Welcome
This web site is dedicated to amateur radio activites in the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. There are currently more than sixty-five members in this club. The club was originally chartered in 1930. Our club members participate in several activities in the Fort Wayne area. The two major activities are the annual ARRL Field Day (always the 4th weekend in June) and monthly Fox Hunts. But, we also provide communications support for the Mastadon Stomp at IPFW, the Juvenile Walk For Diabetes, the Annual Heart Walk, the Annual March of Dimes Walk at Headwaters Park and several of the walking activities around the Summit City. Our radio operators provide communications support on foot, bicycle and by car to provide safety and emergency response during these walking activities. Many of the club members participate as weather spotters for Skywarn which provides weather spotting information to the National Weather Service during hazardous weather. We also have members that participate in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and Military Affiliate Radio Service (MARS).
What is a Ham?
Practical "wireless" had its start in 1896, when Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) first sent a signal over a distance of two miles. By 1899, he succeeded in sending a wireless message across the English Channel, a distance of 32 miles. The year 1899 also marks the first construction project, which appeared in "American Electrician" magazine. In December, 1901, Marconi was able to bridge the Atlantic, an event which caught the world's attention and fueled the imagination of thousands of potential amateurs, who took their first steps into wireless.
During the first decade of the twentieth century and later 1,000’s of men (and many women) experimented with the new medium of "wireless" and there was a considerable amount of RF interference being created in those days. These were the Wild West days of "wireless" radio. It was called wireless because that was short for wireless telegraph. There were no voice transmissions in those early days. All the communcation was with what were called spark gap transmitters. The International Morse code was used to communicate. There was no way to know how many stations existed since there was no regulatory agency to control the airwaves and issue licenses. By 1910 it was estimated that there were some 6,000 private wireless radio stations in the United States. Subscriptions to the “American Electrician” had grown to 32,000 from less than 400 at the turn of the century.
In 1906, a young experimenter named Lee De Forest, age 22 created a modification to the Fleming electron valve (tube) adding a plate, a grid and then oscillating it with AC current. This new creation was called the Audion tube. These tubes were later modified to become Diodes and were used to increase the sensitivity of early radio receivers. In those days electron tubes were also called valves. In the United Kingdom and several countries around the world electron tubes are still referred to as valves.
In those early days commercial stations would interfere with amateur experimenters quite often. However, when the amateurs interfered with the commercial stations, they were said to "hamming" thus the term Ham Radio was soon born to indicate who the radio amateurs were.
On April 15, 1912, the R.M.S. Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. Thanks to wireless, and the first S.O.S. in history, 713 lives were saved. However, it has been argued that the number of survivors could have been doubled or even tripled, if there were stronger wireless regulations in effect. The U.S. Congress stepped in and ran investigations and hearings. The Department of Commerce regulated wireless radio until 1934 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established.
Today there are more than 650,000 licensed amateur radio operators in the United States. There are over four million hams world-wide. Today's radio amateurs are still experimenters and have contributed literally hundreds of new techniques and thousands of discoveries that have contributed to every communications medium we enjoy today.
Want To Learn More About Ham Radio?
If you would like to find out more about amateur radio, please contact our Club President or Communications Manager. Meetings are usually held on the third Friday of each month at the Good Sheperd United Methodist Church, 4700 Vance Ave, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Our meetings are open to anyone that wants to learn more about amateur (ham) radio. Please join us in this exciting hobby.
About Fort Wayne's Radio Club
The Fort Wayne Radio Club traces its origin and roots through several predecessor clubs back to 1916. The 1916 group was one of the earliest amateur radio clubs in the United States. The current name of the club came into existence in early 1930. Predecessor clubs were 1916 - Fort Wayne Radio Association Of Indiana, 1919 - YMCA Radio Club, 1920 - Old Fort Spark Gang, 1922 - G.E. Fort Wayne Radio Club, 1924 - Knights of Midnight Key, 1928 - Radio Traffic Association of Fort Wayne, and 1930 - Fort Wayne Radio Club.
In 1986, The Fort Wayne Repeater Association was merged with the Fort Wayne Radio Club. The Fort Wayne Radio Club retains the original "Certificate of Affiliation" with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). The certificate which was signed by the father of amateur radio, Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW, founding president of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), and is dated January 25, 1930.
The first ARRL Indiana Convention was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana on July 17-19 1924. This was six years before the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (D.A.R.A. - Dayton, Ohio) held their first convention in 1930. On April 3, 1928 Wade Pitcher 9AAI was authorized to contact the city about procuring radio equipment for protection of the community in times of disaster. Pitcher was attributed as having built and installed the first police radio system.
In 1947, the Naval Reserve made their transmitter available to FWRC members for the operation as club station W9RJY. In 1948, the club provided emergency communications for local communities cut off by an ice storm / wind storm. The emergency situation lasted for about a week.
In 1951, the the mobile group (10 meters) assisted in two disasters. On April 28, a United Airlines (UA) plane crashed near Baer Field. UA later presented FWRC with a Check for $100 (remember this is 1951!). A Wabash passenger train collided with a Nickel Plate freight train at the New Haven cross-over later on in the summer. The club was granted space in the Red Cross building for meetings and a station.
Contact With W9TE “On The Air”
If you have contact "on the air" with W9TE and would like to QSL, please contact Carole Burke, WB9RUS (W9TE Trustee) for QSL routing. Carole’s QSL information may be found on QRZ.com. The W9TE call is operated by various club members for contests (HF / VHF / UHF) throughout the year and for ARRL Field Day.
W9TE also participates in the ARRL Logbook of the World for contacts made on or after April 22, 2006.