Milestones: UC Berkeley Amateur Radio Club Celebrates its Centennial The Amateur Radio club at the University of California, Berkeley (W6BB) is joining ARRL in celebrating its centennial this year. For those who are members of the club today, the magic of Amateur Radio has not worn off. Im still fascinated by the profundity that an electrical signal can leave the radio in front of me, travel up a wire to an antenna outside, and someone halfway around the world with an antenna outside connected to their radio can hear my voice and talk with me, club member Bill Mitchell, AG6RB, a chemistry graduate student, told UC Berkeley NewsCenter reporter Steve Hockensmith for his article, Century-old ham radio club making waves in Richmond. As part of its celebratory activities, W6BB will take to the air with a special event station March 21-28, using the centennial-appropriate call sign W6C. Operation will be on 40, 20, and 15 meters -- and 10 meters, if its open -- on SSB and CW. A commemorative QSL card will be available. The club also will use W6BB/100 during its centennial year. (L-R) Andy Hu (awaiting new call sign), Tholfaqar Mardan al Waheed, KJ6WEH, and W6BB club faculty adviser Friedrich Sommer, K6EE, at the clubs tower at UC Berkeleys Richmond Field Station. [NewsCenter photo by Steve Hockensmith; used with permission] The clubs call sign went through some changes in the early years, starting out as 6XB, then 6XM, before the Federal Radio Commission granted W6BB in 1929. Although the original 1914 station is long gone, a new one was established last year at Berkeleys Richmond Field Station, on the northeastern shore of San Francisco Bay in Richmond. Yet another is being set up in Cory Hall on the universitys main campus; it should be up and running this spring. The W6BB club currently has 25 members, including undergraduate and graduate students as well as some staff and faculty members. Read more. -- Our thanks to Sarah H. Maxim, great-granddaughter of ARRL Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW, for calling this news to our attention! (She is the Vice Chair for Southeast Asian Studies at UC Berkeley)
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 23:36:54 +0000