Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Association

HISTORY OF THE CLUB

In the early twenties, 1922 or 1923, a group of radio amateurs banded together and founded the Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Club. In those days, very little technical knowledge was available so the amateurs gathered principally to exchange ideas and opinions concerning amateur radio. About the middle of 1931, another group formed the Beaver Falls Radio Club. Although no actual records were kept, tradition tells us that the same pioneer spirit prevailed. Both clubs progressed until December of 1941 when the Federal Govenment prohibited amateur radio operation for the duration of World War II.

In 1947 when amateur radio activities were resumed, these two clubs joined together to form what today is the Beaver Valley Amateur Radio Association. Again we see amateur radio progressing and keeping pace with other arts and sciences, since amateur radio is considered a hobby yet from its beginning to the present, its ranks have contributed to the “war effort” by way of communications engineering and electronics.

In 1954, the organization was Incorporated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a non-profit scientific association.

On June 5, 1954, the club was issued the callsign W3SGJ in memory of former BVARA member Thomas W. Roney.

On October 3, 1982, the organization placed a 2 meter repeater on the air followed by a 440 repeater that was placed in operation in October 2000.

In December of 2007, the club was presented with a special charter from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national non-profit organization for radio amateurs, for being an affiliate of the organization for 75 continuous years.