The Michigan State University Amateur Radio Club is one of the country’s oldest university ham radio clubs, and turns 100 years old this month.
“We’re celebrating a milestone,” said faculty adviser Gregory Wierzba. “The club has been a licensed ham radio station for a century. It’s been on the air almost as long as radio licenses have been issued. Our call letters, W8SH, have been heard around the world and even beyond.”
Wierzba said amateur, or ham radio, was one of the first widely-used wireless technologies.
“Ham radios do not use transmission wires, like traditional telephones and current cable networks. They use nature's built-in phone line - the ionosphere,” he said.
The current president of MSUARC is Volkan Yildirim, a senior in mechanical engineering. The vice president is Tyler Peterson, a senior in electrical engineering.
The radio club members provide training and testing to interested MSU students, adding 12 newly licensed hams to the club this past year. Five of these new hams have upgraded to the second level Amateur Radio license, which will grant them restricted privileges to operate the club station on all modes within the amateur radio bands.
The MSUARC will celebrate its 100th anniversary with operation of a special event station from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19, in Room 2121 of the Engineering Building.
Student members and mentors of the club will operate on the ham radio bands making contacts with as many other stations as time and propagation conditions allow.
Special confirmation cards are available by mail and will be sent to the stations contacted. Club alumni in the Friends of the MSUARC are invited to attend to the event and reception.
For more information about the club’s activities, visit its Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/W8MSU/.