The Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club, the second oldest club on campus, receives and transmits frequencies to all over the world. Receiving frequencies from far away places such as Haiti, Japan and cities all along the East Coast, the radio club maintains some useful resources.
The club is located in Engineering East (Building 20) room 123. However, access to the club’s location is well hidden and cannot be found in the halls of the Engineering East building. Room 123, or “The Shack,” is situated behind a wooden wall and door on the side of the building. It appears to those passing by as just another barrier lining the walkway.
Club president Marcel Stieber said the club’s location is impossible to find unless you know where to look.
“We are the second oldest club on campus, yet no one really knows where we are located,” Stieber said.
At “The Shack,” the club has resources including water, food and potassium iodide tablets, which would allow club members to survive in emergency situation for 72 hours. The club requires these resources because if an emergency were to strike, the club could serve as an emergency communication center.
Also, just outside the club’s location sits an antenna tower that can extend up to 80 feet for high-frequency transmissions. The Tri-Ex tower was donated in 1976 by A.J.F. Clement, a 1937 graduate of Cal Poly. This tower allows the club to send and receive high-frequency communications from the heart of campus.
The amateur radio club also has a communication receiver on top of the administration building, which allows the club to transmit throughout the entire San Luis Obispo basin.
Many club members are able to complete their senior projects by utilizing the club’s equipment for radio communication.
Despite the club’s hidden location, club membership has increased in recent years and interest continues to grow. Not bad for a club that nobody seems to know how to find.
Radio Amateur operators are on the “endangered species list” as a hobby because of the internet and the Cell phones. Therefore, the club should be more accessible on campus to students that might develop an interest in amateur radio. Hiding it into a labyrinth is not a bright idea.
Pierre F. Lherisson.
kc2jwf
The Cal Poly amateur station’s call sign is W6BHZ. Although I was only a commercial radio operator back in my undergraduate days, I had some good friends in the EE department who participated in BHZ.
That wooden wall wasn’t in front of the shack in those days either and you could drop in for a visit on your way to or from classes. Someone would usually be on the air, especially around lunchtime when the club participated in a daily amateur radio roll call.