In 1934 the Works Progress Administration began storing picks and shovels in the club building, At that time, the FRC became largely inactive. A member living near the site discovered that the building was demolished, He recovered the Wouff Hong, Rettysnitch, and the Club Charter. We never learned what happened to all the gear.
In 1936, the FRC reorganized and the new officers were W3AKB, W3BES, W3BXE, W3KT, and W3PB. The club’s distinctive red, white, and blue QSL card was adopted at this time. The club held a contest to design the card and although the winner was not recorded, the card is still used by many members. The club was primarily a social organization, meeting at various homes, W3GHM’s store, W3FRY’s plant, the Naval Reserve Building (courtesy W3HQE), a funeral home (arranged by W3CTJ, a sales representative for the National Casket Co.), the Tyrolean Club (a bar near Schimdts Brewery), the YMCA near Broad and Penn Squares, and the Philadelphia School of Wireless at 1533 Pine Street.
The activities during this period were Field Day, Civil Defense, Red Cross Communications, Delaware River boat races, message relaying demonstrations at Reyburn Plaza, traffic handling, ORS and CD parties, and individuals operating in the ARRL Sweepstakes.
The ARRL began awarding gavels, in 1936, to the top club in Sweepstakes and the FRC won the NUMBER ONE! We were off and running as a contest club. The members decided that the outstanding performer in a contest in which the FRC won a gavel, would be rewarded with custody of the gavel. W3BES got number 1, so since 1936, gavels have been available on a regular basis to other members. The FRC was a CW FOREVER club and paid the penalty in contests where phone and CW scores were totaled. We would run up a big lead on CW and like the proverbial hare and tortoise, watch the competition run off with the gavel. The attitude towards phone discouraged serious phone operators from joining the FRC. We ran second in the 1937 DX contest, first in the 1937 SS, first in the 1938 SS, second in the 1938 DX test. We lost the DX test to a California club by 772 points.. The only phone scores submitted for FRC were W3HFP with 100 points and W3CHH with 6 points. W3DHM, a local phone operator and nonmember at the time, made over 4000 points that year.
You can read more about the FRC on these pages:
| FRC History Introduction | |
|---|---|
| FRC History 1930's | FRC History 1940's |
| FRC History 1950's | FRC History 1960's |
| FRC History 1970's | FRC History 1980's |
| FRC History 1990's | FRC History 2000's |