1. Dedication
Frederick Emmons Terman (1900-1982)
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Vice Provost Emeritus, Stanford University
6FT (1916-1917)
6AE (1919-1922)
6XH (1921-1922) co-operator
(with Herbert Hoover, Jr. and John C. Franklin)
Celebrating five decades of amateur radio on the Stanford campus
Frederick Emmons Terman (1900-1982)
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Vice Provost Emeritus, Stanford University
6FT (1916-1917)
6AE (1919-1922)
6XH (1921-1922) co-operator
(with Herbert Hoover, Jr. and John C. Franklin)
We couldn't resist this opportunity to salute the man who -- far more than any other -- has stimulated and given vitality to radio and electronics at Stanford University. Relatively few may be aware that he was active, and a pioneer, in ham radio during his student days before and after World War I. A freshman at Stanford in the spring of 1917, he recalled having been in regular contact with stations up and down the west coast and as far away as Denver. His transmitter, of course, was a spark, radiating from a 100 foot high tower behind his parents' home on the campus. In those days, amateur wavelengths were supposed to be shorter than 200 meters, but in actuality their frequency was "inversely proportional to distance from the radio inspector." He was once called by KPH, the Marconi Company's transmitter at Daly City, and asked to QRT so they could complete some commercial traffic with a ship at sea. Fred's was the fifth license issued in the sixth call area when formal licensing began.
Always a staunch friend of the Radio Club, he elected to remain in the background. But without his unfailing support and encouragement, the Club might easily have disappeared. For example, he made possible the separate building behind the Ryan Laboratory. And on more than one occasion, vacuum tubes which he acquired as "samples" during trips around the country to gather material for his textbooks, found their way into W6YX transmitters...
Beyond any doubt, he has enormously enriched the lives of all who have followed the development of ham radio and electronics at the University and indeed in the country as a whole.
Photo of W6YX taken in May 1930
by Orin C. Levis '32, president of the club.
It is a great pleasure in this way to send greetings and best wishes to former members of the Stanford Amateur Radio Club. As Terry Elass, who thought up the idea of the "directory," points out in an accompanying note, the club is very much alive and flourishing these days.
The response to our questionnaire has been extraordinarily gratifying. We are sorry that our list of former members was incomplete, owing to the fragmentary nature of the club's records. There must be some who would like to be included, who haven't been reached as yet -- we'd appreciate any hints or clues. That's why we are trying this looseleaf format -- in hopes that it will make future changes easy.
As you know, this directory is just for fun, and for the enjoyment of those concerned. We'll do our best to see that copies don't fall into the hands of those who might exploit it for their own gain.
We'd particularly enjoy hearing from anyone who might have knowledge of club activities in the 1920's and 1930's. We are including a "tentative chronology," based primarily on inputs from Crabtree, Levis, Barnes, and Sumerlin, for which we are most grateful. We have had some difficulty in deciding exactly when the W6YX transmitter was located in the Corporation Yard, and have arbitrarily assigned it to the period 1930 to 1931.
Bill Sumerlin, has provided two priceless documents -- a club log book for the period April 1932 to November 1933, and a set of "Instructions and General Information for Radio W6YX" -- containing a complete circuit diagram of the station! We don't know the author of the "Instructions," but it is very likely to have been Jim Sharp, W6DMY (Dr. Terman's lab assistant in those days) whose signature appears frequently in the log (along with David Packard's!). If anyone would like to see this material, I'll be happy to have copies made and to circulate them. (The originals are a bit brittle.)
We hope you'll consider this directory a perhaps long-delayed, but nevertheless welcome "echo" of the past. Please write us to the address shown on the QSL card if you spot any errors, or if you have suggestions as to how the directory could be made more useful. We plan to send out correction sheets, and if circumstances warrant, we may do a complete revision in a year or so. Many thanks.
Mike Villard, W6QYT
Trustee, W6YX
Left to right: Prof Mike Villard, W6QYT, Trustee
George Flammer III, WB6RAL, President
Tareck Elass, WB9FUV, Secretary-Treasurer
In the past four years since the current officers of W6YX have been at Stanford, we have seen the club grow from approximately eight members to over twenty. The physical location of the shack is now on campus north of Fremont and Searsville Roads, where it has been for several years after moving from Frenchman's Hill near the Ryan High Voltage Lab.
The club station is equipped for HF operation with Collins S-Line equipment (32S-1, 75S-3, and 30S-1), a Yaesu YO-100 Monitor oscilloscope, a presently malfunctioning Magnum 6 RF speech processor (which has been sent to the factory for repair), two beam antennas (HyGain 20m beam and tribander), and two dipoles for 80m and 40m CW operation. Most operators prefer to use SSB when using the station, with about 20% of the operation CW. Three years ago, a former member of the club, Raymond Boute, donated a teletype unit to the club, and one of our current members, Steve Kolupaev, built the necessary control unit, so W6YX also has HF RTTY capability.
Some members have indicated an interest in moonbounce or OSCAR operations; however, the club has no VHF equipment which could be used for this purpose. Moonbounce activities of WA6LET, the SRI Amateur Radio Club, are open to W6YX members. Another possible area of expansion is the installation of emergency power capability at the shack so that the club could help the University by handling traffic in an emergency.
Typical of Stanford students, W6YX members have little spare time, and that time is usually spent operating rather than construction or experimentation. We have, however, a group of active hams who keep W6YX on the air and would like to venture into other facets of ham radio outside HF.
Terry Elass, WB9FUV
Secretary-Treasurer, Stanford ARC