KISHWAUKEE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB HISTORY

The Kishwaukee Amateur Radio Club known as the KRC was formed in February of 1950 to serve amateur radio operators in the area and was chartered as an affiliate club of the ARRL (American Radio Relay League). Its primary purpose is to serve the area in time of disaster and to promote information and classes to the general public who are not hams” but interested in becoming one.

During the later years of 1970, an interesting mode of communication, became available from the FCC and a splinter group was formed outside the KRC to develop a relay station, called repeaters (very similar to a cellular system, which is based on towers) The group led by several hams assembled the first repeater between Chicago and the Mississippi River. Eventually, with a handheld radio a 60 mile radius of communications could be attained, thus enhancing Emergency Communications.

Eventually, the repeater group and the KRC merged and is now known as the Kishwaukee Amateur Radio Club. The club itself has been very active in Emergency Service in the Dekalb County and other disasters in the USA, primarily and most recently the April 9, 2015 tornado that went thru Lee, Ogle, and DeKalb Counties, the 911 attack on our country, the forest fires in the western United States, the Hurricanes in the Gulf States, and more closely to home the flood of 1996, where amateur communications became vital to the Sycamore and Kirkland area at that time. Hams found a way to access the flooded area and relayed information back to the Red Cross and the Emergency Disaster Agency in Sycamore, when all other communications had failed. Since the 911 event hams throughout the country had volunteered over 150,000 hours of their time to help provide communications for the safety of people throughout the world.

Presently the Club has 47 members and has various activities for the membership throughout the year. Monthly meetings are held on the (Second Wednesday) of each month, at the Community of Christ Church, 1200 South Malta Road, DeKalb, IL 60115

For more information on Amateur Radio Contact:

The Kishwaukee Amateur Radio Club, Bob Yurs W9ICU Treasurer, at 815-895-3219

Visit the KARC website at www.karc-club.org