History

GM Amateur Radio History

Compiled in 2018 by W1BIC & N8CY

This is a work in process, even though incomplete we wanted to share it with everyone,

If you have any information, that might fill in the holes in our history or make corrections in the draft we have written, please email info at gmarc dot org (Spelled this way to attempt to thwart the Bots looking for email addresses to spam)

1991

The first meeting of the GM Amateur Radio Club was held on January 14, 1991.  There were 17 people in attendance, including Joe and Ann O’Connor, Jeff Skurta, Rich Glassford K8OX, Larry Rinke N8WJ, Val Breault and a few others.

6/11/1991 GMARC applies to the Michigan Area Repeater Council (MARC) for  a 2 meter frequency.

1993

In the spring of 1993 Val Brualt N8OEF applies for club status with ARRL, and June 25, 1993 ARRL Affiliation is approved.

1997

Club Call WW8GM granted by the FCC (application submitted by K8OX)

2001

June 15, 2001, I (Scott) passed the Technician exam and was issued the call KC8RRN. Sometime shortly thereafter, I found a reference to the GM Amateur Radio Club and I began efforts to try to find and join the club

2002

When I (Scott Bicknell) attended my first meeting I met the 5 remaining members and they were very discouraged. Although they had been promised that they could put their 440 repeater on top of the Renaissance Center, there had been a lot of red tape and roadblocks thrown in their path and they had all but given up. I told them that I had a lot of contacts at the Ren Cen and I thought I could help. Before I knew what happened they had elected me President of the Club and in the fall of 2002, working as a team, the WW8GM 440 repeater began broadcasting from the top on the GM Renaissance Center on December 3, 2002 at 21:15 hours!

2003

President – Scott Bicknell

Vice President – Jeff Skurda

Secretary – Kevin Hascher

Treasurer  – Richard Glassford

Board  – Larry Rinke

Board  – Val Breault

Board  – Art Raschke

One early challenge was how to pay Spectrasite (the rooftop manager at the time) for the cost of running the Hardline at the Renaissance Center; I think if was about $950. To attract new members the GMARC ID Badge was created

Our next challenge was to make sure that the GM club could survive by opening membership to anyone with an interest in amateur radio with a bylaw change in January of 2003 and by the end of that year the club had over 50 members.

In the fall of 2003 Jeff Skurta N8XN was the club’s Trustee and sole technical resource constructed and donated a PC with EchoLink making the 440 machine one of the first in the Detroit area to be available on Echolink.

12/13/2003 – KC8RRN applies for and is granted the EchoLink Vanity Node # 99846 (WW8GM), the one time fee of $15 was paid by him.

2004

President Scott Bicknell

Vice President Jeff Skurda

Secretary Kevin Hascher

Treasurer T.J. Iley

Board Larry Rinke

Board – Val Breault

Board – Art Raschke

3/25/2004 – The Michigan Area Repeater Council granted GMARC Coordination of the our 2 meter repeater on 145.210

After I (W1BIC Scott) upgraded to General (5/18/2004), I became aware of the Firebird Amateur Radio Club, founded by GM employees at the Milford Proving Grounds in 1966.  I joined and was assigned member # 2259

In the spring of 2004  we added a 2 meter repeater, and our Monday night nets on the repeater began to attract GM folks from around the world (via EchoLink), including Dave- VK5MRD from GM Holden in Australia.

2005

President – N8YIO-Jeff Menig

Vice President – N8CY-Bobby Corr

Treasurer – N8RUH-T.J.Iley (Current Treasurer)

Secretary – W8RIT – Dave Edenfeild

Board – N8DMW-Jim Odam

Board – N8OZ-Joe Kennedy

2006

President Scott Bicknell

Vice President Joe N8OZ

KC8TLB Stefanie M Tranchida was club secretary at age 17

T.J. N8RUH- Treasurer.

April 3, 2006 ARRL Designates GM Amateur Radio as a Special Service Club

The May 16, 2006 membership meeting was held at the GM Renaissance Center and included a tour of the OnStar Command Center.

2007

President – Ingo Lassrich (GM Opel Executive Engineer) DL5AL (US Call AC8AW)

Vice President – Kurt WU8V

Secretary – Bobby N8CY

Treasurer – Joel KC8DQH

Directors-at-Large – Mike N5WCS, Hugh KE6YRC, Rich KC8HMJ, Mark KC8WPS, Brad N8VI, Jeff N8XN

2008

The following members were nominated for the offices indicated at the Nov-07 Club meeting :
President – Ingo DL5AL
Vice President – Kurt WU8V & Bob KZ8N
Treasurer – Joel WU8Y
Secretary – Bobby N8CY Board Members (2) – Jeff N8XN & Bill W8WRB

N8CY joined the club and began to contribute as the club’s secretary and he established the website GMARC.org. Bobby is the club’s longest officer has been the one constant that has held the club together since he joined. Countless hours selling raffle tickets.

Nancy E. Polis,Corporate Secretary, named Honorary Member.

2009

President Bob KZ8N

Vice President Kurt WU8V

Secretary Bobby N8CY

Treasurer Scott W1BIC

Directors-at-Large Wes KD8DHS,Mike N5WCS,Dave W8RIT

Dave W8RIT was the editor of the club’s Newsletter “The Transmission Line from xxx to xxx.

April 2009 The 2m repeater is back on the air at Jeff N8XN’s house. We have preliminary coordinator with MiARC.

2010

President Kurt Broman WU8V

Vice President Rich Line KC8HMJ

Secretary Ed Beckerich KC8SBV

Treasurer Scott Bicknell W1BIC

Directors-at-Large Don Ledwith K7SDF, Bob Layher KA8VSI, Ben Loveless WB9FJO

President Kurt Broman WU8V lead the club from 2010 to 2014 and singlehandedly ran the Monday night net for many years.

2011

President Kurt WU8V

Vice President Ben WB9FJO

Secretary Bobby N8CY

Treasurer Ed KC8SBV

Directors-a- Large Bob KA8VSI and Richard KC8HMJ

2/15/2011 A very special presentation was made to Scott W1BIC making him the first Life Member of GMARC. A certificate
– signed by all Officer and Directors of GMARC — was presented to Scot by Kurt WU8V. The certificate reads:
This Certificate of Appreciation is awarded this 15th Day of February, 2011 in recognition of your
outstanding work, tireless dedication, and countless contributions as a founding member and Past-
President of the General Motors Amateur Radio Club

2012

Officers????

I was saddened when the Firebird club dissolved in 2011??.

Sometime in 2012 W9PMA began connecting his EchoLink node to the WW8GM node during our Monday night Net and this caused us to rekindle the idea of getting all of the GM amateurs together in one group and on on 1/15/2013 the membership unanimously approved the bylaw change to include former Firebird members as Heritage members.

The Firebird Amateur Radio Club was founded in 1966. Its members were employees and retirees of General Motors Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries. At its peak, membership was in excess of 325 members who had a variety of talents, and who had a variety of work assignments within General Motors operations worldwide.

2013

President Kurt WU8V

Vice President Marty KB8JIU

Secretary Bobby N8CY

Treasurer Ed KC8SBV

Director-at-Large Ben WB9FJO, Rich KC8HMJ

Ray W8PIE is appointed Repeater Trustee and heads the Technical Committee

2014

2015

President Marty KB8JIU

Vice President

Secretary Bobby N8CY

Treasurer Ed KC8SBV

Director-at-Large Ben WB9FJO, Rich KC8HMJ

2016

President Marty KB8JIU

Vice President Tony

Secretary Bobby N8CY

Treasurer Ed KC8SBV

Director-at-Large Ben WB9FJO, Rich KC8HMJ

At the March 2016 meeting W8MJC “Magic” Mike Carelli joined the club and his positive influence immediately began to improve the operation of the club’s repeaters and in December of 2016 he was elected Club Vice President.

October 2016 ?Prem along with xxx & yyy Transition the EchoLink to a Raspberry Pi

2016 but when? Frank Sonye W8FKZ took over as webmaster in 2016 and converted the site to WordPress

2016 June meeting couldn’t be held at the church so we started having a lark in the park in Auburn Hills

2017

President Tony

Vice President Mike W8MJC

Secretary Bobby N8CY

Treasurer Don K7SDF

Director-at-Large ?????

Repeater Trustee Ron

September 19, 2017 Meeting at the Packard Proving Ground

2017 September Yasau DRX-2 arrives

October 14,2017 new 2 Meter Antenna Raised on the Ren Center

Ray KC8LDN
Steve KB8GFF
Gordon future Ham SWL
Bobby N8CY
Mike W8MJC
Ron WD8MNX
Scott W1BIC

October 29

15 New members Join at USECA Swap

We would like to welcome the following NEW members to our club:

Mark G.
Steve WA8YHP
Larry W8NIC
Nick N8GIR
Mike K8DET
Suzann KE8DGS
Jim KF6GRI
Mark AC8LT
John N8FYL
John AC9ZW
Jyl KE8HOO
Garry W8GMD
Kimberly KE8HOP
David N8WY
Brenda KD8SGB

10/17/2017 First Meeting Facebook Live (Streaming)

11/9/2017 Echolink Upgraded THANKS TO PREM, AC8QV. And thanks to WD8EEP (Dough McLain) who donated the new Raspberry Pi3 to the club.

Marty KB8JIU & Scott W1BIC worked to build a Raspberry Pi 3 to add streaming of the 440 machine on Broadcastify.com Feed goes live on 017-12-11 08:44:19

 

2018

February 2018 – AllStar Link Added to 440 machine