Our voice at the ARRL, W3KT, died in 1981. Jesse was one of the ARRL’s most respected directors and was always an ambassador for DXers, Contesters, and the FRC.
The 80s brought continued success to the FRC with a string of 9 ARRL DX contest victories, which ended in 1987, and numerous victories in the CQ WW contest as well. The traditional meeting notice was expanded by the new editor, N3RD, into the widely read Frankford Radio Club Newsletter. Dave has kept the club informed of the latest trends in equipment and contesting, and all the happenings and developments within the club. N2SS, DX editor and ARRL DX Advisory Committee member, has kept us up to date on the world of DXing. Tactics have again changed. With many more single-op and multi-op stations producing scores which exceed what they could produce as a part of a multi/multi, our big stations have faded. Only W3GM, our first station built to be a multi/multi, still remained. N3RS has moved and is rebuilding; however, he is now settling in as a multi/single or two-transmitter multi. W3MM has been dormant and K3WW sold his hilltop and retired to the “low profile world of tribanders.”
The big splash of the 80s in the multi/multi field was KN3O. Ken was a new ham who fell in with the wrong crowd. He met some FRCers and was enamored by the idea of building a world class station. In less than two years he built a free standing shack, acquired and moved W2PV’s big Bertha and K3WW’s two 150-foot AB105 towers, He ended up with a world class station, operated by a crew of top FRC operators, and won the multi/multi class in the ARRL DX contest. The station in its full configuration was on for one year when KN3O moved from the area and dismantled it.
The late 80s brought the development of packet radio to the FRC and a packet spotting network now supplements the venerable 2-meter net. In the early 80s we were forced to place a repeater on 147.27 or lose our longstanding 2-meter spotting frequency. The repeater gave more stations access to the spotting net, and allowed a lot of us to move 2-meter antennas off our highest towers. The packet spotting network has spread over the entire country. Ironically, this has ended one of the biggest arguments against spotting nets in contests. With most operators having access to this kind of information, the ARRL and CQ have introduced categories for single ops plus spotting nets. No longer must those members who want to maximize their scores enter as multi/multi or multi/single stations. They now have a class where they can be competitive.
The FRC continues to be innovative and adaptable. We firmly believe our Club Motto:
PROFICIENCY THROUGH COMPETITION
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 |