Word: hams
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...want to be a radio "ham," don't take it up while you're in college. Life for Harvard's half-dozen active amateur radio enthusiasts is a constant bout with inadequate antennae, insufficient power supplies, and unsympathetic neighbors. They operate as cautiously as spies behind the iron curtain and probably under just as many hardships...
...transmit, free of charge, messages to any friends or relatives of students that it could contact in Great Britain or Europe. Additional equipment had given the transmitter a 1000-watt kick (the FCC maximum) by that date, and W1AF had already circled the globe, establishing contact with a British ham in New Zealand...
Most active ham in college today is Jim Hirschman '52 of Adams House. Hirschman has managed to rig a 33-foot antenna outside his fifth floor bedroom window, and he keeps in constant contact with friends back in Indianapolis. John Ashton '51 and Bob Treadwell '51 operate out of Leverett F-41, while Dave Hagen '50 transmits from Dunster House...
Without the facilities of a large club transmitter, Harvard's hams must be content to broadcast at a maximum power of 150-watts, generally on the 10-meter band. This band requires only a 16-foot antenna, the size most easily erected by the Buildings and Grounds Department (cost, $15 for installation). There's only one trouble: every nearby wire about 16-feet long is "sympathetic" to this band, and puts out a signal which can be picked up over phonographs, and radio and TV sets. Maximum operation at other frequencies calls for longer aerials and more amperage than...
...biggest challenge, However, seems to be whether or not the hams will ever get back their club facilities. If they do, within six months W1AF should be back at the top of ham call-sheets around the world