W9YHI
Nearly a century of history.
Beginning in 1937 with the Aitkin Radio Club, and continuing today with the ILYH.
The Illinois Young Ham Club
2020 - Present
In early 2020, a young ham by the callsign KD9NTQ founded the Illinois Young Ham Club after seeing the lack of amateur youth in our state. The club grew in numbers and activity, hosting a net on the VHF SARA repeater, running the ILYH GitHub, and attempting to start a DMR net on the TGIF network. Over time the original members grew older, and responsibilities grew heavier; members moved out of the state, or lost interest in the hobby. Slowly, the Illinois Young Hams dwindled into dormancy.
Fast forward six years. Another young ham by the callsign W9WSP gets his license and starts looking for an amateur youth community in Illinois, eventually finding the digital breadcrumbs of the then-dormant ILYH. W9WSP followed those digital breadcrumbs for five months before finally reaching KD9ORR, one of the most involved original members, via the ARISS Discord server. Another month of digital breadcrumbs (and some much appreciated help from K9MSG) finally led him to the original (now archived) ILYH Discord server, where he was able to talk to the founder, founding members, and club trustee, finally reviving the club.
Today, the ILYH continues: reviving the ILYH Youth Net, maintaining the GitHub, continuing to follow the trail left by the young hams before us, and leaving a trail for the young hams after us.
The Aitkin Radio Club
c. 1937 - 1941
Long before the ILYH gained W9YHI as its identity in 2020, the callsign belonged to the Aitkin Radio Club in 1937. While only a coincidence, the connection is still remarkable.
The first (publicly available) evidence of the Aitkin Radio Club as W9YHI appears in 1937 callbooks with John J. Ulman (W9NKF). It was started, like the ILYH, by high-schoolers. Only this time, they were from Aitkin High School in Minnesota.
World War II shut down all amateur communications and the club, ending its run as W9YHI and eventually returning as W0ZCZ with Robert W. Newton (W0SZM) as trustee.
If you know anything more about the Aitkin Radio Club, reach out to W9WSP!