Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club History
The Next Generation Begins
The Presidents during this period were:
- 1982-84 Brian Jacobson KA1FXY
- 1985 Rick Ferland KC1R
- 1986 Leo Lemieux N1CEF
- 1987 Rick Fairweather K1KYI
- 1988-89 Leo Lemieux N1CEF
- 1990-93 Steve Anthony WA1POX
- 1994 Dave Reid AA1CE
- 1995 Max Reid N1LYA
- 1996 Bob Alberg AA1JR (N1BU)
- 1997-00 Armand Lambert K1FLD
- 2001-03 Bill Whetstone WA1RI
- 2004-08 Norm Thibault W1AUT
- 2009-11 Bruce Wood W1BRU
- 2012-15 Richard Langlois W1TBR
In 1982, newly licensed ham Brian Jacobson, KA1FXY, met fellow pilot Ray St. Onge, W1IHW at North Central Airport in Lincoln, RI. One day Brian asked Ray if he knew of any local Amateur Radio clubs. This conversation eventually led to the rejuvenation of the BVARC. Brian, Ray, Dick Berard (KA1CGL), Leo Lemieux (N1CEF), Jeanne Berard (KN1L), and Fred Klockars (WA1CNI) compiled a list of local area hams and invited them to an organizational meeting at a local American Legion Post on Main Street in Woonsocket, RI. Shortly after that meeting, the club was formally revived and regular meetings were held once again.
After several months of meeting in the Legion quarters, Bill Kilcline, K1YQZ, arranged for the club to begin meeting at the Woonsocket Red Cross Chapter House on Coe Street in Woonsocket since the American Legion Post, in the back room of a Main St bar was hardly an ideal setting for the club to meet and attract families and new members.
After about ten years, in 1994, the RI Red Cross consolidated its programs and its RI footprint. This caused them to suddenly decide to close its Coe Street office and sell the building. Once again, BVARC found itself “on the street”, looking for a new location to call home. Of course, for our first 40 years, we had our own quarters in which we could safely install equipment, hang certificates, pictures, our license on our walls and store things away for a later use. Equipment for Field Day, classes, code training, station W1DDD, etc could all be kept behind a locked door. We soon learned that our future meeting location would not provide any of these luxuries.
Through the effort of Fred Klockars, WA1E, BVARC was able to meet in the auditorium of the Fogarty Unit of Landmark Medical Center, in North Smithfield just south of Park Square on RT 146A. This hospital facility was later renamed the Rhode Island Rehabilitation Hospital and BVARC continues to meet in this facility. Unlike, our previous “homes”, we must use shared or common space in the hospital to conduct our meetings. It is not optimum but it is suitable to conduct meetings and large enough to conduct special programs. Meetings are held in the hospital’s McAvinn Auditorium.
We cannot store anything in the hospital or install any station equipment. We have stored our station equipment, Field Day tents, supplies, antennas and whatever else we own in donated space of many different members; N1BU, N1MIU, K1MO, KB1KKF, W1TBR, W1BRU, W1YRC and others. But without a place to call home, keeping track of our “stuff” is a constant challenge.
Of course, every ham’s personal experience as a ham starts with obtaining his or her license. Early hams had to travel to the FCC in the Customhouse in Boston to take their exams. It was not a simple matter with a very restricted schedule of one certain day per month and 30 day wait for a retest if you fail a test. Frankly, it was a terrible experience and probably a deterrent in that era to anyone who wanted to become a ham. We did have a fair number of “pirates” on the air in the early days. A pirate is an operator who does not have a license and is using someone’s call without permission or authority.
The FCC created a field testing program and quickly abandoned it in the 1980s and under the power of the Goldwater Wirth Bill passed in 1982; the Volunteer Examiner (VE) program was born. A VE team was quickly assembled in Providence. Potential new hams from everywhere in the area had to travel to Providence to take their tests, much better than monthly runs to Boston. In about 1987, BVARC formed its own VE team to make upgrading matters easier for our members and to attract new members. Of course, the local focus of our reasons for establishment and maintaining a VE team has long ago been exceeded.
Bob, W1YRC chaired that VE team until 1998 when his employer, Raytheon deployed him to Dallas. During those years, the Portsmouth VE team under Jack Garforth N1JK and the Kent County team under Ken Franklin KF1O were formed, using the BVARC team’s practices as a standard to copy. In 1998, Bob Jones, WB1P took over the team and the BVARC team has provided great service since then in the Slatersville Congregational Church on the last Saturday morning of every month. Candidates have come from many different states to be tested and in 2007, the team tested famous contester, Champ E21EIC from Thailand. Clearly, this was our best DX. Champ obtained his first US license with BVARC and was granted KB1OVL. He upgraded before returning to Thailand and now holds the Extra call KY1A. But, his first license was earned at BVARC. Picture is in the photo section of this website.
One of our long time members, Art Burton, N1LRR was diagnosed with a terminal problem and donated his entire station to the club in 2008. He felt that the club had done a great deal for him over the years and this was his way of repaying. Of course, this was an incredibly generous act on Art’s part and not one that BVARC ever expected or encouraged. Since we have no club quarters, keeping the equipment which consisted of HF and VHF gear, amps, tower, beam, etc., was very difficult if not impossible. We have neither place to set it up nor any place to even store it. The decision was made to conduct a silent auction amongst BVARC members. This was done and within a few weeks of spirited bidding, all the equipment was auctioned and added to various club members’ stations. All funds collected were donated to the club treasury in Art’s memory. The club purchased a new Icom IC-746PRO and ultra silent Honda generator with some of the proceeds. This equipment will be used at Field Day and lighthouse activations.
Shortly after 2000, BVARC membership took considerable interest in bringing radio equipment to area lighthouses, setting up an HF station and making contacts with Amateurs around North America and the world. BVARC joined the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society (ARLHS) and became member #1385. The society offers awards for contacting lighthouses around the world and requires that in order to activate a lighthouse; a station must be within a 1000 meter radius of the claimed lighthouse or at minimum, within sight of it by day or the reach of its light by night. This means that you don’t have to be very close to the lighthouse at all. Regardless, it’s a great deal of fun and attracts many members to participate during favorable weather months.
BVARC has always taken great pride in the strength and integrity of its leadership. The last three Rhode Island’s ARRL Section Managers since about 1993, including the current one, W1YRC (2001-2011) were former BVARC Presidents. BVARC is very proud of this fact. BVARC produces good leaders.
Today, two of its original founders in 1953 are still with us; Warren W1DOR and Bob W1YRC. The obvious duty that all club members should take upon themselves is to diligently pester all our old timers to learn from their experience before they are also not with us any longer. Our original members have a wealth of experience from which newer members can build a stronger and better club.
In Rhode Island, there are nine ARRL affiliated clubs but a few of them are not holding meetings and cannot be considered active. Of the remaining seven, BVARC is the only one in northern RI and has a somewhat unique personality. Does a club have a personality? Oh yes indeed. A new ham to the area will visit a club and learn quickly whether or not he or she wants to become a member of that club. BVARC has a friendly country home personality and hopefully not a harsh “take it or leave it” persona as some have. The club can certainly be improved and guided into new areas in the future. Newcomers are welcome to lend their skills and talent to the leadership of BVARC. Over the years, the club has lost many of its leaders and must rely upon new and younger members to succeed.
We have lost Ray St. Onge, W1IHW (later W1HW) and Norm Thibault, W1AUT in recent years. Members could always count on these members to direct the club and watch over things to assure that we didn’t overlook anything. But, they’re Silent Keys now. Some older members are still active and able to offer guidance and suggestions. They have done their work in the past. The leadership is now in the hands of new members. The future is a challenge for these new members. There are 57 years in our history. You don’t want to be responsible for it to end here. You want to build the next 50 some years. Best of luck and 73.