History « Radio Association of Erie - W3GV

History

The Erie Amateur Radio Club was organized on Sunday, July 4th, 1926 in an abandoned farmhouse in Summit Township south of Erie. The late F. Dawson Bliley had been camping at this site and had successfully worked Pittsburgh on 40 meters with a 199 tube. The men who attended this initial meeting were: Donald Trow, Fred Carver, Milton Hardinger, Ed Clark, Victor Brotherson, a Mr. Dutton, and F. Dawson Bliley.

These men met weekly at each others homes for nearly a year. Their next meeting place was the third floor of the National Guard Armory where they continued to meet for almost two years. After this time, they held their meetings at the Y.M.C.A. and the Reed House for two six month periods and late in 1929 moved back to the Y.M.C.A. where they operated the 1930 ARRL Atlantic Division Convention.

From 1932 to 1942, meetings were held at Ralph Jordan’s store on upper Peach Street. This club remained active with the exception of two years during the World War II at which time their meetings were held in the Community Chest Building at 133 W. 7th Street. In May 1945, the Erie Amateur Radio Club was incorporated and eventually became the Radio Association of Erie. Shortly after, plans for a fund drive were started for building of a clubhouse and purchasing of equipment. A plan of action was successfully formulated and led by F. Dawson Bliley. Over $4,000 was collected and invested in government bonds.

When the Civil Defense program was organized in the City of Erie, the RAE met in the City Hall Annex in the early 1950s. The Radio Association of Erie also made their headquarters at the Annex. In 1952, the Civilian Defense program including the Radio Association of Erie moved to the former Fire House located at East 23rd and Ash Streets. The RAE’s Communications Trailer which was donated by the American Legion was garaged at this location.

During the 1950s, one such example of how the RAE helped out with Civil Defense was through relaying message on the Lake Erie Emergency Net on 10 meters during Thanksgiving 1956 Blizzard. To plan for such civil emergencies, RAE members held field day each year in June. In addition, Civil Defense drive outs were held various times throughout the year to check radio equipment to see how it would operate from a mobile environment.

In the early 1960s, the responsibility of Civil Defense was transferred over to the county. The county converted a the one-room Wagner Schoolhouse into an Emergency Operations Center. The EOC was located on Wagner Road in McKean Township. (This building would later become home to the Radio Association of Erie Clubhouse in the year 2000). This building had quite a variety of radio equipment.

Station 1 consisted of a Drake TR-4 that covered 80 through 10 meters. Modes: AM and CW; Power: 180 Watts. The Backup to this station was a Johnson Viking Valiant Transmitter and an Halicrafters SX-71 Receiver.

Station 2 consisted of a Johnson Viking 2000 Invader Transmitter that covered 80 through 10 meters-All MODES Except FM. Power Output- 150 to 1000 watts. The receiver for this station consisted of a Drake 2C (80-10 meters) Drake Speaker and Q Multiplier. Also a teletypewriter and shift converter was at this station.

In 1966, a joint venture took place between Erie County Civil Defense and the Radio Association of Erie in acquiring a communications truck. The truck was a used cube truck with various pieces of radio equipment. The truck had a Swan 250 for 6 meter SSB and AM and a Swan 500 for 80 through 10 meters all modes except FM. In addition to the radio equipment, a teletypewriter was part of the equipment on the truck.

In 1969, the first issue of the Radio Association of Erie newsletter was printed. Early staff members included Mike Hall WA3HSR and Bob Bair WA3HDK.

Haysite Tower on RT 505

During the early 1970s, a new mode of operating was becoming popular. The new mode was the use of FM repeaters. In February, 1971, the first RAE Club repeater went on the air from the QTH of W3ZLO on Hilltop Road. The frequency was 146.940. The reason why 146.940 was chosen was because Heathkit 2 mobiles came with a 146.34/94 crystal.

But as time went on, the club wanted to increase the coverage of the repeater. On Sunday May 7th, 1972, the RAE repeater was up and operational running on an indoor antenna running at 20 watts from a new higher location at the Haysite Tower located on Rt.505 in Millcreek Township. Around the mid 70s, the repeater got it own call sign WR3ACA. At that time, the repeater was moved to the National Fuel Gas Company tower on West Robinson Road near Class 100 Radio. Then around 1977 approximately, the repeater was moved to the WCCK 103.7 FM (Now WRTS) tower on Dewey Road in Greene Township to increase coverage. Sometime during that time, the club changed frequencies from 146.94 to 146.820. In the late 1970s or early 1980s, the repeater changed to the club call sign of W3GV and moved to the WJET-TV tower on Peach St. At that time, the 146.610 frequency was used by K3NAU Chuck Bliley for his repeater. As time went on, K3NAU transferred his frequency to the RAE.

The biggest natural disaster to hit Erie County took on May 31st, 1985. At 5:05 pm, a tornado hit the small community of Albion 20 miles southwest of Erie. One of the first to see the touchdown was Skywarn Spotter Dick Bomboy, WA3USH whom lives 5 miles west of Albion. Click Here for More Details about the tornado. Amateur Radio operators helped out with relaying messages back into Erie from the disaster scene because telephone lines were down. One issue that came out of the Albion tornado was that improvements were needed to for the RAE Repeater system.

By the late 1987 approximately, the W3GV 61 repeater found itself a permanent home. It was located at the 475 foot mark on the WQLN-TV tower. Coverage from the site was phenomenal. Coverage for mobiles extended to as far south as I-80 and west to Painesville, OH and east to Jamestown, NY.

The 1990s= Change in Erie Amateur Radio.
In 1991, the 146.82 repeater found a permanent home at a commercial tower site 5 miles west of Waterford. In 1991, the FCC approved the new no-code technician license which brought in a high amount of new hams into the hobby. In 1998, bad news came from WQLN. The RAE needed to vacate the tower because of the installation of High Definition Television Antennas.

In 1999, WB3KVH Lou Hahn donated to the club a 100 foot tower. Now with a tower, the club needed to find a place to put it on. The board of directors formed a committee to find a place to put the tower up at. A couple of pieces of property were looked at. The one stumbling block was that there were no buildings at the various locations. One day in his travels, the late George Bablak W3ZQS ran across the old county EOC on Wagner Road. After years of neglect, the building needed a bit of TLC. The RAE approached Erie County about a long-term lease on the building. In June, 2000, The RAE became occupants of the Wagner Road facility and later on that year, 80 feet of the 100 foot tower went up.

From 2000 until 2007, the clubhouse site was used as the main transmit and receive location for the 146.610 repeater with remote receivers at St. Vincent’s Hospital and one in North East, PA. In June, 2007, the repeater committee decided to move the transmitter to the downtown location and switch the voter to the clubhouse and coverage capabilities were improved for the lakeshore area. In addition, linking on demand to 146.820 and 146.700 was added to the repeater system.

Radio Association of Erie - W3GV - Erie, PA

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