The Cornell Amateur Radio Club, W2CXM, is a group of undergraduates, graduates, and other members of the Cornell and Ithaca community whose common interest is the hobby of amateur radio. Amateur radio activity at Cornell University dates as far back as 1915, under the callsign “8XU.” Formed in 1949, W2CXM has been licensed under the callsign “W2CXM” since 1951. W2CXM is affiliated with the American Radio Relay League and is funded annually by the Student Activities Finance Commission. This organization is a registered student organization of Cornell University.
Capabilities
Cornell’s radio club has a complete station available for use by its members 24 hours a day. Our capabilities include SSB (voice) Digital (RTTY,PSK,APRS,ETC..) , and CW (Morse code) communication of HF (1.8 - 30 MHz) and FM, SSB, and CW on 2 meters (144 - 148 MHz) as well as equipment for short-wave listening. The club has a 2 meter repeater operating on 146.610 MHz to aid in providing reliable local communications.
Public Service
W2CXM also uses its equipment to provide a number of public services. During natural disasters, members have aided in handling messages to and from afflicted areas. The club has also provided “phone patches” allowing national or international communications using only a local phone call for a student and his or her family. Locally, club members can assist in communications during emergencies, walkathons, races, etc., using our 2 meter repeater. All public services of W2CXM are voluntary and free of charge.
Competitions
W2CXM has had successful two-way communication with radio amateurs in well over 250 countries around the world including such places as Uganda, Mongolia, Antarctica, Qatar, Nepal, and Ghana. The club participates in amateur radio competitions for sport and emergency preparedness, both national and international, which test the operating skills of the competitors and the performance of equipment.
Projects
Spring 2023 HAB Launch (Grand Slam)
Operation Lil' Bub
APRS Only Beacon
Hello Kitty
2013 Repeater Upgrade
Spring 2023 HAB Launch (Grand Slam)
Launch Date: Saturday, 05/06/2023. 12:00pm EDT
Overview
This balloon launch used a T-Beam LoRa Tracker with a new dipole antenna to increase gain. It also hosted a redesigned bear drop mechanism that supports the increased weight of Grand Slam, our spacesuit wearing bear. This new system is still based on nichrome cutdowns, but we added a pvc pipe and more complex rigging to prevent the bear or parachute from moving around too much below the payload box.
Mission Summary
Primary Mission: Success!
The balloon was launched on schedule with the trackers and cameras operating. Grand Slam’s selfie stick FPV camera gave amazing views at launch, and the backup trackers allowed an easy recovery in an empty field.
Secondary Mission: Failed. The T-Beam shutdown at about 12,500m, leading to loss of signal for the bear cutdown mechanism, and Grand Slam came down safely still connected to the main payload box.
Mission Objectives
Test LoRa communications with improved antennas, less free space loss at 433MHz vs 915MHz, and a ground station amplifier.
Move the USB Key fob camera inside the pay load container to avoid thermal concerns.
We filled the balloon a lot to target a faster ascent and descent rate since winds were quite high.
Actual track vs projected track
Predicted
Actual
Burst Altitude
28,000m
32,501m
Ascent Rate
8.0 m/s
8.20 m/s
Descent Rate
-5.5 m/s
-11.0 m/s
Flight Range
54.5 km
56.2 km
Flight Time
90 min
89 min
Payload
Temperature
The payload temperature dropped to about -50c at 12000m. This caused the T-Beam tracker to shutdown, causing loss of signal. The other trackers remained operational, though the battery voltage did drop considerably due to the temperature. It rebounded as the temps came back up.
Camera
The Action Cameras performed very well. The FPV camera provided great shots at takeoff and recovery.
Recovery
The balloon landed in an empty field. We were able to easily retrieve it after gaining landowner permission.
Lessons Learned
The T-Beam is more sensitive to temperature than we realized, so we will move it inside the styrofoam for our next launch.
The GPS antenna we used on this launch works much better than any we have used before. This may be due to a shorter length wire.
Operation Lil' Bub
Launch Date: Saturday, 08/02/2014. 10:30am EST
Overview
This balloon will use our new and improved “Peach1” tracker board and a small USB Key Fob camera.
Mission Summary
Success!
The balloon was launched on schedule with the tracker and camera operating. Though the tracker experienced a few reboots during flight, we were able to track the payload to the landing spot and retrieve it.
Mission Objectives
Use our new Peach1 tracker board.
Move the USB Key fob camera inside the pay load container to avoid thermal concerns.
The predictor does not have 150g balloons, so we used a 200, deducted 50g from the payload weight, and specified an explicit burst diameter based on manufacturer specs.
Descent rate calculated using Model Rocket Descent Rate Calculator. Total weight 200g. 12” hexagonal parachute. Note, the calculator estimated just under 6 m/s. However, experience shows that the balloon remnants often come down with the payload, speeding the descent. Rounded up to 8 m/s based on previous launch experience.
Balloon Prediction Output
Burst Altitude
10464 m
Ascent Rate
7.52 m/s
Neck Lift
1550 g
Launch Volume
60.2 cu ft
Flight Range
26.2 km
Flight Time
40 min
Note: The balloon manufacturer claims 15,000m burst altitude. We are filling this balloon a LOT.
Chase Cars
Launch: Hojo/KD2EAT and Dave/KD2GBX
Chase1: Kevin/WB2EMS
Chase2: Jon/KC2WAC
Launch and Recovery
Balloon Fill
Using volume of a sphere for 60.2 cu ft
Volume of a sphere
v = 60.2 (per predictor)
v = 4/3 pi r**3
Solving for r, the radius:
r = cube root(3v /4pi)
r = 2.43 feet
The circumference of the sphere is pi*d
c = pi * 2 * r
c = 15.27
We called it 15’ 3“ circumference.
Expected pounds of gas to use:
PSI = volume / .0265 PSI = 60.2 / .0265 PSI = 2272 PSI drop in tank.
Launch
At the time of the fill, we put in more gas. The tanks were nearly empty, and we wanted a short flight, so we put in a fair bit more gas. The balloon diameter should have been about 4’8”. I’m 5’11“ and the balloon looked about as tall as me in this shot. Assuming a 6’ diameter, we filled the balloon with about 113 cu ft of helium. It didn’t seem to make the flight shorter, however. The balloon burst much higher than predicted.
Actual track vs projected track
Predicted
Actual
Burst Altitude
10,464m
13,500m
Ascent Rate
7.52 m/s
8.57 m/s
Descent Rate
8.0 m/s
8.91 m/s
Flight Range
26.2 km
49.54 km
Flight Time
40 min
49 min
Note, given that the balloon was overfilled at launch to nearly 6’ in diameter (113 cu ft), the predictor indicates that the ascent rate should have been about 8.66m/s. This very closely matches our observed ascent rate of 8.57m/s. Let’s hear it for science!
Payload
Temperature
The payload temperature dropped to about -4c during the peak of the flight. This did not interfere with the tracker, though the battery voltage did drop considerably due to the temperature (from 1.64v to 1.38v). It rebounded as the temps came back up.
Camera
The 808 camera performed very well. Prior to flight, it was measured at using about 110ma while recording. We used a 300mah LiPo battery for the flight, and we had over 2 hours of video on the camera when retrieved. Each 10 minute block of video used approximately a gigabyte of space. The 16G SD card had just over 12G of footage on it.
Recovery
The balloon landed on the roof of a duplex. We fished it off with a few antenna whips duct taped onto an extensible pole saw.
Lessons Learned
The tracker had some issues with reboots. They need to be resolved prior to the next flight.
The 150g balloons apparently have quite a bit of variability in burst altitude! That was a surprise.
Although the parachute predictor estimated a descent rate of about 6 m/s, we rounded up to 8 based on previous experience with the balloon remains interfering with the parachute function. The observed descent rate was 8.9 m/s. We could have rounded even higher.
In future, we might want to use a larger chute than recommended to temper the descent rate, or find a means to jettison the balloon remains after burst.
APRS Only Beacon
Launch Date: Sunday, 05/04/2014
Mission Objectives
Lower cost payload, involving less risk.
Gain experience with prediction software and confirm its accuracy.
Learn to use hydrogen as a lifting gas for cost savings and eco-friendliness.
Learn the range of the APRS tracker.
Enhance the ham club’s experience and preparedness for APRS tracking.
Attempt NVIS communications over 40m HF during launch.
Attempt mobile cross-band repeater operations during launch.
Note: Hydrogen was planned, but we discovered at the last minute that we needed a regulator that would not be available in time. We fell back to helium.
250g (underestimated for prediction - actual was 281)
Target Ascent Rate
5.75 m/s
Descent Rate
8 m/s
Gas
Helium
Burst Diameter
2.4m
Start Location
Trial and error, aiming for southeast of Ithaca
Note: The predictor does not have 150g balloons, so we used a 200, deducted 50g from the payload weight, and specified an explicit burst diameter based on manufacturer specs.
Balloon Prediction Output
Burst Altitude
13,220 m
Ascent Rate
6.78 m/s
Neck Lift
996g
Launch Volume
41.1 cu ft
Flight Range
105 km
Flight Time
0:52
Note: Parameters seem good. The balloon manufacturer claims 15,000m burst altitude. The GPS on this tracker is rated to 18,000m.
Chase Teams
We deployed chase teams under the projected path of the balloon for two reasons. First, we wanted to make sure we were getting telemetry, in case the transmitter was weak. We don’t yet have a lot of experience with the transmitter at altitude. Second, on the chance that something unexpected happened after launch. we wanted to be able to react at any point beneath the expected flight path.
Launch: Hojo/KD2EAT, Dave/KD2GBX
Chase1: Adam/KC2ANT, Char/KC2ULK
Chase2: Jon/KC2WAC, Jules/KD2FOU
Chase3: Kevin/WB2EMS
Chase4: Todd/AB2MS
Launch and Recovery
Dave preparing to release the balloon
Balloon immediately after release
Actual track vs the projected track and recovery
We launched approximately 2.65 miles Northeast of the originally planned location. It turns out that Springwater, NY is in a valley. We were concerned about clearing the ridgeline to the east. and also just finding an open space to work in without disruption from the local townsfolk. We eventually found a field on a remote ridge line that served us well.
We launched at approximately 11:02am. As the balloon progressed eastward, we noticed that it was climbing slower than the forecast. We apparently had not inflated the balloon enough. It was forecast to burst over Watkins Glen. As it approached, we realized it would burst later, probably over the Ithaca area. We let the chase teams know that they should start heading east of the originally projected landing spot.
Between Watkins Glen and Ithaca, at 33 minutes after launch, the tracker stopped sending telemetry. The last report was at 37,829 feet. We suspect (in retrospect) that the tracker got cold enough that it drifted off frequency and wasn’t being picked up by any of our radios. We received no telemetry for 23 minutes as it traveled eastward.
Just as we were about to give up hope, we got one last packet from 3,937 feet. The tracker was nearly to the ground, but had not gone as far east as anticipated. We then lost reception.
Chase teams fanned out around the expected landing zone. Approximately one hour later, at 1:10pm, a chase team picked up the signal of the tracker, and iGated the packet. The tracker was traced to a field approximately 400 meters east of the last received signal while it was in the air (much closer than we had expected). Thankfully, the field was plowed but nothing had grown in yet. As the search teams walked across the field, Kevin/WB2EMS found the payload laying on the ground.
The payload landed 9.45 miles from the originally projected location.
The payload on the ground
Note that it landed with no sign of the balloon or streamers. They tore off completely. The payload free fell.
The orange you see in this picture is duct tape. Adam/KC2ANT peeled it back to “cut the red wire” and unplug the tracker from the battery. The yellow streamers tore off at their attachment points on the payload and were nowhere to be seen. The bit sticking out from between his fingers is all that remained of the balloon.
Clues from the telemetry
Descent Velocity
The last aerial data point, and the landing zone data looked like this:
The distance between the last two points was 1,728 feet (.33 miles). The last telemetry indicated that the payload was moving at 27mph at a bearing of 107 degrees. 27mph = 39.6 feet/sec. It would take 43.6 seconds to cover 1,728 feet at that velocity. So, we can assume the package fell to the earth in that amount of time.
The last altitude in the air was 3937 feet, and the final resting elevation was 1361 feet. We fell 2576 feet in 43.6 seconds - 59 feet/sec (17.98m/sec). The “planned” descent velocity was 8m/sec. Without streamers, or the remains of the balloon, the payload fell at just over double the planned speed. Fortunately, the package survived impact and continued tracking!
Burst Location and altitude
More math required here. However, empirically, it appears that we burst very close to Ithaca. Looking at the altitude data and rate of climb in APRS, it appears that we were climbing about 1,000ft/minute (5.0m/sec). We had targeted 5.75m/sec. The last data point before we lost the tracker was at 37.829 feet. Projected burst was at 43,372 feet. It would have taken about 6 more minutes to reach burst altitude. The balloon traveled half way to Ithaca from Watkins Glen in 6 minutes. Just looking at the progression of dots, it seems the burst would have been just west of Ithaca.
We know we were falling at about double the projected descent rate. Looking at the curve, the final resting location seems very consistent with a descent from just west of Ithaca to the landing zone in about 1/2 of the projected distance.
Some more mathematical calculations on the GPS distances can help validate this, but it appears that the balloon burst at approximately the expected height.
Tracker Performance
The tracker was heard by a number of distant stations. It was picked up in Ithaca within three minutes of launch. Three stations that logged on aprs.fi were over 100 miles away.
WB2ZII-15
Yorktown Heights, NY
179 Miles
VA3BAL-4
Newmarket, Ontario, CA
135 Miles
K2JJI-10
Johnstown, NY
135 Miles
It would appear the 300mw tracker with a 20“ counterpoise on the rubber duck antenna is more than sufficient for our needs. We shouldn’t need to worry about fanning out iGates below the flight path with this tracker.
Lessons Learned
The tracker stopped transmitting, or went off frequency at 37k feet.
We presume this is temperature related.
There is a suggestion to try packaging the tracker in a plastic bottle for greenhouse effect and insulation value.
Hand warmers have also been suggested, but the experienced people on the balloon e-lists discourage them.
An SDR might be be handy to have along to check for frequency drift if we lose a tracker in the air again.
Finding the tracker would have been easier with a buzzer on it.
Add a buzzer to the package on the next mission.
Hydrogen will take more planning and effort
We will need a special regulator we don’t have, a carrier outside of the vehicle, and grounding equipment before we can safely use hydrogen as a lifting gas.
NVIS testing still needed.
We did not get a chance to test DF on this mission.
We under-inflated the balloon.
It was difficult to tell when it was full “enough”. It was too windy to measure the neck lift.
These balloons are small enough that we could probably consider them a sphere and measure the circumference to estimate volume of gas used. We’ll try that next time.
Hello Kitty
Launch Date: Sunday, 10/06/2013. 3:00pm EST. East Hill Plaza, Ithaca, NY.
Mission Objectives
Lightweight payload.
Beacon CW.
Timed or Short Duration flight.
Foxhunt retrieval.
Technology
Alinco DJ-C4T - 300mw transmitter on 70cm - 446.450
Mylar balloons.
Party Gas will provide adequate lift for this launch.
Battery testing of the (3) AA Energizer Ultimate Lithium revealed that we were able to successfully transmit for 9-10 hours before the batteries lost sufficient power. This well exceeds our mission requirements - aka “Find it before dark”.
Testing with 6 pound test fishing line shows that an Estes rocket igniter will cut it very easily. Before the igniter even catches fire, in fact. Further, the igniter seems durable enough to support the 100g payload during heavy jostling. We will suspend the package from the igniter for this mission.
The 2013 Repeater Upgrade project is about updating the current W2CXM 146.61 repeater hardware to a more modern set of hardware. As of November 2nd, 2013, we have the following at the repeater site:
Uniden ARH-351 Repeater
Broken PA
Replaced with mobile PA
RC-850 Repeater Controller
6-can Duplexer
The first question is obviously: “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” Well, while technically true that the repeater is “not broken,” it’s not exactly in the best shape either. The list of current issues:
“Hammering” noise during daylight hours. The TX gets mixed into the RX and a feedback loop is created, resulting in the repeater being keyed up and transmitting an awful sound reminiscent of hammering for potentially hours on end.
The ARH-351 repeater PA is in fact broken.
Due to the hammering issue, the mobile PA overheats and has been melting the rubber and plastic portions of its casing, in particular the rubber feet.
Neither the ARH-351 nor the RC-850 support (in their current state) PL enc/dec, which we believe is one solution to the hammmering problem (turn on PL dec on the RX side, DO NOT turn on the PL enc on the TX side).
MASTR-II Upgrade (In Progress)
Well, given the list of problems in the Background section, it would seem the primary issue is that of the hammering. To address this, we were prepared to spend on the order of $100 to purchase the additional equipment to enable PL enc/dec on the current repeater. During our research, it turned out we have the opportunity to replace the ARH-351 with a MASTR-II, which is a significant upgrade. This upgrade would accomplish the following:
Replace the outdated, broken, unpopular ARH-351 with a MASTR-II
We’d be getting a new repeater with a working PA, designed for 110W continuous duty cycle
The MASTR-II would include PL enc/dec capability, hopefully addressing the hammering issue.
The MASTR-II is a proven, popular repeater platform, and one that is widely used in the region near Ithaca. This would mean we have access to the local body of knowledge and experience. In comparison, the ARH-351 is unpopular and no one really knows how to work with it.
The total cost to W2CXM to upgrade the ARH-351 to a MASTR-II is $160. During one of the weekly club meetings in mid-October 2013, it was decided that a 60% increase in cost for a significant improvement to the W2CXM repeater that will last long into the future was worth it, so we have released the funds from the club account to KD2SL, who is helping us with the upgrade. A big thank you to Kevin (KD2SL) for doing this! The $160 represents only parts cost—Kevin is volunteering his time!
Repeater Controller Upgrade
Overview
Given that we are already upgrading the RF part of the repeater, it seems reasonable for us to upgrade the repeater controller as well at the same time. KD2SL has requested that we either ship him the current RC-850 repeater controller so he can integrate it with the MASTR-II, or provide him with a different repeater controller for integration and testing.
It seems reasonable to upgrade the entire repeater infrastructure for two main reasons:
Having a complete upgrade would allow us to keep the ARH-351/RC-850 pair as a hot-spare, in the event of a failure with the new equipment. As disaster recovery and preparedness is one of the key missions of W2CXM, this seemed a good plan.
Upgrading to a new repeater controller would bring with it the possibility of more modern features such as EchoLink/IRLP, cross-band operation, and the return of the autopatch, even if just for 911/emergency calls.
Thanks to the generosity of TCARA, we now have a donated RLC-2 repeater controller. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the RLC-2 isn’t coming online in a straightforward manner. We’re not convinced that it’s dead, but it’s not going to be an easy fight.
Feature List
EchoLink/IRLP
Reasoning: We are a school club, and our members will graduate (unless you’re a grad student, hihi) or otherwise move on. It would be nice to have alumni check in from time to time and use IRLP to connect with other schools.
Importance: Arguably the most important thing, and what continually comes up in discussion.
Cross-band Operation
Reasoning: Lower the cost of entry to HF from thousands to a $30 Baofeng.
Importance: Nice to have, but we can actually “fake” this by bringing up an HF station elsewhere on IRLP and connecting them. Yes, we lose the remote base control, but we can bring up a separate control system for the HF station. This does mean that we’d lose the HT-only control, but everyone has internet these days.
Autopatch
Reasoning: For 911/Emergencies, the reasoning is fairly self-evident.
Importance: Nice to have. We could probably do without this, especially since we’re not guaranteed to be able to get a phone line in the repeater site.
ADC/GPIO
Reasoning: Be able to control/interact with other things in the repeater site. Fans, SWR meters, temperature sensors, UPS/battery status, etc.
Importance: Again, nice to have. If we use the Raspberry Pi for Echolink/IRLP, we actually get some of these features, just not on the radio. This will probably be okay, especially with the fact that we can build some internet-based reporting.
DVR
Reasoning: Being able to have the repeater echo back what you sound like is great for testing rigs/diagnosing problems.
Importance: Nice to have, but we could actually use the echolink TEST conference for this, if all we’re interested in is testing our own rigs. Mailboxes/etc seem to be a fun toy, but no one really uses them after the initial novelty wears off (or at least this has been the general consensus).
Choosing a Controller
During the last half of October 2013, there has been much discussion in email threads as well as on one weekly W2CXM net about the potential candidates for repeater controllers, as well as the desired feature list. The candidate list as follows:
The opinion of two local repeater builders, N2PYI and KD2SL, is that the SCom series is good. KD2SL suggests that the Arcom RC210 is also quite good, and the NHRC is “okay.” However, none of those statements directly address the feature list we might want. To do this, we look to the table below:
Feature
Arcom RC210
NHRC-7
SCom 7330
IDOM+Pi
RC-850
Audio Delay Support
YES
NO
YES
NO
NO
Autopatch (without using radio port)
YES
NO
NO
NO
Broken
ADC Ports
8
None
3
ADC on I2C/SPI
NO
CTCSS Support (PL enc/dec)
YES
YES
YES
On MASTR-II
NO
DTMF Decode (for control)
YES
YES
YES
NO
YES
DVR (Voice Recording)
YES
NO
Over RS-232
Use ECHOTEST
NO
DVR Playback (for testing)
YES
NO
NO
Use ECHOTEST
NO
Out-of-Box EchoLink/IRLP Support
NO
NO
NO
YES
NO
Fan Control
YES
YES
YES
YES
NO
GPIO Ports
5 in, 7 out
None
4 in, 4 out
On Pi
NO
Multiple Radio Ports (For Cross-Band)
3 Ports
2 Ports
3 Ports
NO
NO
Programming Interface
Windows over DTMF
DTMF
RS-232/DTMF
USB3
DTMF
Real-time Clock
YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
Remote Base Support
YES1
NO
NO
NO
NO
Cost4 (w/ Rack Mount)
$2952
$339
$479
$367
$0
1The Arcom RC210 supports Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, and Doug Hall RBI-1 protocols for remote bases.
2Does not include the autopatch ($149) or the audio delay ($35) modules. Can add an additional battery backup for the real-time clock ($49.95). Total of all bells & whistles: $529.
3The ID-O-MATIC III is USB-programmed, and the Pi is programmed over SSH/whatever you feel like. We can actually plug the ID-O-MATIC III into the Pi and program remotely. That sounds pretty great.
4Only the IDOM+Pi option includes the cost of the Echolink/IRLP computer/embedded computer.
One big remaining challenge is getting a phone line and network connection up at the repeater site. On the 10/30/2013 W2CXM net we came to the consensus that we should upgrade the controller even without these connections being guaranteed. Having the capability to use them allows for growth into the future, and none of these problems are insurmountable, even in the near future.
UPDATE 12/11/2013: We have provisions for a network connection up on the repeater site, thanks to WB2EMS.
Old Proposal
Pre-IDOM+Pi, the Arcom RC210 was the good-looking choice.
Current Proposal
If we’re willing to “cheat” and use the internet to get our Cross-band Operation and DVR features, we’re willing to move the GPIO/ADC to the Raspberry Pi, and we’re willing to forgo the Autopatch, we can actually get what we want from the ID-O-MATIC III + Raspberry Pi with a significant savings over the Arcom RC210.
This is especially important if we consider the fact that we’re probably going to use a Raspberry Pi for Echolink/IRLP. The cost of that can be quite steep, even though the cost of Pi is only $35. After you buy the power adapter, the SD card, the IRLP card, etc. etc., we’re looking at a cost of about $270, if this site is representative: http://www.irlp.net/pi/.
Here’s the bottom line: If we’re willing to offload some of the features we want to a Raspberry Pi, instead of being on the controller itself, we could probably get away with an ID-O-MATIC III as our “controller” of choice. It’s not going to talk at us, but if you’re not a fan of a chatty repeater, that’s probably okay!
This gets us pretty much everything, save autopatch, for less than we’d need for the Arcom RC210 (if we also count the
Raspberry Pi stuff). Just for reference, an Arcom RC-210 + PiIRLP is $565.
One final point: The ID-O-MATIC III doesn’t exclude us from moving to other controllers in the future. However, it’s true that we’re going to need the NHRC-M2SC and the PiIRLP for any controller, so a $38 investment just to get the ball rolling for KD2SL is arguably a good one.
Understanding that the current ARH-351/RC-850 solution has been existence for over 2 decades(?), we must look forward and assume that whatever solution we arrive at during the course of this project must survive and grow with the club for a similar duration of time.
Final Configuration
The repeater upgrade was completed in 2014. We elected not to implement the PiRLP module due to the lack of ethernet availability in the elevator shack in Bradfield.
The final configuration of the repeater at that time was as follows:
We are continually striving to make this history more complete. Please! If you are a former W2CXM member, share any stories or pictures you have with us and let us know what you are doing these days!
1915
Beginnings The history of Amateur Radio at Cornell University can be traced back to 1915 when Cornell was issued the experimental station callsign of 8YC. In fact, the February 1916 issue of QST lists 8YC as having been heard at 1VN in Hartford, Connecticut, at a then remarkable distance of 400 miles. At the time the Cornell station was using a 1 kW spark transmitter. Other station callsigns during this period include 8XT and 8XU issued in 1916. According to various correspondence the 8XU callsign for Cornell was active for at least ten years. If the call letters seem odd to you, you must realize that at this time radio had not reached international organization - there were no country prefixes - and New York State was part of the eighth call district, not the second.
Correspondence on file with the Cornell Amateur Radio Club includes a letter from Alfred Manchee, K2ALF, a Cornell Electrical Engineering alumni who “operated the Cornell wireless station in the 20's when the lid went off after WW1. The station was under the direction of Professor William C. Ballard.” In fact, it was Ballard who, in 1916, designed and built a 5 kW spark-driven transmitter that operated at 706 kilocycles per second and obtained a provisional license to operate it as an experimental wireless telegraphy station with the call 8YC. Just seven years before, Cornell had started offering it's first course in wireless technology, E 27 “Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony”, an elective for EE school seniors taught by Instructor William H. Kroger. Ballard took over instruction of this course in 1915 after Kroger departed from Cornell.
Charles Murray, W8ZA “remember(s) working the University station on numerous occasions on spark and at the time Cornell's assigned call letters were 8XU. All calls beginning with the letters X, Y, and Z were classed as Special Land Stations and they were carried in the List of Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the United States.”
1949
Founding The Cornell Amateur Radio Club as we know it today was formally organized in 1949 and three years later was issued the club call letters W2CXM which it holds to this day. Its early members were quite active in the American Radio Relay League's National Traffic System. The station has Brass Pounder League certificates dating from 1957-1958. W2CXM was issued its Worked All Continents award in 1955 and achieved DXCC in 1969 and has made contact with stations from such exotic locations as Albania, Mongolia, Antartica, Qatar, Nepal, and Ghana. The club has had a long affiliation with the ARRL and owns in its library a near complete QST collection dating from 1949 onward.
1940's
Dick Seifert, KB2FF, who was involved with the club at the time of its founding, provides a look at the early days of W2CXM "All ham activity nationwide was suspended during WWII, except for low-power Civil Defense operation on the 2 1/2 Meter Band known as the War Emergency Radio Service. Cornell participated in the ham radio renaissance of the late 1940s through the leadership of Col. Vic Warren, U.S. Army Signal Corps, who was then Assistant Professor of Military Science & Tactics. The PMS&T was Gen. Ralph Hospital, U.S. Army. (Yes, the original “General Hospital!”)
We newly-minted hams arrived on The Hill in the Fall of 1948, only to find that antennas were prohibited on all the dorms and that there was no radio club on campus. Since Cornell was a Morrill Land Grant university, however, we all had the ROTC in common, and — thanks to Col. Warren — it wasn't long before we were allowed to fire up the gear in the Barton Hall Signal Corps classroom on the amateur HF bands, using AM, CW, and later RTTY. (SSB didn't exist then.) Main transmitter was the famous BC-610 (Hallicrafters HT-4), and receivers were BC-342s. We also got some SCR-609/610s going on 10-11 Meter FM, one of which we put in the Cornell Pilots' Club Piper J-2 for Cornell's first ham aeromobile station.
As a matter of side-interest, Ithaca had no aviation radio whatsover until the CARC came along! We modified a war-surplus SCR-522 for AC-powered Unicom service and installed it in Ithaca Municipal Airport at the foot of Cayuga Lake. Tomkins County Airport hadn't been built yet. Our only regular air service was Robinson Airlines which flew some small twin Beechcrafts capable of using Ithaca Municipal's 1,200-foot runway. Robinson later became Mohawk, using DC-3s out of Tomkins County.
Meanwhile, back at Barton Hall, Col. Warren scrounged a small room for us on the ground floor facing North — a hamshack of our own! Unlike the dorms, the College of Veterinary Medicine readily agreed to antennas strung from their building across to Barton, and using our own radios, we were now in business. Everything was either homebrew or modified surplus.
Then we organized our motley crew. We had a dozen or so men and one cute, blonde coed whose name escapes me, but I think her callsign was either W2MVC or K2MVC. Our first President was Vic Wintriss. Others included Vic Clarke, W4OTR, Dave Zammat, W2WAL, Kirk Foucher, Claude Rochelle-Kagan, Dave Keiper, and Hugh Nutter. I was W2VZG at that time, a club member of course, but also heavily involved with Pi Tau Pi Sigma, the Signal Corps honorary fraternity.
At graduation, we got diplomas in one hand and military travel orders in the other: alas, another war — Korea this time. Wintriss went Navy, Clarke to Air Force, and I to Fort Monmouth."
1960's
Richard Hayman '67, K3DML, writes about life around the W2CXM shack during the 60's "While on the air in November 1963 a British station broke in to express his sadness over the shooting of President John Kennedy. I was shocked that I, an American, heard about the events in Dallas from a British subject. A moment later another ham located at one of our air force bases in Greenland asked if there was a way to learn more.
W2CXM then became the “unofficial” rebroadcaster of CBS news reports of the shooting. I'm not sure that was legal, but I really didn't care at the time.
A few years later on my station located in my fraternity house I had a room full of brothers listening to my QSO with a military hospital ship in the South China Sea off the coast of Viet Nam. It was the closest most of us ever got to the war. We could even hear explosions in background…
I'm sure some our radio brothers went on to do some wonderful and exciting things. But, remember, we did our programming and math on punch cards, slide rules and motor driven mechanical rotary calculators. We would punch in our numbers and go out for a cup of coffee. When we got back, we either had the answer or found our calculator had danced off the table onto the floor.
Basic was a new langugage and the most exciting thing on engineering campus was a TTY attached to the phone line connecting it to a far away computer system.
As engineers we made a visit to the IBM plant making the new integrated circuits. They were very proud that their yield on 7400 chips was about 3 chips in 100."
1970's
Bill Kelsey, N8ET, provides the following bits of history from the late 60's and early 70's "I went to Cornell BSEE '70, MBA '74, and was active at W2CXM during that time, and was president of the club around the '69 timeframe. Other calls that were active at that time were WB2CPV (now K1EA who wrote CT contest software) WB2CPU who has written several articles in the past few years, WA3HRV - now K3RV who does the propagation column in the NCJ. My call was WB2FGA - now N8ET - and any of your members who are into QRP might recognize my company - Kanga US - that sells QRP kits.
I remember pieces of the antenna that is in the picture (above), but by the time I was a member we had a TH6 up on the tower. There was also an end-fed zepp that was strung between the two towers on Barton Hall, and as I recall it played quite well. It was fed thru a homebrew tuner that was mounted in the west window on the south wall of the tower.
Equipment during those years consisted of a Central Electronics 200V transmitter (no tune - quite a novelty in those days) and it seems like there was a 75A4 rcvr for a while. We also had some Hallicrafters gear. I can remember the Johnson TX that is in one of the pictures (above) - I have no idea who the operator in the picture is though…. We also had a Swan Amplifier (pair of 3-400Z's that literally self-destructed one day - it arced from the plate cap to the case. I think we were able to salvage the final tank capacitor….. We rebuilt it with an external power supply, and it worked a lot better after that!)
K1EA and K3RV used to do quite well in contests from W2CXM back in the late '60s and early '70s - both the DX tests and the ARRL CD parties. No memory keyers, but we had an early keyer (12AT7'a and a relay as I recall), and they could really make it play.
One other comment for your historian - KA9Q - who wrote NOS for packet - was from Cornell, and I assume was a member of W2CXM."
1980's
Some of the highlights of this time period included: • Moving the antennas to the South tower.
• Installing two runs of 7/8“ hardline between the towers along the catwalks in Barton.
• Station activity really picked up after moving the antennas. The TH6DXX tribander, tower, rotor, 7/8” hardline, and the F9FT 2-meter horizontal Yagi were acquired by the club in 1979.
• Running licensing classes for Novices through the Experimental College.
• Refurbishing the 2-meter repeater and converting it to microprocessor control using a SYM-1 6502-based controller that was programmed by paper tape!
• Linking the 10-meter repeater to the 2-meter repeater. Talking to people all over the country using 10-meters from a handheld 2-meter rig on campus was quite a kick.
• Converting old CB radios to 10 meter FM rigs.
• Receiving a significant “donation” from the Physics department in the form of a lot of old junk they were going to throw out. Some of this junk is probably still cluttering the closets of W2CXM, having never been used. One notable piece of junk was some avionics radar pod that looked pretty cool.
• In 1987, WA2PKP built a 24GHz Gunnplexer while he worked at M/A-Com, which was intended to serve as a two-way audio link between the repeater on Bradfield and the telephone line at the club station in Barton. It used an FM radio for the IF receiver.
• Following the Mexico City earthquake of September 1985, W2CXM played an important role in helping Ithacans contact friends and family there. An article about W2CXM appeared in the September 28, 1988 issue of the Cornell Daily Sun.
With the late 1980's came the W2CXM cube radio, a simple 2-meter receiver made from a modified Radio Shack weather radio cube. The cube was originally designed for a tech/general licensing class to listen in on repeaters for code practice. Headed by advisor and former president, Steve Powell, N2BU, club members assembled and sold kits for the cube radio at local hamfests. Alex Rudd (President CARC, '86-'89), KA2ZOO, comments on the huge success of the project: “As Steve might attest, for all the money generated and pride taken, the weather cube project got to be a little overwhelming. We all had fun (I think) lining up assembly-line style to put together weather cube conversion kits and selling completed cubes at area hamfests, but most of us were pretty happy when the whole thing was over and done with, too.” An article about the W2CXM cube radio appears in the June 1987 issue of QST.
1990's
Amateur Satellite Station
The last few years of the 90s brought an increased interest in satellite communications, with both current and alumni club members pitching in to build antenna tracking arrays and making contacts.
2000's
Activity on Amateur frequencies
The early 2000's saw a big increase in club popularity on campus,
with the increased club size backing SAFC funding requests that
netted project kits and new antennas, including a large Force12
10-40m yagi which was mounted on Barton Hall South Tower and
gave the club a worldwide presence. Popular events were foxhunts,
project build nights, and pizza meetings, as well as voice, CW
and digital contesting. The club won the University category in
various national and international contests and set several
contest records. The club also hosted an ISS contact session in
Sept 2003 with Cornell alum Edward Lu '84 who was aboard the
ISS at the time. After returning from his six months in space,
Ed visited campus in June 2004 and was greeted by many club
members, including those who talked to him during the contact.
Club members featured prominently in early campus satellite
project groups, including DawgSTAR and ICEcube, designing and
building onboard radio systems and ground stations. ICEcube
was set to use the W2CXM callsign from space but the launch vehicle
shut down during flight and crashed into the Kazakh steppes,
destroying all payloads.
Officers
Andrew Lewis
President
Steven Whitney
Treasurer
Mike Hojnowski
Advisor
Join
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