Brookhaven National Laboratory Amateur Radio Club was organized circa the fall of 1966 by BNL employees spanning all departments and all professions. Officially the Club was chartered by BNL in January of 1967, according to Club documents. The Club received the FCC Club callsign of WB2BDJ and was recognized by the ARRL in March of 1967 by the Hudson Division Director. The application to the ARRL contained nine ARRL members. In March of 1969 the Club callsign was changed to W2ZV in honor of one of the founding members, Walter Merkle (SK). BNL later changed the assigned callsigns to K2BNL.
Initial membership fees were $2 for the year and $1 for joining in 1967.
Draft 2/17/70 W.R.T
The Story of the BNL Amateur Radio Club
In the fall of 1966, a meeting was called for all amateur radio operators at BNL. The purpose was to discuss the prospects of forming a radio club at BNL. The BERA Board was contacted to see if it would support such a club. The answer came back affirmative so a committee was formed to draft a constitution and by-laws. By January 1967, a constitution was adopted and the club became a reality. Officers were elected and the club started on its way towards establishing a radio station on site. Once again BERA was contacted and asked for financial support as well as a meeting place. Both requests were granted and an initial outlay for equipment was made. The station location was to be in the Recreation Building in the Apartment Area. Approval to operate a radio station on site as asked for and granted provided that no interference to other services resulted. A station license was applied for and the FCC issued the call letters WB2BDJ. Affiliation with the American Radio Relay League was applied for and our charter was present in March 1967 by the Hudson Division Director. In the winter of 1969, one of the charter member passed away. He was Walter @. Merkle, W2ZV and formerly of the Accelerator Department. Being a very active organizer of the club it was decided to dedicate the club station in Walt’s memory and apply to the FCC for use of his call letters. This new station license was issued, effective March 1969. In due time the station was completed and other projects taken on. Two of them have become annual affairs. First is the nationwide Field Day Exercise which takes place in June. This is a test of the amateur’s ability to set up in the field a portable communications center within a limited time. This 27 hour test took place last year in the camping area with 12 members participating. The second major project has been the annual vistor’s day operation. In this function the Club has represented BERA as well as Amateur Radio. In the 3 years that the Club has participated in visitor’s days, over 2000 messages have been handled in a total of 6 days. Destinations as close as New Jersey and as far as Israel have been covered. This past year a radioteletype system was set up to handle the volume of traffic. As a public service minded club, 90% of its members are active in the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. This organization works closely with the Civil Air Patrol, The American Red Cross, and Police and Fire Departments throughout Suffolk County providing emergency communications when needed. Various speakers have attended our meetings covering such subjects as moonbounce, satellite tracking, interference problems, and the uses of transistors in Amateur Radio. Films have been shown including the story of the Alaskan Earthquake disaster. The radio stations, W2ZV, operates on all bands from 80-2 meters with cw, rtty, am, and ssb modes. Membership in the club is open to all how hold a sincere interest in radio and related subjects whether or not he is an FCC licensed operator. Membership dues are $2.00 per year and an initiation fee of $1.00 is charged when joining. Meetings are held the 2nd Friday of the month at 2000 hours in the Rec Bldg. All are welcome.
BNL Amateur Radio Club History from 1991 – Present by Nick Franco, KF2P 9/2021
Shortly after getting my Novice License, my Elmer Gary Utz (KE2YK) brought me to a club meeting. I was impressed at how many members were at the meeting. I didn’t realize there were so many interested in Amateur Radio at the Lab. We were running about 50-60 strong at that time. I jumped in with both feet even though I was just starting my Ham Radio journey.
That Summer I attended Boy Scout Summer Camp with my sons and our Troop. A friend in the Troop lent me his HW-8 [1] to take away. I put a 40M dipole together and got to play radio all week on that little rig running less than 5 watts on 40M. I kept a wire antenna in the car and the HW-8. I threw the wire into a tree by the (BNL) Gazebo every day at lunch time and ran the HW-8 from the car making contacts all over. I bought a Hamstick vertical and ran QRP CW Mobile on the HW-8 to the Hamstick on the bumper. The propagation was good back then. I got sold on QRP CW. I couldn’t afford much back then and the XYL was not as tolerant as she is now, so another friend lent me his Yeasu-727 HT [2] and I finally got onto VHF/UHF and joined a couple of clubs. Commuting my 15-minute trip to the Lab was a joy being able to chat on our repeater and others.
Gary took me to the Lab Shack in the Recreation Building (317) and we resurrected an old Yeasu FT-101F that was dormant for years. We put up an end fed long wire out the window and learned how to tune up the rig. We went to the shack every day at lunchtime and worked 15M DX at 80 watts. We worked many countries including Pakistan from that shack.
The BNL Amateur Radio Club repeater was a conglomeration of caliginous junk in a little trailer at the base of our current tower. It was put together mainly by Andy – WB2FXN – then president of the club. After a couple of years, I progressed up the ladder and received an Advanced call sign of KF2PH. I was elected Secretary of the club and served for a few years in that capacity. The club was very strong, and there was plenty of interest in all aspects of the hobby. Packet radio became a new technology, and Gary set up a node in our trailer. We were now on the air with packet as well as our UHF repeater.
ARRL Field Day was always a very big event for our club. We held it at the Gazebo onsite and invited the Suffolk County Club to join us every year. We erected George’s (WA2VNV) wind generator and fed the batteries with that source. We always set up a Novice station and publicized our event in the local newspapers, ARRL, and the News. We always received proclamations from officials and certificates for our participation in emergency communication.
John Mc Neil (WA2KSM) became president. The repeater was in his name and under his call. Gary and I served as officers and the club continued to thrive with new members added annually. We held a Technician class that yielded about 25 new Hams, and most of them became members. So, we ran another class the next year that yielded another 20 new Hams, most of which became members. Our treasury built up and we bought a multi-band Vertical for the Lab Shack and set up a Packet node there as well.
I became president of the club as KF2PH, but upgraded to Amateur Extra by that time. Being a CW enthusiast, I didn’t like the “H” at the end of my call. It was constantly confused for an “S” or a “5.” When the vanity calls were introduced, I found that KF2P was available, and I applied for and received it. I dropped the annoying “H” and all has been well ever since – LOL. We applied for a club call sign and received a 2×3 Novice type call. For a vanity request, we applied for and received – K2BNL as we are known today. I changed the repeater information to K2BNL and put it under my oversight.
I served for several years as president. At some point, maybe with the introduction of cell phones and the readily available Internet, interest in Ham Radio seemed to wane. We lost many members who didn’t renew over the next couple of years. Down to a skeleton crew and other interests taking precedence, we didn’t know if we should remain a BERA Club. Hugh (Richie) McNeil (KA2DRR-SK) said he would take over the club as president. That only lasted a few years. Then he retired. A retiree cannot serve as president of a BERA club, so I stepped back up as president to keep the club afloat or at least above water.
We restarted our Field Day efforts, but now (with new Lab management) “outsiders” were no longer allowed onsite. We wrestled with BERA and Lab management to continue to use the Gazebo area for our Field Day event. Eventually they agreed that we could hold Field Day at the Gazebo with several new stipulations. We tried to make it more of a fun event that a serious radio event. This drew family members and invited guests for the day and BBQ fellowship. We didn’t submit logs for points, but we did have fun, and some who came learned something about Ham Radio.
(Spearheaded by Gary Stevens, KE2GS) new classes were formed to teach this great hobby, and several new Hams were born as a result. We also connected with CERT and more new Hams came from that area. It looked like we might thrive again in spite of the other technologies vying for our slot in the communication arena.
Knowing I was going to retire soon, I stepped down as president. Joe Levesque gladly took the position and continues currently as our great and very active president. He has introduced new classes, even via Zoom, to successfully bring people into our hobby and club. BNL ARC is alive and well after all these years. We have come a long way and have grown into many new technologies that are all part of this hobby. Ham Radio has always been and continues to be a source of invention. Hams are intelligent, competent, individuals who have always introduced new ways to communicate. It’s what we do.
[1] The Heathkit Model HW-8 Transceiver is a solid-state, four-band QRP (low power) unit covering the CW portion of the eighty, forty, twenty, and fifteen meter amateur bands. The direct-conversion receiver features an RF stage, a balanced product detector, and an active audio filter wide or narrow selectivity.
[2] The FT-727 is a VHF and UHF FM hand portable transceiver providing up to 5W or .5W RF output on a user selectable channel across both 2m and 70cm amateur bands.
