9SO - W9HHX MSOE Ham Radio Club Photo's




1928

Click on the thumbnail photo to bring up a large picture. The photo below shows the early MSOE ham club station 9SO taken around 1928.   I met one of the guys who operated this exact station back in the late 20's.  He was a club member during this time and graduated around 1930/32. He gave me this picture of the MSOE ham radio station 9SO taken around 1928.  Bill Gainer W9SO told me he wasn't in the photo though he was a member of the club, just not in the shack when the photo was taken.  From an MSOE President's Newsletter that I had, it did identify Bill Gainer as the fellow on the right, and Norberg J. Richard on the left. The transmitter and receiver are home made. The only commercial product in the photo are a series of semi automatic morse code 'bugs'. The transmitter is sitting on the bench shelf just to the right of the window. The receiver is below the transmitter, just to the left of the operator. Note the large speaker 'horn'. To the right of the speaker 'horn' is a framed American Radio Relay League (ARRL) membership certificate. Just to add interest, the clock reads around 11:30 (in the morning I assume since the windows are bright). I am not sure what the left side operating position consists of. I cannot see a large transmitter but do observe a morse code hand key and headphones. The original photo is very crisp and I have spent some time browing the photo with a magnifying glass. I can read many of the qsl cards on the walls. 


The gang at 9SO in 1928


Click on the thumbnail photo to bring up a large picture. The photo above shows four members of the 1928 9SO ham radio club. When Bill Gainer gave me these pictures, he told me he wasn't in the photo.  He was a member of the club but wasn't there that day.  The gent shown 2nd from left is wearing a white sweater with "C of E" logo, which stands for College of Engineering.   The original photo's are incredibly crisp and clear.  Using a magnifying glass I can identify many of the qsl cards on the wall.  If I can contact them, I'll QSL and maybe my qsl card will show up on the wall.  Its sort of creepy to browse the photo with a magnifying glass because it looks so real that you could almost step back into time.





1976


Click on the thumbnail photo to bring up a large picture. The photo above shows the MSOE club station in 1976. The transmitter is the Drake T4XB, receiver is the Drake R4B, the amplifier is the marvelous Collins 30S1. On the panel above the Drake equipment, upper left shows the Heathkit phone patch, center is the HAM M rotor control meter, right of center is the Heathkit HO-10 ham scope, and right of that is the Heathkit SWR bridge. Sitting on top of the Collins 30S1 is the famous HAL ST-6 Teletype terminal unit.
Rounding out the station was a Hygain TH6DXX on a 30 some foot tower on top of the B building. This was one format-able station! If I called someone and they didn't come back, I knew they heard me. We used to run 980 watts out on RTTY.

W9HHX was on the air all the time during the 1970's. We used to run alot of RTTY, CW, and SSB. There was some 6 meter SSB activity and quite a bit of 2 meter FM activity also. The W9HHX/R repeater was first put on the air during this time. Tom Luck WB9BPS worked to get the 146.19/79 frequency coordinated and assigned to the club.


This console was made by the club president in 1975, Mark Barian, as a gift to the club. He did all the work himself, including the design and building.  It was a dandy console and replaced a standard school table.



1976 VOLTA RadioTeletype Contest Crew

Click on the thumbnail photo to bring up a large picture. The photo above shows three yahoo's just after the 1976 VOLTA Radio Teletype Contest. We came in 4th in the world for a multioperator station. Not bad for our first attempt at the big leagues. On the left is Tom Luck WB9BPS, center is Ellsworth Warmouth KB4SH, and on the right is me, Scott Freeberg WA9WFA. I am sure we are still as young and good looking as we were 47 years ago..... The VOLTA contest started Friday night and continued until Sunday morning. We would operate the entire contest period, usually two operators during the day and one during the night. I recall our excitement at working Italy on 80 meters during the contest!  We drank a lot of soda that night.  These were some of the best times of life. Tom WB9BPS and I have stayed in contact since graduation.



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Last Update: 03/2023
Web Author: Scott Freeberg WA9WFA
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