DePauw University Amateur Radio Club became active in the 1920's as station 9YJ.  In the 1950's after years of silence during and following WWII the station was active again as W9YJ with the support of Tom Herriott  (W9GSE), Dave Sublette (W9SQH) and the support of other local hams, Bob Reeves  (W9HSN) 1964-1991 at DePauw and Paul Kissinger (W9MLH) from 1960 until he retired in 2000 from DePauw. Today  we hope to create interest in the DePauw Community while we learn and enjoy amateur radio. With the support of  Ray Smith (WB4ZDU) a W9YJ  alum in the 1970's and local amateur operators, we hope the station will generate interest in amateur radio. Anyone who's been a ham for even a short period of time knows that Amateur radio is a rich and rewarding hobby with a fascinating history. Ham radio has been around since the very dawn of wireless communications and has continually progressed along with technology. Whether it's old spark gap operations or satellites and computers, there has always been a strong association with amateur radio and new technology. Ham radio is a hobby that is easy to get involved in, and will last a lifetime. It is said that there is no place in the continental US where a ham cannot find a repeater. Most communities have clubs as well as repeaters for all levels of amateur operators. In emergencies, hams often provide vital communication, saving the lives of both hams and non-hams. W9YJ has access to a  local repeater, "W9BJJ" ( 147.330 MHz) which hams can access from as far as 50 miles away. There is no need to purchase your own equipment while still a student. The club equipment will allow you to explore this wonderful hobby without a financial burden. W9YJ is a good club for students to be involved with, because of the flexibility of time commitment. While there are always ample opportunities for involvement, studying should always come first. Many student clubs have numerous meetings and required activities which W9YJ does not have. Freshmen and other students who are trying to figure out just how much extra time they have, will find the club to be inviting and relaxed, yet there will be plenty of exciting things to do when boredom strikes.

Middle College

Middle College was where Harrison Hall is located  at the present time.

Monon Bell

The Monon Railroad served five major Universities in Indiana, Purdue  (West Lafayette), Wabash  (Crawfordsville), DePauw  (Greencastle), Indiana  (Bloomington), and Butler (Indianapolis). The state's decision to put Purdue University at Lafayette in 1869 had partly to do with Monon service, there since 1852. So important was the college traffic that the road painted its passenger rolling stock the red and gray of Wabash College, and painted its freight engines black and gold of DePauw University (not Indiana University and Purdue University as is commonly thought).  In 1959, after the Indianapolis to Chicago trains were discontinued, it didn't make sense to continue with two color schemes, and to economize, the red and gray passenger scheme was slowly converted to black and gold.

The Monon merged into the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in 1971, and much of the former Monon right of way is operated today by CSX Transportation

October 23, 1933
Monday
John  Dillinger robs Central National Bank of Greencastle, Indiana, with Pierpont, Makley, Clark, Copeland, Hamilton, and either Hilton Crouch or Leslie Homer
BANDIT AUTO: Black Studebaker
Take: $75,000

First National Bank and a streetcar with horsepower in 1800's

Downtown Greencastle in 1800's

A six-year-old girl in Utah is the latest licensee in her multi-ham family, and a twelve-year-old young woman in Georgia recently was recognized for her CW skills. Who says ham radio is just an old man's pastime? Jessica Dowding, KD7PIO, in Utah, and Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, in Georgia, bear witness to the fact that Amateur Radio has always been--and still is--an enjoyable pastime for young women, too--thank you very much. They show what a "can-do" attitude and some determination can accomplish in a short time.

History Of Morse Code:

Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872) was a painter and founder of the National Academy of Design. In 1832, while on a ship returning from Europe , he conceived the basic idea of an electromagnetic telegraph. Experiments with various kinds of electrical instruments and codes resulted in a demonstration of a workable telegraph set in 1836, and introduction of the circuit relay. This made transmission possible for any distance. With his creation of the American Morse code, the historic message, "What hath God wrought?" was sucessfully sent from Washington to Baltimore. The Morse code used in those days differed greatly from that which is used today. Morse code originated on telegraph lines and the original users did not listen to tones but instead to the clicking sounds created by sounders. They used the American Morse code as opposed to today's International Morse. When sending dahs (Morse code is composed of dits or short key closures, and dahs or longer key closures) the user simply sent two close-together dits. This was created by using a conventional code key. With the advent of radio communications the international Morse became more widespread. Users of the international Morse created dahs with a longer key closure, instead of two close-spaced dits. In order to increase transmission speed on early landline circuits and later on radio circuits, semi-automatic "bug" keys were invented in 1902 and were widely adopted. Bug keys used a vibrating pendulum to create dits and the user still manually creates the dahs. In more recent times, the user can employ keyers that electronically create dits and dahs. Iambic keyers have a memory so that the user can operate a mechanical "paddle" quicker than the keying rate of the keyer. This makes for very comfortable and nearly effortless keying. Today experienced operators copy received text without the need to write as they receive, and when transmitting, can easily converse at 20 to 30 wpm.  Morse code will always remain a viable means of reliable communications.  http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/morse.html

The Q Code came into being internationally in 1912 to overcome the language problems involved in communications by radio among ships and shore stations of all countries. The original list of 50 adopted by international agreement in London contain many which are still familiar to amateur operators-QRN, QRM, QSO, the traffic operator's QRK, QSY and QRV -are now well past the half-century mark in continuous usage. QSL still has the official 1912 definition despite the changed informal usages it is subjected to in amateur parlance. The QN signals for amateur net operation were introduced in the late 1930s by W1UE (now W4IA) to lighten the burdens of net control operators.

Mayday  Incidentally, another distress call is used by aircraft in trouble throughout the world. We have all heard the term "mayday" at some time. This, of course, has nothing to do with the first day in May. As it turns out, in French, the word "m'aidez" means "help me". Is it possible that American aviators in World War I picked this up from their French comrades and mispronounced it as the easily recognized "mayday, mayday"? 

HamS Have you ever wondered why we radio amateurs are called "HAMS?" Well, according to the Northern Ohio Radio Society, it goes like this: the word ham was applied in 1908 and was the call letters of one of the first Amateur wireless stations operated by some members of the HARVARD RADIO CLUB. There were Albert S. Hyman, Bob Almy and Peggie Murray. At first, they called their station Hyman-Almy-Murry. Tapping out such a long name in code soon called for a revision and they changed it to HY-AL-MU, using the first two letters of each name. Early in 1909, some confusion resulted between signals from Amateur wireless HYALMU and a Mexican ship named HYALMO, so they decided to use only the first letter of each name and the call became HAM. In the early pioneer unregulated days of radio, Amateur operators picked their own frequency and call letters. Then, as now, some Amateurs had better signals than some commercial stations. The resulting interference finally came to the attention of congressional committees in Washington and they gave much time to proposed legislation designed to critically limit Amateur activity. In 1911, Albert Hyman chose the controversial Wireless Regulation Bill as the topic for his thesis at Harvard. His instructor insisted that a copy be sent to Senator David I. Walsh, a member of one of the committees hearing the bill. The Senator was so impressed, he sent for Hyman to appear before the committee. He was put on the stand and described how the little Amateur station was built. He almost cried when he told the crowded committee room that if the bill went through, they would have to close up the station because they could not afford the license fees and all the other requirements that were set up in the bill. The debate started and the little station HAM became a symbol of all the little Amateur stations in the country crying out to be saved from menace and greed of the big commercial stations who did not want them around. Finally, the bill got to the floor of Congress and every speaker talked about the poor little station "HAM." That's how it all started. You will find the whole story in the Congressional Record. Nationwide publicity associated station HAM with Amateurs. From that day to this, and probably to the end of time, in radio, an Amateur is a HAM.

Silent Keys

Gees, the name "Bob Reeves" brings back a bunch of memories. Unfortunately, they are just bits and pieces. Main thing I remember was that Bob used 6 meters a lot in the 1950's and lived somewhere north of Greencastle. Somewhere around here, in my personal papers, is a copy of the newsletter we had back in 1957. If I run across it, I will let you know, as it has most of the information that would be appropriate for a "history" page. My first contact with ham radio was through Tom Herriott, the blind city police dispatcher. Tom's station was in the County Court house and a "long wire" antenna was strung from the top of the courthouse to another building on the square. I think this was before the Police Department moved to another location, above the fire station? At any rate, Tom had his transmitter and receiver sitting below the counter where "Police Business" was conducted. Although Tom was quite active on 80 meters, most of his on-air time was on Sunday mornings when he connected DePauw students with their parents, via ham radio. I think the club was organized in 1956 during my Junior year at DePauw. LaVerne Smith, Herb Glover and others got their novice license through the club. If I can add anything else, I will be in contact... 73, W9TGH, Ron Rush

Thomas Herriott, W9GSE, President

Robert Reeves, W9HSN, Vice President

Raymond Hill, K9AMK, Sec.-Treas.

Ronald Rush, W9TGH, Act. Mgr.

Lowell W. VanCleave, W9CFJ

David Sublette, W9SQH

R. Smith*

J. Brooks*

*Not available - may have been novices: Kn5JNB/9 and Kn9GZG

Tom was able to help many DePauw students contact their family's around the world for many years and work as a dispatcher for the local police department for many years after the loss of his sight during WWII. A man with many talents and friends.

Tom Herriott: W9GSE, 19---1970

Bob had 26 years with DePauw as Chief Engineer for WGRE radio station and over 50 years in amateur radio..

Bob Reeves: W9HSN, 1925-2000

Of all the professors at DePauw Dr. Kissinger was my favorite, even though the only class I took from him was to get my amateur radio license. 73, WB4ZDU,  Raymond

Dr. K, as he was known to his students, joined the DePauw faculty in 1960. He taught 40 years in the physics and astronomy department until his retirement in May 2000. At that time, a story in The DePauw student newspaper quoted physics major Aaron W. Ellis ‘01 as saying, “Dr. K is one of the best professors I ever had at DePauw. His knowledge of physics is limitless. He’s one of those professors that I’m glad to have had a class with, and you tell other people to take one of his classes just so they can know what he’s like.”

"It's just like your mother told you, just do your best and have fun."   Dr. K                           

Paul Kissinger: W9MLH, 1930-2002

This site is dedicated to the memory of Tom Herriott (W9GSE),  Dave Sublette  (W9SQH), Robert J. Reeves (W9HSN), Paul B. Kissinger (W9MLH) and all the Hams that enjoyed amateur radio over the years.

SPECIAL THANKS TO: JOHNSONANDJOHNSON.NET

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Revised: 03 Jan 2008 11:42:25 -0500 .