The Orange County Amateur Radio Club, Inc.
is a non-profit educational and service organization chartered under the
laws of New York State. OCARC is affiliated with the American Radio Relay
League, a national association of Amateur Radio clubs.
Our Members' interests range from message handling to contesting,
experimentation to public service... and even just plain chatting on the
air! We share the love of Amateur Radio and fellowship.
OCARC was established to be an all-volunteer membership club focused
primarily on educational and public service aspects of the Amateur Radio
Service. Through lectures, formal Amateur Radio classes, and American Radio
Relay League-coordinated FCC exam sessions, ham radio is taught to both hams
wishing to advance to higher levels of FCC license class and non-hams
wishing to obtain an entry level license.
WILFRIED (BILL) VOLKUMMER - W2HO (SK)
The person we honor by using his Callsign for the Club Call.
By Steve Schumm - WB2OEE
The following is from the memories I have when Bill told me about his
ham radio hobby when he was a club member in
the 1970's. He passed from this life in 1977.
Bill started his Amateur Radio Hobby when in high school. He built a
coherer radio (spark). In the 1930's and 40’s, he was in charge of
coastal harbor maintenance in the NY-NJ harbor area. Later he went to
work for New York Telephone Co. as an
Engineer. He designed communication circuits for the NYC Fire
Department and military bases on Long Island.
Upon retirement he moved to Monroe, NY.
When the club decided to participate in Field Day in June of each year, Bill
volunteered to build the dipoles, which were used for many years. When
QST magazine first published articles on Heterodyning, he forwarded his
ideas to the magazine. The tower behind his QTH could be seen for
quite a distance. His phased arrays for DX worked very well. A
two-meter beam on top, so he could communicate with his Radio Club, the Hard
Boiled Owls on Long Island when the DX rolled in, a forerunner of today’s DX
cluster packets.
For those who remember him: a first class ham, friend and gentleman.
These are the memories I have included, there are more. I wish to
thank Andy Maroney - W2SON
and Mike Shovan - WB2KHE for their assistance in this memorial write up.
Our First Meeting was in the basement of Cornwall's Town Hall (now a municipal courtroom) on a warm Summer evening on June 30, 1972.
Highlights of the Minutes of that organizational meeting, as recorded by our first Secretary, Sally Clark (Parmerter) include:
- Meetings to be held the last Friday of each month
- Dues of 50 cents per Meeting, or $6.00 per year
- Refreshments (and social period) midway through Meetings
- Promotion of emergency communications preparedness
- Adoption of Club name
- Election of interim Officers
- Establishment of prudent fiscal procedures and policies
Since that first night, our Club:
- Raised annual dues only twice(!) in 30 years to keep up with
inflation
- Sponsored successful auctions, Hamfests and Picnics
- Published a regular Newsletter (which developed into this Website and a message reflector hosted by Yahoo
Groups)
- Participates annually in Field Day activities
- Offers regular license examinations
- Members support local public service events and train for communications
emergencies
We invite you to attend one of our meetings and get to know us. We hope to meet you soon!
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