| Born more
of necessity and later as a part of Tamaqua's Emergency
communications and fraternal group.
Following the flood of August 1955, in which only two amateurs are credited for being the only outside communications during and after the flood, W3ZRQ Allen Breiner Sr. and W3VA, Karl Pfeil laid the ground work for organizing a group of local amateur radio operators whose main objective was to have a group trained and ready to provide emergency communications in the event of another devastating flood. In the weeks that followed W3ZRQ (who later became W3TI ) sent post cards to all the local amateurs inviting them to a social gathering at the home of W3CMA Tony Sarli and W3ZXF Bud Sarli.Those in attendance were W3VA, W3OFL, W3QKS, W3AKF, W3CMA, W3RZV, W3PTM, W3TI, now all Silent Keys. W3ZXF and W3ZPW are still living at the time of this writing. Before that evening's social gathering was over, these ten amateurs laid the groundwork for the first Amateur Radio Club in Tamaqua, and Schuylkill County.It was known as the Tamaqua Amateur Radio Club,or TARC. The Tamaqua radio amateurs have always been active on the air and associated with local government as a part of their volunteer emergency radio system known at that time as Civil Defense, now known as EMA Emergency management Agency. In 1958 TARC began to print their first club news bulletin called "NEWS". The name was derived from a new era form of communications known as Single Side Band and the interference it caused to the A.M. modulation mode. News was printed on an A B Dick Mimeograph machine until 1980 and the advent of our modern computers and Xerox duplicators changed all that. In 1957 first class postage was only 3 cents and the bulletin was printed and mailed to each member every month. TARC club dues were one dollar per year. As time went by, the club name was changed to The Tamaqua Side Band Amateur Radio Club or TASBAR. Everyone was gainfully employed and the club prospered. For about 15 years. The annual club dues were dispensed with and secretarial expenses were derived from member donations on a free will basis. At one time the membership was as high as 80 members. In 1995 when U.S. Postage climbed over the 20 cent mark, a new set of By-laws were drawn up and the name changed to Tamaqua Wireless Association and the decision was made to resort back to collecting membership dues. An Amateur Radio operators license is a requisite for membership although TWA has four classes of membership; Regular, Family, Student and Social. Club meetings are the third Thursday of each month. During the winter months, meetings are held at the Tamaqua Borough Hall, and during the warmer summer months, meetings are held at Schroeder's Tree farm 555 Tuscarora Mountain Drive Barnesville. |