Welcome to the MSU ARC!
The first radio station at Michigan State University was established through the efforts of the Amateur Radio Club in 1919 using the call letters of 8YG – broadcasting weather reports and farm market prices.
In 1925 8YG became WKAR, the public broadcast station of Michigan State University, while a ham radio station was formed using the call letters 8XBU. In 1927 the call 8SH was issued to the amateur radio station. Today the MSU Amateur Radio Club operates W8SH and W8MSU from the campus in East Lansing.
Introducing MSU ARC Radio Tools
Creative and Simple-To-Use Ham Radio Tools by Dong Duong
POTAVis is a tool for visualizing your POTA experience that maps both your activations and your hunted parks, making it easier to keep track of which ones you still need and provides a way to show your accomplishments.
FoxHuntr uses Bayesian statistics to assist with triangulation of an RF signal. Just provide 2 (or more) bearings on the map and the area in green will be the most likely location. Use it to find anything RF, visual or audible.
Find them in the “Radio Tools” menu above.
Contest: Michigan QSO Party 2026!
Spartan ARC members gathered on a rather chilly day in April to participate in the annual Michigan QSO Party, an event in which radio amateurs try to contact all 49 other states, all Canadian provinces, at least one distant contact (DX), and all the Michigan counties. This year, conditions on the usual bands was tough…
Meeting: Building Receivers!
For the latest MSU ARC meeting, the club dusted off a few boxes of the 4SQRP (Four States QRP Group) regenerative receivers to work on putting together. Students learned basic soldering skills, and how to wind a torroid while learning about crystal controlled sets. A few followup sessions will probably be necessary, as winding torroids…
Winter Field Day 2026!
With the morning temperature in Lansing reading a balmy -18 degrees F on Saturday, of course the MSU squad was attempting to fix a satellite antenna for the 30 hour event. While unsuccessful in this repair, but very successful in saving their fingers and toes, this set the stage for the tenacity that amateur radio…
New Hams! School Club Roundup Results!
The MSU ARC would like to send a massive congratulations to the following new hams: Rohan KF8FBHDong AD8QGLeandro KF8FHZ (Also a Brazilian ham!)Jacob KF8FCHWe also don’t want to miss out on a rather late congrats to the following MSU ARC members who’ve had their licenses under 1 year: Suzy KF8DPQAryan KF8ESIMichael KF8DQS Additionally, the ARRL…
Club Meeting: HT Workshop
Monday night was another successful MSU ARC event! The HT workshop began with unboxing the new Quansheng UV-K6 fleet of handheld radios, powering them up into firmware flashing mode, and using the “egzumer 0.22” firmware web-based flasher. From there, everybody downloaded the latest version of Chirp-Next, downloaded the initial configs, then filled in Lansing’s most…
3 Rules Yagi – John W6NBC
With the Yagi build being such a success, I thought it might be prudent to post the inspiration for the so-called “3 Rules Yagi” by John Portune W6NBC. John is an avid ham and brilliant individual who enjoys making antenna projects easier for the non-technical amateur operator. He commonly donates his time to clubs and…