Updated 2017-10-12

History and Early Days of the PNW VHF Society

Prior to 1977

A group of VHFers met at a restaurant in Kent, Washington, on Sunday mornings. Regulars included WA7BKZ, W7FU (SK), K7DPY, W7FN, W7MCU-SK, K7ND, N7NW, K7KOT, K7WTG, N7ML, W7VHX-SK, K7CAI, WA7KYZ -SK, K7HR and WA7NAN. This group later met at Coco s in Overlake on Sunday mornings, but concentrated mainly on FM, Packet & computers.

There was also a group called the Northwest Mountain Toppers that went out for most contests. This group included W7YOZ, K7KOT, K7WTG, N7NW, K7ND and WA7NAN. In 1980, they operated the June VHF contest from Anderson Mountain. In June 1981, they contested from N7NW's house in Federal Way and again went back to Anderson Mountain in 1982 with K7ND, N7NW, W7YOZ, K7WTG, & KC7NJ (Now K2ZU).

1983

The group went to Anderson Mountain with N7NW, K7ND, W7RNB (was NU7Z and WB7DTI), KK7B, NF7X and W7YOZ. In the mid 80's K7ND, W7RNB, NF7X , N7NW and others also did the June contest at Green Mt. and then later at Mt. Crag with a variety of participants through the mid 90's.

Similarly, there had been VHF+ activity going on in the Boise area since at least 1980.The primary interest there was the same: sparking interest in weak signal operations.

WM7A and WA7GSK worked almost every Saturday with others joining from time-to-time. The spin-off of the Boise activity was increased activity with KJ7F, KF7CQ and K7TM becoming members of the society soon after it was formed. Thus, it wasn't just the Seattle and Portland groups that were encouraging activity during this period.

June 28, 1992

WB7DTI (who became NU7Z and then W7RNB) organized a breakfast meeting at the "House of Pies" in Mt. Vernon, Washington. Twenty three hams from Washington and British Columbia participated. This was the beginning of a regular yearly gathering that the next year became the annual VHF Conference. Among those attending were:
NU7Z, W7VHX, W7HDD, KD7TS, K7ND, WA7LNQ, W7VHX and others.

1992 (Summer)

N7AU hosted a meeting in Moses Lake, Washington. Six hams attended.

July 25, 1992

W7YOZ hosted a BBQ at his home on Finn Hill. Those attending were K7TM, W7ZRC, W7RNB (previously NU7Z), WM7A (previously WA7LNQ) (now K7NQ), K7ND, KC7NJ, N7MWV, W7HDD and K7XX.

April 17, 1993

A VHF conference was held at Oregon City, Oregon, with informal gatherings on Friday, April 16, at the homes of KE7CX/SK and W7ZRS/SK. This was the first conference that was actually called the Pacific Northwest VHF Conference. It was decided at that time to rotate the annual gathering on an every-third-year basis between the greater Portland area, greater Seattle area and Bend, Oregon.

April 9, 1994

The second annual VHF conference was held at the Best Western Tacoma Inn on Hosmer Street, in Tacoma, Washington.

1995

The third annual VHF conference was held in Bend, Oregon.

August 19, 1995 - W7YOZ held another BBQ at his Finn Hill home. N7MWV, W7FI, KD0GT, KG7UK, KD7TS, AA7VT and WA7OEU (now W7BA) attended.

September 23, 1996

The fourth annual VHF conference at was held at Oregon, City, Oregon. K7HSJ coordinated.

October 31 1997

The fifth annual VHF conference was held at the Fife Community Center, near Tacoma, Washington. A breakfast was held at the Poodle Dog Restaurant the following morning.

October 26, 1998

The sixth annual VHF Conference was held at Bend, Oregon.K7HSJ again coordinated.

1999

No conference was held.

July 7, 2000

KF7CN establishes the NWWSVHF reflector which became official email reflector of the society after its formation in 2001.

September 22-23, 2000

The Seventh Annual VHF conference was held at the Village Inn in St. Helens, Oregon. This meeting was coordinated by Jim K7ND.

Summer 2001

W7DHC and N7CFO officially formed the Pacific Northwest VHF Society and were the first two members. They wrote a constitution and bylaws, and applied for state non-profit organization status in Washington. N7CFO was elected interim president and W7DHC became interim Secretary-Treasurer by a coin toss.

September 22, 2001

The 8th Annual VHF Conference was held at the Best Western Tacoma Inn on Hosmer Street, in south Tacoma, Washington with 49 in attendance.

This meeting was coordinated by W7DHC and N7CFO. A formal announcement of the formation of the society was announced and charter membership applications were accepted.

October 14, 2001

KF7CN established the society web page.

October 25, 2001

The initial PNWVHFS board members were appointed by the president. The following members were appointed: Don Krug (K7HSJ), Oregon; Ralph Parker (VE7XF), British Columbia; Bob Lee (N7AU), Eastern Washington; Eric Olson (N7EPD), Western Washington; and Bob Hallock (K7TM), Idaho.

October 31, 2001

The charter membership period closed with 103 members.

November 11, 2001

The first Downeast Microwave group purchase is organized by W7RNB (was NU7Z).

December 14, 2001

Non profit status granted by the state of Washington.

September 27-28, 2002

The 9th Annual VHF Conference was held in Bend, Oregon with 51 in attendance.

This conference was once again coordinated by K7HSJ. Rick Beatty W7RNB (previously NU7Z) was awarded the first PNWVHFS VHFer of the Year award. This was the first year the society gave out parallel operating awards. The awards program was coordinated by N7EPD.

September 30, 2002

Society web page format updated to a new format by Webmaster KF7CN.

September 2002 - Balloting results for 2003 society officers and board members:
President: Lynn Burlingame (N7CFO); Secretary-Treasurer: Jim Aguirre (W7DHC); Director, British Columbia: Ralph Parker (VE7XF); Director, Eastern Washington: Bob Lee (N7AU); Director, Idaho: Bob Hallock (K7TM); Director, Oregon: Art Moe (KB7WW); and Director, Western Washington: Eric Olson (N7EPD).

The board elected N7EPD as Chairman.Since this was the first election of directors, a drawing was held to determine the length of terms to be served, with two directors receiving one-year terms and three directors receiving two-year terms. In the future, all director terms will be two years.In the drawing, VE7XF and N7AU received one-year terms; K7TM, N7EPD and KB7WW received two-year terms.

September 2002

First PNWVHFS club contest entry: September 2002 VHF Contest (we finished 8th out of 16 in the Medium Club competition with 232,894 points from 14 logs submitted).

September 18, 2002

Webmaster KF7CN registered the domain name pnwvhfs.org.

December 31, 2002

First annual PNWVHFS VHF/UHF Straight Key Night activity.

June 16, 2003

The 200th member was recorded!

September 25-28, 2003

The tenth annual conference was held at the Holiday Inn in Everett, Washington, in conjunction with Microwave Update. Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO, was named as VHFer of the Year.

June 6, 2004

250th member recorded.

August 2004

Balloting results for 2004 society officers and board members:
President:Lynn Burlingame (N7CFO); Secretary-Treasurer: Jim Aguirre (W7DHC); Director, British Columbia: Ralph Parker (VE7XF); Director, Eastern Washington: Bob Lee (N7AU); Director, Idaho: Bob Hallock (K7TM); Director, Oregon: Jim Garver (K7YO); and Director, Western Washington: Eric Olson (N7EPD).

October 2, 2004

The 11th Annual VHF Conference was held at the Hallmark Inn at Moses Lake, Washington, with 71 in attendance.

Dennis Motzenbacher (K7BV)was the keynote speaker. Mike Pinault (W7GHZ) received the VHFer of the Year award. For the first time,conference proceedings were issued.

Icom was a major sponsor of this conference and donated six radios as door prizes. A pizza dinner was held on Friday night at Chico's Pizza and members ate at the China Buffet on Saturday night. By the end of the conference, we had a total of 269 members.

October 11 2004

Webmaster KF7CN migrated the society web page from QSL.NET to domaindirect.com.

July 26, 2005

The society voted to adopt a new constitution and bylaws. The changes were necessary to update these documents and provide for a workable quorum.This vote also established the Vice President position and provided for e-mail balloting in elections.

September 5, 2005

The annual election was held. Results were:
President: Lynn Burlingame (N7CFO); Kevin Imel (KF7CN) Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer: Jim Aguirre (W7DHC). Gabor Horvath (VE7DXG) replaced Ralph Parker (VE7XF) as the British Columbia board member. Bob Lee (N7AU) was re-elected as the Eastern Washington board member.

September, 12, 2005

The 300th member joins the PNWVHFS!

September 29, 2005

The NWWSVHF reflector becomes PNWVHFS reflector and moves from QTH.net to Google Groups.

September 30-October 2, 2005

The twelfth annual conference was held at the Shilo Inn in Seaside, Oregon with 68 in attendance.

Gene Zimmerman (W3ZZ) of the ARRL was the keynote speaker.

The Friday night dinner was held at the Pizza Harbor. Kevin Imel(KF7CN) received the VHFer Of the Year award in absentia. W7FK won the grand prize at the door prize drawing an Icom IC-910 and PS-125 power supply. The Saturday night dinner was held in the Shilo Dining room.

September 11, 2006

The annual election was held. Results were:
President: Lynn Burlingame (N7CFO); Kevin Imel (KF7CN) Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer: Jim Aguirre (W7DHC). Scott Honaker (N7SS) replaced outgoing Western Washington board member. Bob Hallock (K7TM) and Jim Garver (K7YO) were re-elected as board members for Idaho and Oregon respectively.

September 29-October 1, 2006

The 13th Annual VHF Conference was held at the Hampton Inn in Bellingham, Washington, with 71 in attendance.

ARRL Northwestern Division Director Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF, was the keynote speaker. The Friday night dinner was held at Izzy's Pizza Bar and Classic Buffet Restaurant in Bellingham. Jim Aguirre, W7DHC, received the VHFer of the Year award.

Icom America once again was a prime sponsor of the conference, donating an IC-910H VHF/UHF multimode transceiver for the grand prize in the drawing and funding the production of the Proceedings CD-Rom.

The grand prize was won by Catherine Straight, KG6HXI, of Sacramento, California. The Saturday night dinner was held at Mykonos Greek Restaurant across the street from the hotel.

September 28-30, 2007

The 14th Annual VHF Conference was held at the Shilo Inn in Bend, Oregon.

October 3- 5, 2008

The 15th Annual VHF Conference was held at the Best Western Lake Front Hotel and Conference Center in Moses Lake, Washington.

2009

The 16th Annual VHF Conference was held at the Shilo Inn in Seaside, Oregon.

October 1st to 3rd, 2010

The 17th Annual VHF Conference was held at the Embassy Suites in Tukwila, WA.

October 8, 2011

The 18th Annual Conference was held at the River House in Bend, Oregon.

2012

No Conference.

October 12-13, 2013

The 19th Annual Conference was held at the Best Western Lake Front Hotel in Moses Lake, Washington. The current roster has 484 members.

October 11-12, 2014

The 20th Annual Conference was held at Shilo Inn Suites Hotel in Seaside, Oregon.

The current roster has 521 members.

October 10-11, 2015

The 21st Annual Conference was held at the Best Western in Issaquah, Washington with attendance of 69. Friday pizza feed was held at Round Table Pizza, and Saturday dinner was on-your-own.

Jerry K0JJ was awarded the VHFer of the Year. A new PNWVHFS Microwave Challenge was announced by Etienne K7ATN and Darryl WW7D. The current roster has 553 members.

October 8-9, 2016

The 22nd Annual Conference took place in Bend, Oregon, at the Shilo Inn with attendance of 62.

Robert Householder K7JBU was awarded the 2016 VHFer of the Year. The current roster has 599 members including 38 silent keys.

October 13-14, 2017

The 23rd Annual Conference took place in Moses Lake, Washington, at the Best Western Lake Front Hotel with attendance of over 70.

The current roster has 635 members including 39 silent keys.