Ham Radio Call Signs Discovered During Clayton UC Renovation Revive Memories of Lehigh’s Amateur Radio Society

Mysterious letters and numbers etched into the wall of a sealed-off, fifth-floor room in the Clayton University Center at Packer Hall are ham radio call signs and likely remnants of Lehigh’s former Amateur Radio Society—a club started 100 years ago that allowed students to talk with fellow radio enthusiasts all over the world.

Discovered during current renovations of the Clayton UC, the call signs have revived memories of the Lehigh University Amateur Radio Society, which was mentioned in The Brown and White as early as 1920 and in the Epitome yearbook through the 1990s.

Some of the alumni who participated in the club continue to operate ham radios and said they wish to see the club reestablished on campus.

“Mostly the hobby is one of, ‘Let’s see who we can talk to.’ There are infinite connections between here and there with nothing in between except the ionosphere,” said Gary Wilson ’72, who lives in New Jersey and uses the call sign K2GW.

Although Wilson was not in the Amateur Radio Society when he was at Lehigh, he earned his ham license a year after graduating. He finally had the time to learn Morse code, a requirement for a license back then. Wilson is now part of the Delaware Valley Radio Association, and for the past 20 years has continued to renew Lehigh’s call sign—W3AEQ—with the Federal Communications Commission, hoping Lehigh students may one day use it again.

“There’s a magic to ham radio,” said Wilson, who was recently talking over the radio waves to someone in the Southeast Asian country of Laos.

Shawn Donley ’71 joined the club during his first year at Lehigh, in 1967. At that time, his call sign was WA3CHX, though it was not left on the wall.

“I was already an amateur radio operator. I was tinkering with electronics when I got into the hobby,” said Donley, who now lives in Maryland. “I was fascinated by the fact you can throw a piece of wire and a transmitter out there and talk to someone else in the world.”

The club didn’t have set meetings. Anyone could show up and hang out whenever they wanted to, he said. One of his favorite memories is of an SCR-584 radar van from World War II the club acquired and kept on university property in Saucon Valley. It was modified to track satellites and could be aimed at weather satellites to record weather data.

How Does Ham Radio Work?

Amateur radio operators must pass an exam for the FCC license to operate on radio frequencies known as “amateur bands,” according to the American Radio Relay League. The FCC created licensing requirements to fill the need for a pool of experts who could provide backup communication during emergencies.

Enthusiasts can communicate “from the top of a mountain, your home or behind the wheel of a car, all without relying on the internet or cell phone network,” according to the association. There are more than 600,000 radio amateurs in the United States and more than 2 million worldwide.

An article in the Oct. 30, 1923, edition of The Brown and White announced the formation of a new club. “It will be interesting to note that the students taking part in this organization are, many of them, old friends who, while they had never seen each other, have made lasting friendships through their talking to each other over the radio,” the article says, noting about 30 students attended the first meeting in Drown Hall.

A Jan. 15, 1937, article says the club had managed to contact other “hams” in Cuba, Canada, South America and Europe. At that time, the club was in Packard Lab room 504.

The last mention of the Amateur Radio Society is in a 1994 edition of the Epitome.

Continuing the Tradition

Lehigh and its students—especially those involved in physics or electrical engineering—have a long connection to amateur radio, Wilson said.

Although a club was no longer on campus at the time, his daughter, Pamela Wilson ’08 (W1PAM), was able to earn $4,000 in ham radio scholarships while at Lehigh because of her license, he said. Wilson suggested the Mountaintop campus as a good location for a station. He said grants are available to obtain amateur radio equipment for educational institutions.

“Amateur radio is as relevant as ever in providing hands-on practical experience in electronics and communications,” Wilson said.

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