WSU Amateur Radio Club (W7YH) Rho Epsilon, Alpha Chapter

The Rho Epsilon Amateur Radio Club was formally founded at Washington State University (then Washington State College) in 1911 by H.V. Carpenter, Homer Dana and Royal Sloan as one of the first university ham radio clubs in the world.

Our goal is to provide Washington State University students with the opportunity to learn and experiment with amateur radio as well as to meet other students interested in amateur radio and share ideas.

What is amateur radio?

Amateur radio, or ham radio, is a hobby that utilizes radio communications equipment to communicate with other amateur radio operators for public service and recreation. This communication could be as trivial as speaking with someone across town or as intricate as using Morse code with someone more than 5000 miles away. For more information, read "What is Ham Radio?" on the ARRL's website: http://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio

W7YH Rho Epsilon Amateur Radio Club

One of the first amateur radio groups in the United States was organized at Washington State University in 1910. In 1911, this organization, the WSC Radio Club founded Rho Epsilon as a national radio fraternity and became Alpha Chapter of that group. Other schools that joined include: University of Washington, University of Idaho, University of Virginia, Illinois Institute of Technology, Montana State College, and Tri-State College. Over the century the other clubs have dissipated and the WSU fraternity became the W7YH Alpha Epsilon Amateur Radio Club. It later disappeared in the 90s but has been re-founded as the WSU Amateur Radio Club in January of 2009.

The club will pursue any amateur radio activity members desire including:

• Long distance HF communications using voice and Morse code,
• use of amateur satellites,
• public service and emergency communications,
• building antennas and other equipment,
• APRS (a tactical asset tracking and messaging system),
• DX contesting,
• Wi-Fi networks and more.

Members can enjoy the recreational part of amateur radio or learn its technical aspects. Hands-on-experience may be gained on electronics, radio frequency propagation or circuits. No prior experience or knowledge is required, and all majors are welcomed. It is also not necessary to hold a FCC amateur radio license to get on the air.

Club Constitution