UW radio hams asked to leave Mechanical Engineering Building

For nearly two decades, the UW Amateur Radio Club has been located in the "penthouse" on top of the Mechanical Engineering Building. Recently, the club has been told to vacate the premises by professor William Wilson, chairman of the mechanical engineering department.

It has been asked to leave for the first time since 1983 when the club moved in, to make space for another mechanical engineering professor who needs the space for research.

"I have nothing against the Amateur Radio Club," said Wilson. "I hope they can find space elsewhere, but the room in the Mechanical Engineering Building is needed at this time."

Robert Phelps, professor emeritus of mathematics, has been the faculty adviser and trustee for the Federal Communications Commission license of the club radio station since 1984, but the club has been mostly inactive for the past five years.

"Most of the club leadership has long since graduated and interest in the club has since subsided," said Phelps.

Despite the lack of a formal organization, there are many faculty members on campus who are also amateur radio operators, or hams. Phelps recently compiled a list of more than 25 hams on staff. Phelps also speculates that there may be a number of student hams, but the recent inactivity of the Amateur Radio Club have made them relatively unknown to the student population.

Amateur radio operators, who work as unpaid volunteers and provide their own training and battery-powered radios, have played important roles in past emergency situations. In the case of various natural disasters, hams have traditionally assisted fire and police departments, the Red Cross and other agencies by setting up communication links when the usual systems are either without power or are overloaded.

After last February's earthquake, local hams mobilized and were on the air in minutes. The Amateur Radio Club could help organize these on-campus hams more efficiently, but, according to Phelps, a new location for the storage of the club's equipment must be found. In looking for a location for the club, it is necessary to have roof access for the erection and maintenance of antennas.

However, even more important to Phelps than finding a new location, is sparking new interest in on-campus amateur radio operators. Whether or not there is enough interest to revitalize the official club, Phelps believes any on-campus hams could assist the entire campus.

In light of the recent earthquake, additional interest is being raised by the UW Police Department about the possibility of reforming on-campus ham operators in case of another emergency.

Yesterday, Lt. John Schultz of the UWPD attended a media briefing concerning the recent Nisqually earthquake. The biggest issue, according to Schultz, was problems with communication immediately following the earthquake.

"After the quake, a lot of the means for communication, including cell phones, weren't working," said Schultz. "For the management of an emergency, you want redundancy (multiple reports of an incident). Having a large number of local ham operators on campus would be an invaluable service."

The UWPD would like to have a large number of amateur radio operators on-campus to serve as emergency response.

"The UW is no longer a single campus," Schultz said. "When the earthquake hit, it took awhile to contact our Tacoma and Bothell campuses. The use of ham operators could provide help in this area."