This page is dedicated to telling the half-century of club history from 1964 to present.
The Maple Ridge Amateur Club was formed in January of 1964 by Floyd Beardsell (VE7HI), Peter Orobko (VE7BPB now VE7FY), Hiram Doughty (VE7APE), Don Knopp (VE7BLM) and Steve Gold (VE7AJA).
The club was established with Floyd as president and Peter single-handedly filling the three roles of vice-president, secretary and treasurer.
Without an actual meeting place, the first few meetings were held in Floyd’s basement until a regular meeting location could be secured. For the first few years of the club, Floyd and Pete were the only executive, and alternated filling the position of president.
The same year the club was formed, it participated in its first “Field Day”, organized by Floyd. The AARL established Field Day in 1933 to encourage amateur radio operators to practice communication skills under austere conditions that might be needed in the event of an actual emergency. The MRARC’s first Field Day was held in the Western Whonnock/Thornhill area of Maple Ridge, on the south slope of Grant Hill. This first field day was sufficiently enjoyable that together Floyd and Peter organized many more Field Day events in the subsequent twenty years.
On April 29, 1975, the Maple Ridge Amateur Radio Club was incorporated as a Society under the “Societies Act” of British Columbia. This gave the club it’s official status.
Around 1975 Floyd and Dick Harlow (VE7BRH) installed the club’s first two-meter repeater. This VHF repeater allowed local line-of-sight communication throughout the Lower Mainland region. This VHF communication was used by club members with car-mounted radios which far surpassed the abilities of CB Radio which was very commonly in use by all members of the public at the time.
In the late 1970’s the MRARC held its first “HamFest” which was the club’s primary fund raiser. This was organized by Peter, Floyd and club member Dick Harlow (VE7BRH).
Also in the 1970’s, the exact year unknown, the club voted to adopt green and gold as their identifying colours. Peter Orobko’s wife Charlene designed a logo for the club using these colors. The logo consisted of a maple leaf with a lightning bolt emanating from each side, the lightning being symbolic of radio energy. Team-style jackets being fashionable at the time, club members proudly clothed themselves in green jackets bearing the club’s logo and their names/call-signs.
In 1986, MRARC club members manned the radios at a demonstration of amateur radio’s capabilities at Expo86. Club members greeted hundreds of thousands of interested persons from around the world and extolled the benefits of amateur radio.
Stay tuned to this page for more history, coming soon.
