as the technologymatured and have offered opportun-ities to educate as well as excite andentertain, it has endured long aftermany other organizations have beendissolved.

During the club's earliest years oncampus, a desire to test the limits ofthe still new technology influencedmost activities. One of the greatestchallenges during the mid-1920s wasto establish "DX" or long-distancecontacts.

"Back then, it was unusual to makea contact more than 100 miles away,"saysJames Youngberg '68, who whilea student member ofW2SZ wrote ahistorical account of Rensselaer'sAmateur Radio Club. "But," he adds,"occasionally you could get fartheraway and maybe even reach overseas."

Rensselaer's ham radio operatorswere especially determined to establishtwo-way contact with one particularBritish station. The reason? In ad-dition to becoming the world's DXrecord-holder with a contact betweenLondon and New Zealand, the Londonstation shared the call sign 2SZ in com-mon with the RPI club.

It took nearly a year from the firsttime the club heard g2SZ on the airon January 30, 1925, but at 4:40 a.m.on Dec. 6, 1925, it finally obtained aresponse.

"Have wanted to QSO you for years!"came the reply from g2SZ. "Heard youmany times on 90 meters last year,called many times. Very pleased toget QSO [establish contact]. How isRens. Poly?"

By the 1930s, according to HiramD. Harris '23, another former memberof the Troy YMCA Radio Club, whoreplaced Inskip and eventually becameW2SZ's senior adviser until 1943, "theamount of air time for the students

RENSSELAER 5

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.II

began increasing so that they werereally able to make a good many con-tacts. I remember one wall being sim-ply plastered with confirmations fromstations they had made contact with,"he says. .

This period, Harris adds, alsobrought about great improvements inequipment. "Once the facilities weremoved up on the campus," he says, "Ithink the technical atmosphere at RPIreally helped in equipment improve-ment, particularly transmitters andreceivers."

"Back then," concurs Frederick].Norvik '40, professor emeritus of elec-trical, computer, and systems engineer-ing who served as W2 SZ adviser from1945-82, "transmitters, for the mostpart, were built by students." The hands-on nature of amateur radio at that time,he maintains, provided a ready-madeeducational opportunity for studentsto experiment with and apply tech-nology they were studying to dubequipment.

Interest in the dub remained highthroughout the 1930s. But with WorldWar II came an instant halt to almostall amateur radio activities, and unlikethe immediate resumption of activityfollowing the First World War, post-World War II interest in the dub re-generated slowly.

Wayne Green '44, who served aspresident of the dub upon returningto Rensselaer to continue his educa-tion after war service, launched WRPIin hopes of regenerating interest inradio. Although this new broadcastingstation proved immensely popular, thehoped-for extension of interest toW2SZ was less impressive.

Still Green recalls participating in afew activities with the dub's handfulof members. Particularly memorable,says Green, were occasional post-meeting trips to Mount Greylock inMassachusetts. "We would sit in mycar and attempt to make contacts fromthere," he says. "We would turn theantenna with strings and use an old warsurplus transceiver that I brought along."

6 RENSSEtAER

In the early 1960s, the club movedto its current location, a tin "shack" onSunset Terrace. To Youngberg, thismove was greatly responsible forstrengthening the club and generatingnew interest.

"It gave us a place to go where wecould get away from the pressures ofschool for awhile, a place where youcould be yourself," says Youngberg."In some ways, it was almost like a fra-ternity or at least a rallying point forpeople who felt a kinship because oftheir strong interest in ham radio."

Yet it was the club's venture intoamateur radio contests that caused the

most sustaining boost in its popularity."Around 1967or so," Youngberg recalls,"some of the guys got into hilltopping,"or broadcasting with portable equip-ment from a higher altitude. Interest in

. the larger contests,mostlyspons~redby the American Radio Relay League(ARRL), evolved from these excursions.

The dub first entered such a com-petition in 1969, broadcasting fromSlide Mountain, the highest peak inNew York's Catskill Mountains. Thestation soon was competing in ARRLcontests on a regular basis, but movedto Mount Greylock in Massachusetts,where it had accessto a permanentantenna erected for the NorthernBerkshire Amateur Radio Club. From1971 through 1975, says Richard Frey'68, a regular participant in the contestsfrom the beginning, the club consistentlywon first place.

During these competitions, dubmembers commence rapid transmis-sions attempting to make as many con-tacts in as many areas of the country aspossible. The contest divides thenation into rectangular grids, andpoints are awarded for each grid inwhich contacts are made as well as forthe number of contacts made withineach grid. Stations nationwide parti-cipate, using a universal time systemthat guarantees that all participantsreceive the same amount of day andnight transmission time.

In addition to broadcastingskills, the contests also involve l'

certainphysicaland tech- . /"\ .~.nical demands. ~ "1> 1,

Despite access to ~~ ~.

"...

~. 7-L~\ .zone perma- ~ ';..'\,. J~.? ..", ,. JJ

nent antenna, .~\ 6/ -:; f'~several more. "\,;t,

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~~( .~, ("~ '",

of the towerIng

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structures must "4- I) '11'

be assembled (.,;. '1~ qbefore the contest . C

begins. Club mem-bers must also prepare

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several vans full of equipment fortransmitting over very-high frequency,ultra-high frequency, and microwavebands.

Though interest waned briefly in themid-1970s, Frey determinedly took overthe management of the competitionsand within about five years had rebuilta strong group of competitors. W2SZhas been consistently winning thesecontests for several years, and lastsummer, the station even shattered itsown record and became the first stationin the country to break 1million points.

Although much activity revolvesaround the ARRL contests, the cluboffers a range of activities, includingpreparatory classes for licensing exam-inations. In recent years, W2SZ hasalso been authorized to administer theexaminations.

Every year, the station participatesin a nationwide Field Day that tests itsemergency preparedness. The efforthas paid off in numerous instances,such as the 1989 San Francisco earth-quake, during which W2SZ passedabout250 messages between local residentsand family and friends in the Bay Area.

Club members alsoworked with localgrade school children in a December

Experiment (SAREX). Although theposition of Columbia's antennas pre-vented successful communication, theoppor-tunity to work with and learnfrom the W2SZ members helped mit-igate the school children's disappoint-ment. "When we were waiting to talk tothe astronauts," says sixth grader SarahMatteo, "they really encouraged meand helped keep me from getting ner-vous."

Such programs have generated ad-ditionallocal interest in amateur radiowhich, as Norvick notes, brings the,club "full circle. The club originatedwith the people of Troy, and in the lastfew years, it has been allowing Trojansto become associate members, which isgood," he says."It keeps the activityup."

Further advancing communityinterest in ham radio has been theclub's recent efforts to monitor mil-itary action in the Persian Gulf.Through its new "Operation DesertLetters" program, the club is trans-mitting messages from local residentsto relatives and friends serving in theMiddle East. Although the club iscapable of sending messages toKuwait, members are heeding a RadioSociety of Great Britain request torefrain from such activity. Kuwaitiscaught by the Iraqis in radio contactwith citizens of an allied country couldbe in grave danger.

All of these services have contrib-uted to the club's longevity, but prob-ably the greatest contribution to theclub's endurance, however, is theongoing dedication of many of itsalumni. From Inskip and Harris, whohelped firmly establish W2SZ on cam- .pus, to Frey, whose leadership of ARRLcontests keeps the station winning as

generations of students comeand go, W2SZ gains an elementof continuity unattainable withinmany other campus organizations.

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