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

Alumni recall making 'infinite connections' around the world.

Christa Neu and Taylor Stakes

Dan Collins

July 18, 2024

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.

someone takes a picture of ham radio codes carved into walls

Daryl George ’69 ’78G was among those whose call sign—WA3EMX—was etched into the wall. George, who now lives in Wyoming, doesn’t remember leaving his call sign, but believes club members used the fifth-floor room for storage. There also were antennas on the roof that could be accessed from the room. They could be rotated to achieve higher frequencies capable of contacting people in Europe and other parts of the world, he said.

“You’ve probably heard about radio waves bouncing off the ionosphere …,” he said. “That was part of the fun of the hobby, trying to figure out what frequency you want to operate on for where you wanted to talk to.”

K1UTV, a call sign belonging to Neil Wells ’69, was also among those etched into the wall. Wells, who now lives in Massachusetts, was an avid amateur radio hobbyist since getting his license in his early teens. When he came to Lehigh in 1965, Wells said in an email, he immediately sought out the Amateur Radio Society, known as the “ham shack,” in the basement level of the Clayton UC, across from the campus radio station, WLVR.

“Those antennas on the roof were maintained by men more courageous than me,” Wells wrote.

The club was located in several places across campus over the years, including Packard Lab and Drown Hall. It was moved to the basement of the Clayton UC after the building's first major renovation in 1957. Several of the call signs in the fifth-floor room were identified as belonging to students who were at Lehigh in the 1960s and ’70s. The room also contains etchings presumed to be of past Lehigh professors and former presidents.

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.

Gary Wilson '72

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.

Photo: Lehigh Special Collections

“Part of being in the hobby was learning about how the radio waves propagate and the sunspot cycle that affects that,” said George. The hobby inspired him to go into electrical engineering. In addition to electronics, he liked learning about other cultures.

“Early on when I was still living at home, my father would sit with me and we had a nice conversation with a fella in the Caribbean who was telling us how they lived down there, picking avocados and pineapple,” George said.

Radio operators know who they are talking to based on the letters and numbers in their call sign. Each region of the United States and countries are assigned a unique prefix.

History of Ham Radio at Lehigh

The earliest mention of a ham radio club was in the Nov. 5, 1920, edition of The Brown and White. The original club had broken up because of the onset of World War I, but there was interest in reviving it after an “exhibition of wireless telegraphy” in the physics building on the night of the 1920 presidential election. Results were received via radio, and Warren G. Harding won in a landslide victory over James M. Cox.

“Signals from Brooklyn Navy Yard Station were audible all over the room. Students were on hand as late as 1 a.m. when it became evident Harding was elected,” the article says.

Signals from Brooklyn Navy Yard Station were audible all over the room. Students were on hand as late as 1 a.m. when it became evident Harding was elected

The Brown and White, Nov. 5, 1920, edition

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

From left, Gary Wilson ’72 and Don Corrington ’70 in front of the equipment at the Delaware Valley Radio Association club “radio shack” in West Trenton, New Jersey.

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.

Christina Tatu

Christa Neu and Taylor Stakes

Dan Collins

July 18, 2024

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