Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club History

The Start: December 1949...

In 1949, five young men who shared a common interest met in Glenside, Pa., to form a new amateur radio club: Dick Dickinson, W3AAG; Leroy Hauser, W3PMD; George King, W3PXY; Bill Krewson, W3OQI; and Jim Spencer, W3QQH (later W3BBB). Because their special interest was in mobile operation, they named their new group the Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club; all of them residing either in Philadelphia or Montgomery County. For the next few years their monthly meetings were held at the Glenside War Memorial Building.

Interest in operating mobile was growing rapidly at that time, just a few years after the end of World War II and the resumption of amateur radio activity (amateur radio was forbidden during the war years). Surplus war radio equipment made it easy and inexpensive to get on the air, but the coincidental emergence of home television sets made it difficult to operate ham radio from a fixed location without the risk of television interference and an FCC citation. Many of the early Muntz, and other "gutless-wonder" TV receivers, straining to pick up a snowy Milton Berle on Philco's WPTZ, seemed almost equally responsive to harmonics from hams' unshielded mostly home brew transmitters. Little wonder then, that many hams opted to avoid the problem by going mobile on six and ten meters.

Surplus transmitting crystals, cut for 7 MHz and mounted in FT-243 holders, were available for less then 50 cents a piece. One of these in a 6AG7 oscillator circuit, operating on the fourth harmonic and driving an 807 or 2E26 final, provided 25 or 30 watts on ten meters at minimal cost, and after only a few nights of bench time. A Gonset converter ahead of the car's broadcast radio provided reception. When Phil-Mont bought a quantity of crystals cut for 7373.333, and distributed them to members, our "net" frequency of 29,493 KHz (29.493mhz) was firmly established.

Walter Bradley Martin, W3QV, who by then had served a number of terms--before and after the war--as ARRL Atlantic Division Director, took many of the early Phil-Monters under his wing, showing them how to build, install and operate a rig. He also instilled in them the "service" aspect of our hobby. Brad, a Naval Reserve Captain who had served as Admiral Halsey's communications officer in the South Pacific, believed in and espoused the true meaning of the "PICON" clause in the federal communications act; it's that clause which justifies our very licensing in the "Public Interest, COnvenience and Necessity." W3QV monitored 29.493 day and night, and always responded immediately to any mobile at any hour with a friendly greeting and offer of assistance. Appropriately, our repeater system continues to sign his call today as a memorial to the significant role he played in Phil-Mont's early development and direction.

Phil-Mont developed diverse areas of service to the Delaware Valley community, providing communications support for boating races, model airplane meets, hot-air balloon flights, parades, marathons, bikeathons, hamfests, and in both simulated and actual emergency situations ranging from limited power failures to widespread floods. Phil-Mont members provided distinguished service along the Delaware River and in the Poconos during the devastating flood of August, 1955.

The club's alliance with civil defense and RACES occasioned moving the meeting place and club station to Philadelphia CD operating centers, first in West Philadelphia and later, about 1956, to the CD command post in Germantown Town Hall. Membership mushroomed to one hundred, when a ceiling at that level was established. A membership waiting list quickly grew, and eventually the ceiling was lifted by popular demand.

Frequent need for a mobile communications center resulted in the construction and outfitting of a trailer for on-site use in activities. As the state-of-the-art (and state-of-the-treasury) progressed, Phil-Mont--primarily through the efforts of W3QQH/W3BBB--subsequently designed and fully equipped a series of five "Mo-Com" units... first trailers, then a converted school bus, and finally a self-contained step-van truck, still in use by Abington Township.

With the advent of repeater technology, Phil-Mont was among the early groups in the nation to undertake repeater operation, initially on ten meters, then moving to 147.03 MHz in the 1960s. It was also in the early 60s that the club moved its meeting place to The Franklin Institute Science Museum at the invitation of W. Laurence LePage, W3QCV, a Phil-Mont member and then vice president of the Institute. The club also assumed sponsorship of W3TKQ (later W3AA), the amateur radio demonstration station at the Institute, beginning a long and mutually beneficial relationship between the club and the Institute until the mid 1990s.

In November of 2024, Phil-Mont Mobile radio club hosted a banquet celebrating our 75th anniversary, as well as a milestone of reaching over 200 members.