College City Radio Club

About Us

We've been looking to capture some of the early history of the Club. We put out a call to folks to send us what information they remember. John Rooks has contributed his memories of the early history of the club:


" . . . . one day (in about 1969), I was talking to some hams on 146.94 (on my GE MASTAR) and I received a phone call from Hogie. He had been “reading the mail”, (and I think he had recently started working at Carleton) and we got together. Shortly after that we started having breakfasts. I believe one of the early members was Bob Hays KØRRW (this call is incorrect. it's Ellis Lysne's call - Ed) from Randolph. He worked with me at Schjeldahl for a while. He later worked for the FAA. I think he may still be around. About the next folks that came along were Mike Smith and Doug Weiss. There were a couple more guys from Randolph (now passed) and also a much older low band fellow from St Olaf (WØABK) (also long passed). (You can tell from the call that he had been a Ham for a looong time), (however he joined the breakfasts long after they were started).

Over the years the breakfasts have moved around quite a bit. I think we may have started back at Yonkers Restaurant (west side of 3, north of 1) in Dundas, (in what became for many years a printing shop). I don’t think I will get these in order, but we have also met in what was the predecessor to Perkins (neither my wife nor I can remember the exact name). It may have been called The Ranch House or something like that. I think it was known by some family name (possibly starting with an H), prior to being named the Ranch House, We also met at the Happy Chef (SE corner of Woodley and 3) now an auto parts store.

Another meeting place was in the side dining room at the Big Steer at 19 and 35, and also at the second floor dining room of The Ole Store (before it was an apartment) (I’ll bet that not too many people have been up there). We may also have met in the first floor restaurant of the hotel, but I am not sure of that. I think I remember sitting in the additional dining area at the far west end under the windows. Now we are back at Perkins.

The original breakfasts started at 9AM but were moved to 8:30 because we were sometimes getting in the way and creating crowded conditions around noon, and we didn’t want to keep people waiting. Somewhere along the way somebody (possibly Doug or Hogie) thought we should get listed with the ARRL so that new Hams in town could find us. We needed a name so that we could be listed, and this was part of the Genesis of the “College City Radio Club”."


If you have any recollections of the early days of the Club, please contact us.