100 plus years of amateur radio broadcast

By Kimberly Woo, kimberly.woo@iowastatedaily.com

 

Amateur radio began more than 100 years ago at Iowa State. 

With its first transmission of Morse code in 1911, the event led to the existence of WOI radio and ultimately changed the history of broadcast.

The history of ISU amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is described as a technological revolution by Jeff Stein, who is an Iowa broadcasting historian, author and a former lecturer at Iowa State’s Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

“The fact that Iowa State was one of the first places to pay attention to this technology that ultimately revolutionized our lives in the 20th century is important because it shows that Iowa State has consistently been dedicated to being first in developing communication technologies,” Stein said.

For Wyatt Hagen, president of the Cyclone Amateur Radio Club, the significance of the radio history is great.

“I think it’s a big deal for the campus because it’s 100 years of the campus working toward and celebrating the early achievements that Iowa State made in developing radio communication,” Hagen said.

The communication systems were quickly evolving and Iowa State was one of the pioneers in the amateur radio development.

“The next step in the evolution was to see if you could send those dots and dashes, the Morse code, through the air — wireless,” Stein said.

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(Source :  Iowa State Daily, USA)