10/21/2019

The Michigan State University Amateur Radio Club (MSUARC) turns 100 this month. The club, which holds the call signs W8MSU and W8SH, celebrated its centennial with a special event station on October 19.

"We're celebrating a milestone," said Faculty Advisor 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."

The Michigan State ham club was first licensed in the fall of 1919 as 8YG, later 8XBU, as the commercial broadcast station was separated from the Amateur Radio station. 8YG became WKAR. A few years later, 8XBU became W8SH, when the Federal Radio Commission created a new license category for Amateur Radio. Over the years, club members have been involved in original technological experimentation.

For example, on February 22, 1969, Ralph Taggert, WB8DQT, with the help of Dave Sumner, now K1ZZ and the former CEO of ARRL, made the first US-to-Europe slow-scan TV contact, on 10 meters. For more information about the club's activities, visit its Facebook page[1].ÿ


[1] https://www.facebook.com/W8MSU/

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