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Biography Info:
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The Purdue Amateur Radio Club has a rather length history, going back almost to
the beginning of wireless communications. It is not known exactly when the club
became officially organized, but amateur radio activity at Purdue can be traced
back to 1910. It was only four years earlier, on 24 December 1904 that Reginald
A. Fessenden, head of our electrical engineering department between 1892 and
1893, became the first to broadcast speech and music by radio - remember,
Marconi only broadcasted Morse code. Sometime around 1910, the first attempt to
assemble a station here at Purdue was made in connection with the senior thesis
of R. A. Garrett and O. W. Meindoo. No contacts were made from this first
station. A. F. Hague, G. R. Pigman, and R. E. Cleveland assembled a second
station between 1912 and 1913. It was during this time that, according to H. B.
Knoll’s “The Story of Purdue Engineering,” we made contact with a station at
the University of Illinois. In 1918, the university became active in
instructing radio operators in conjunction with the U. S. Army Signal Corps. As
a result, in 1919 a temporary permit was issued for the operators of a station,
after which work immediately began on installing a permanent station. In 1920
much of the work was completed on the permanent station, and the call sign 9YB
was assigned, along with transmitting privileges on the 200m and 375m band.
Sometime around 1922, Professor A. V. Achatz introduced his personal equipment
as part of the station, and was probably active in Purdue’s efforts to start a
Western Conference radio service. This service between Big Ten schools ran on
Monday nights. Also, two students manned the station every night, Monday
through Friday. In addition to the amateur activity, around 1920, Professor
Achatz and D. L. Curtner began constructing Indiana’s first broadcast station
with the aid of several student volunteers. On 4 April 1922 the Federal Radio
Commission licensed the station as WBAA. The first program was aired on 21
April 1922. This first incarnation of WBAA, along with 9YB were located in the
basement of the original Electrical Engineering Building (erected in 1889)
which stood in the location of the present day Chemistry Building. In 1926 the
present day Electrical Engineering Building was completed and WBAA, along with
9YB were moved to the third floor (in what is now room 330 and 332), and two
Marconi towers were erected on the roof. In 1932, the call sign W9YB was
assigned to the club by the Federal Radio Commission. During the stay of WBAA
in the Electrical Engineering Building, the amateur radio club used its
antennas at night. In 1941 WBAA was moved to its current location in the Elliot
Hall of Music, and the amateur radio club equipment was moved to the basement,
where the transmitter was operated by remote control. W9YB remained in this
location until 1963, when space problems in the Electrical Engineering Building
necessitated moving the club station to its present location in the West Tower
of the Purdue Memorial Union. As central as our club was in the early days of
radio, we weren’t the only wireless pioneers in the area. In “The History of
Electrical Engineering at Purdue,” by L. A. Geddes, a couple other influential
amateurs are mentioned. The first is John Fetzer, who built a spark gap
transmitter between 1914 and 1917. Later he built a 500W radiotelephone station
that was licensed as W9FD, all while he was a part time student who attended
classes taught by Professor Achatz. During the late 1920’s, another wireless
pioneer, Roscoe George began experimenting with amateur television. On 27
October 1930 he received the license W9XG and set up Purdue’s first television
station. The station first came on the air on 31 December 1931 from a location
that is now the north side of the east section of seats in Ross-Ade Stadium. In
1950, the W9XG building and tower were removed for the expansion of Ross-Ade
stadium. Purdue radio history began in the early days of radio. Our history
includes the first experimenters, early television transmissions, amateur radio
9YB and W9YB, and broadcast WBAA. The amateur radio club, original founded in
1920 as 9YB, continues to remain active as a Purdue Student Organization; call
sign, “whisky niner yankee bravo” - W9YB.
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