The Club History

A history of the Delaware Valley VHF Society.

The Delaware Valley VHF Society was formed around 1980 by a group of five Hams.

The "founding fathers" were:

Red Thompson, WB3LNZ (now W3RT)

Gene Shillingford, KB3IB

Tim Cushman, KB3ZS

Gordon Silverman, N3ADC (now K3CI)

Bob Stets, KB3HE

We all had been participating, individually in the January VHF contest for a couple of years. At the time, we all were using FM only but having a great time of it.

We decided to meet up at WB3LNZ's home to formulate a group that would participate in the January contest. We decided that we could form a club that would compete in the Local Class competition. All of the members (all five of us) already had 2 meter beams and amplifiers. We hunted around for some SSB equipment and readied ourselves for the next January contest. When the 1981 January VHF contest came around we were on the air as The Delaware Valley VHF Society. Two of our stations worked as multi-op's and the others worked as individual stations. We all gave it everything we had that year and we were not disappointed either; we won the Local Class competition for that year. Here was an unknown club, coming in and winning the Local Class.

That gave us more initiative to do better in the next year's contest. Each of us added additional bands to our stations. Some added 6 meters, others 432mhz.

Internally, we even competed against each other to see who could make the best score.

As the years went by, more Hams became members of our Club.

In 1983, we formulated our ByLaws and requirements for joining the Club. We collected a minimal membership fee to cover the cost of postage for mailings to each member and for submissions of our Club score to the ARRL.

We expanded from the original five to thirty-nine (39) members in November of 1990. The size of the club grew and we had to find meeting places each month to hold the whole group. There were many meetings held at the Trenton State College. Some of the biggest "guns" on the air, at that time, were members of The Delaware Valley VHF Society. Notably, Roger (K2SMN), Russ (K2TXB), Allen (K2UYH), Hal (K3HP), Frank (WC2F) and many others gave us incredible scores in the January contest. We "out grew" the Local Class and moved into the Medium Class, taking the "gavel" for that Class for a few years as well. I remember we even had thoughts that we could move out the leader (PackRats) from the Unlimited Class. We never did do that, however.

As the years went by, some of the members left to go "out on their own". There was never any animosity for those leaving. It served to give the Club even more competition. We eventually moved back into the Local Class category with about 16 members, many of them multi-op'ing. We had added better beams and amplifiers and more bands to our repertoire . Some members had up to seven (7) bands now. We kept entering the Local Class category and winning it each year. Over the years the Club membership changed and some were added and some left.

Of the original five (5), four (4) are still with the Club, 20 years later.

Although we do not win the Local Class category every year, we still have fun trying to do so, always in the spirit of Ham Radio.

We no longer collect any membership dues because we can notify members by e-mail of meetings (we hold one each month at a member's home).

The club currently has a membership of thirteen (13) hams.

They are:

Tim, KB3ZS, President

Dave, N3FUJ, Vice-President & Contest coordinator

Gordon, K3CI, Secretary

Bob, KB3HE, Treasurer

Red, W3RT

Gary, WA3NWL

Ken, K3YI

Cully, N3HTZ

Joe, N3VJH

John, KF3DT

Randy, N3KKU

John, KF3DT

Rich, K3MWV

Anyone wishing to join a "VHF/UHF contest oriented club" in the local area should contact one of the officers listed above.