May 04, 2017 07:45 AM EDT By Anne Collins, UniversityHerald Reporter

Harvard University's Wireless Club, W1AF, has sponsored its first Amateur Radio Symposium last Saturday, April 29 in Cambridge, MA. The symposium featured speakers from Harvard and other universities.

It included appearance from incoming W1AF president Ben Lee, K7JS and outgoing president Douglas Maggs, KK4UHK. The Yale University Amateur Radio Club (W1YU) President Scott Matheson, N3NFP also joined the symposium along with First Vice President James Surprenant, AB1DQ and past president Martin Ewing, AA6E. They talked about the distinguished histories of the two collegiate Amateur Radio clubs.

University of Aveiro's Flavio Jorge, CT7ATQ, also discussed about microwave propagation for space systems during his presentation. One of the guests featured was Paul Horowitz, W1HFA, an Emeritus professor of electrical engineering. Horowitz discussed about the ultimate DX, which is the monitoring the universe in a search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

ARRL reported Matheson and Ewing participated in a round table forum about Youth in Amateur Radio and was later joined via Skype by Martin Atherton, G3ZAY, the master of Cambridge University's G6UW and two of his student colleagues. Vasiljie Perovic, M0HZC, also spoke on ​the topic of Extremely Low Frequency meteor detection, while William Eustace, M0WJE, discussed about the LoRa spread spectrum radio.

The University of Aveiro also had two speakers such as Daniela Marcelino, CR7AQM, and Micael Rebelo, CR7AQL, while Nicolas Weninger, KC1GLI, and Saahil Mehta, KG5HEW, represented Harvard.

ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, was also on board and presented his progress report from League Headquarters. He emphasized the need to welcome new hams into the Amateur Radio community. After the show Gallagher said the Harvard Wireless Club made a strong show with excellent material and a fast-paced program that never bogged down.

It was a full day of accomplished and proficient speakers that enlightened listeners with their topics. The American Radio Relay League announced last fall its Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative that aims to assist college and university ham radio clubs in collaboration and networking.

The community has grown rapidly and membership grew fivefold. ARRL will sponsor another forum at Hamvention on May 20in Xenia, Ohio at 12:30 PM in Room 4.

Click here to watch W1AF Radio Symposium.

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