There were amateur radio operators in the Glenwood
Springs-Aspen area before 1969 but that was the year of the first
attempt at organized activity. First known as Glenwood Amateur Society
(GAS) it consisted of Bob Cutter WNØYED (KIØG), Ken Eigsti WØLSD, Dale
Hoveland, Neal Morris KØTIV and Neil Van Gaalen WAØKAP. The primary
emphasis of the group was ARRL Field Day and the first group effort was
in June 1970 at a location above Glenwood Springs.
The club name was changed to
Ski Country Amateur Radio Club, Inc. with incorporation as a Colorado
nonprofit corporation in 1975 and to more accurately reflect the
regional nature of the club and its members. The club also filed for
and obtained IRS designation as a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation in 1987.
FM repeater activity came to the valley in 1976 when
WRØANT was issued an FCC license. In those days repeaters had to be
individually licensed and involved a rather detailed application for a
specific site. Sunlight Peak was chosen as WAØKAP maintained the
Garfield County TV translator system and could obtain access for the
machine. One of the elements of the application was a rather
complicated calculation of Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT). The
Sunlight Peak site had a HAAT of 8,815 feet. The present location,
building and tower are the same as used by WRØANT when it went on the
air November 14, 1977 on 146.670 MHz, with no PL required in those days!
In 1977 the City of
Glenwood Springs donated several Motorola mobile FM transceivers that
were surplus to their police department. The first repeater was
assembled from these transceivers after considerable work and
modification by Doug Bridges WØFV, WAØYED (KIØG), Walt Smith WØFG and
WAØKAP. The license for WRØANT required that control operators be
designated and WAØYED (KIØG), Larry Gerbaz WBØLLR (KØCL) and Fred Scully
WBØFOR (KØVK) were listed. One Glenwood police radio remained
un-butchered and it was given to then high school student, Robert Burry
WBØBWW.
In 1979 FCC rules were modified to allow a General or
higher Amateur Radio Licensee to operate a repeater under his own call
sign. The WRØANT repeater was changed to WAØYED/R on September 30, 1979, to KIØG/R in 1981, and later to KØCL/R. The final change to club call
KØRV was on December 18, 1996. The repeater frequency was changed from 146.670 MHz to 146.880 MHz along with PL receive to mitigate interference from the nearby KREG-TV 20 kW CH3 transmitter in the mid 1980s, at which time the 67 frequency was transferred to the club's Snowmass repeater.
In 2022 and 2023 a 5.8 GHz microwave system and private Asterisk AllStar voting system was installed. Four sites; Sunlight, Snowmass, Iron Mtn and Anvil Points were equipped with identical Motorola 146.28 MHz receivers digitally linked back to a central Linux server for comparison of signal strength, wherein selected audio is routed to the main 146.88 MHz transmitter on Sunlight, all transparent to the users.
The
club has proudly fielded an operation each Field Day since 1970. In
addition it has hosted swapfests, hidden transmitter hunts and provided
communications for fire emergencies and various public events. When the
FCC initiated the Volunteer Examiner program the club was quick to
obtain authorization and has always prided itself in making examination
sessions available when needed.
Written by Bob Cutter, KIØG (SK) Minor edits and updates by Kevin Milner, KDØMA
OUR SILENT KEYS
Bert
Alport
KA9SSB Claire
Alport
KA9ZVG George
Austin-Martin
K5EKQ
Jim
Bailey
NØIAA
Allen
Bell
KBØBAU Keith
Brent
WDØGBZ Sy
Coleman
AE1V
Jim
Cowee
WØPSC Bob Cutter KIØG Elaine
Davis
KAØEDN
Ron
Dump
KDØWT Bill
Ferguson
KAØLRW Jack
Gabow
NØZBS Ed
Godfrey
KAØHCN Mike
Goodman
KBØHLS
Andy
Hassell
W5DEM Carl
Hubbell
WØRPX Mel
Jones
WØHLD Ken
Ludlam
W6TTZ Louise
Ludlam
WB6VGJ Don
Morehouse
WBØWVL Bruce Neumann WAØMUW
Bernice
Parr
KAØBAD Lloyd
Parr
NDØE John
Radloff
NØMOR Eric
Rosenquist
NAØAA Walt
Smith
WØFG LeRoy
Snyder
KBØRCI Frank
Speck
KAØHCD Louise
Speck
WBØPYG Stan
Speck
KEØFMJ Richard
Thomas
WDØBBW Dave
Thomson
KAØEOJ Lyle
Troth
NØRIA
Gerry
Walding
KDØNV Ted
Wetzel
KEØTY Larry Wood NØACW
