Welcome

The Keystone VHF Club is a Fraternal and Technical organization dedicated to the support of new Amateur Radio Operators in the Central Pennsylvania area. We specialize in operation on the VHF and UHF range of frequencies, and have a very large number of new Technician class licensees in our club.   History Over the course of many years, several club members have documented the history of the Keystone VHF Club. Shown below are some of the highlights of these early years. We would especially like to thank Ray Shaub, W3AXC and Bob Riese, K3DJC for keeping our history alive. Ray is one of the original Charter Members and Bob has been active in the club since 1958. If not for them, this information would have been lost.   Founders It was the summer of 1955. This was the era of the Gonset Communicator and the government surplus VHF rigs. All were either CW or AM modulation. The VHF bands, especially the 6 & 2 meter bands were becoming active because there was surplus WW2 era equipment available that was relatively inexpensive. There were a few hams that belonged to the York Amateur radio Club (YARC) who were interested in the VHF bands rather than HF. YARC was basically an HF club. Sometime during the fall of that year, the word was passed around that there was a new club being formed dedicated to operations in the VHF & UHF bands. So on an evening in November 1955 (the exact date is lost to history), we met at the home of Art Hafer, W3OCI to see how many were interested in forming a new VHF club. In the early part of 1956 we began meeting at the WSBA TV and FM studios and the club was given the name "The Keystone VHF Club". The Club applied for and received a club license in August or September that year with the call W3HZU. Property In 1958 the approximately 26 members began to actively look for a location that would make a good club site. One of our members knew the Condors family who ran a lumber mill and owned all of the ridge from our current club site to the river. A price was agreed on and the land purchased from the Condors for $500. We needed a tower and found a wind charger tower at Perkins Battery Company in West York. This was a traditional farmers windmill tower and was completely disassembled at Perkins and then reassembled at the new club site. The next thing we needed was an operating shack. A Civil Defense WW2 Aircraft Spotters Shack located on the property of Edgar Faus Smith High School was obtained and moved to the club. Later that year, we found the Cinder Blocks we built our current club house from. They came from an oil storage tank support foundation along Richland Ave. We had to tear them down but the blocks were free. It took a little less than 2 years to clean the blocks & start construction of the clubhouse. The club house was finished in 1960.   Projects Currently we have a handful of projects on the bench. The biggest project that is most noteworthy is our EME dish project. Steve Cruse, K3WHC has purchased and donated a 14 foot communications dish to the club for use in a Moon bounce station. The EME station operates with 400w on a frequency of 1296 MHz.