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...looking back: The origin of SARS and W6CO
by N6XN, Society Historian
With this paper we take another look back at the origins of the Silverado Amateur Radio Society and the club call: W6CO. Much of this information was presented at a SARS meeting in 2004.
Disclaimer: In researching this story I found that at least one other club existed in the Napa Valley even before the Six Shooters. There is also some evidence to indicate an earlier radio club in Angwin as well. Since I have no information on those clubs I must confine my paper to SARS, The Silverado Amateur Radio Society.
Because we are fortunate to have copies of early newsletters preserved we are able to definitively place the beginning of SARS in 1962. In order to speed the loading of this page, all photos and slides are presented as thumbnails. To view full size, click on the thumbnail.
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| This announcement came out in January of 1962. Prior to this, the Silverado Six Shooters had been a very active club but in recent years their activity had waned. Vic Olsen, K6BYQ and a small group of active Hams thought they would like to re-energize the club to include all bands. Many of the Six-Shooters became active members of the new SARS | This can be considered the first SARS newsletter. Notice the reference to "the last meeting in February" which was the result of the notice sent out in figure-1. Also note the turnout: 55 people signed the log. Not bad for a Ham population of "60 or so". |
Who were the "Six Shooters"?
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| The Six Shooters, circa 1957. L-R W6CAN,W6YSD, K6EZZ, K6GDG, W6NOP. Joe "Red" Zimmerman,W6NOP went on to become the first Vice President of SARS, then president and was an active member for many years. |
Some of the Six meter gear used by the Silverado Six Shooters. The Gonset Communicator was a very popular rig among Hams in the 50s and 60s |
A Memorial Callsign
At the April 1963 meeting it was moved and seconded that SARS adopt a memorial callsign to honor a deceased member, William Ladley, W6RBQ. who was very well liked and respected and had contributed a great deal of effort in creating one of the first Public Service organizations; The Amateur Radio Emergency Corps. The process to obtain this call had been identified and the Board of Directors agreed to move ahead with the application to the FCC. A letter from Bill's widow was read supporting the application.
In May the SARS Board of Directors sent a letter to the FCC requesting the callsign W6RBQ be issued as a club call. At this point the trail grows cold as the archive contains no subsequent minutes. Perhaps the FCC denied the application because In1965 SARS adopted WB6GUG as the "Official Callsign". I vividly remember this being the call when I joined SARS in 1967. What I remember most is my first Field Day using that call, and several operators using the phonetics "Grandma's Ugly Galoshes".
Vic Olsen, K6BYQ was the first trustee of the SARS club callsign, but resigned (as trustee) prior to October of 1968. Bob Hopton,K6LQK (sk) took over as trustee.
The seal was designed by Society President Joe Zimmerman, W6NOP
...Tossing out the galoshes.
Perhaps it was the jokes about Grandma's galoshes that caused the Board of Directors to search for a better callsign for the Society, but in reality it was all about field day. Everyone recognized the advantages of a short, easy to remember callsign, particularly us "brass pounders".
Henry Ferrero, W6CO 1898 - 1968
Henry passed away at Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo on April 21st of 1968. His obituary appeared in the Napa Register on April 22, 1968. No mention of Henry's Amateur Radio activity was mentioned nor was the fact that his son, Paul was also licensed as WB6GRU. Paul has since passed away.
Although Henry was an active member of SARS and very well thought of by his peers, I can find no record of when he started in Amateur Radio. I had always assumed that he went way back, perhaps to predate the FCC as many other one-by-two licensees had. To my surprise, and to create a mystery not yet resolved, the first appearance of W6CO was in the 1957 call book.(1) In those days, the only way to be assigned a one-by-two call sign was to either pass the Extra class license on your first attempt or to upgrade to Extra class and then request a one-by-two license. In searching the 1948 call book I could find no reference to Henry Ferrero under any call sign. Perhaps I missed it, perhaps he was licensed in some other call area. We may never know.
When Henry passed away. Ron Martin, W6ZF, President of the Board suggested that SARS apply for Henry's callsign to be used as a memorial. Henry's son Paul was contacted and he responded that he would be pleased to support this motion. The paperwork to apply for the callsign was processed and the application was granted by the FCC in August of 1968. The SARS Board of Directors issued the following proclamation at the October 1968 meeting:
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| Bob Hopton, K6LQK (sk) was appointed trustee of the callsign and maintained it until 1970. At that time the trusteeship was passed to Ron Rogers, WA6BIS. |
At the time SARS filed the application, the FCC required a letter from the deceased Amateur's immediate family verifying the death. In recent times the Commission permits the filing Amateur to provide proof of death by submitting a verifiable obituary or death notice from a newspaper. Another change, just announced, in the Commissions Report and Order (R&O) WT-04-140 or the so called "omnibus bill", a licensee is now permitted to designate a particular club as the recipient of his callsign as a memorial. A summary of the complete R&O is available at: ARRL Web: News
(1) Steve Melachrinos W3HF runs an extremely helpful service for those looking for old callsign information. Steve has collected an impressive collection of old Call Books, not complete but close, and will look up information upon request. Contact Steve at: W3HF Call book Archive
Next Month: We'll look back at the early days of the Napa repeaters and the nets.
