In 2002 Francis Barr donated two HAM radio operator cards to the Archives. Such cards are traded between amateur radio operators after communication has been made. The cards show that the operation was owned and operated by W. and K. Singer. Francis' information held that these men were brothers and that they were students at Manchester College. Student records confirm that William Singer and Keith Singer shared the same religious affiliation as well as the same father, Ernest Singer, a teacher and a resident of North Manchester.
William attended Manchester College from 1924-1925, 1925-1926, 1926-1927 and 1927-1928. He majored in Chemistry and Minored in Mathematics, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree 25 May 1928.
Keith was a part-time student during 1924-1925 and 1925-1926 and took classes during the Fall and Winter terms of 1926-1927.
On 19 January 2012 Mr. Barr made another donation, two Amateur Radio Logs that were kept by the young men. Francis had obtained the books from Professor Emeritus Dwight Farringer [Physics, starting in 1958] who had received the records of Dr. Charles Morris [Physics and Mathematics, 1926-1961]. The first Log had been in a state of disrepair and Francis patched it up the best way he could.
These logs suggest that the first known radio communication from the Manchester College campus was through an unlicensed amateur [HAM] radio station privately operated by the Singer brothers in 1927. Their endeavor was entirely different from and unrelated to the first Manchester College radio station [WMIB] built by Dwight Farringer in 1945.
The first Log records communications for Sept. - Dec. 1927, Jan. - May 1928, Sept., Oct. 1928 or 1929 and February 1930.
The second book has only one entry dated 3/2/36. Remarks read: Received sending at 107 E. 4th street. Signals were loud and clear without aerial. No beat(?) with aerial.
The construction of the first Manchester College radio station, WMIB, from Jeanine Wine's interview with Francis Barr, 19 January 2012:
Francis Barr was responsible for "the care and feeding" of the campus radio equipment built by Dwight Farringer. The equipment coupled radio frequency into the electrical system and went all over campus. Capacitors were placed in between the AC lines and the transmitter and this would allow the radio frequency to go into the AC lines, but it would NOT let AC line electricity come back into the radio line. This is called "carrier current."
CODES for Interpreting the Log Books:*
R = R Value: This stands for the Readability of the Signal. There are three elements that compose the R Value:
R: Readability, a value from 0 - 10.
S: Signal Strength, a value from 0 - 9.
T: Tone, a value from 0 - 5.
An R value might be written as 7 - 5, or an value between 7 and 5.
*The Archivist is not a physicist or a HAM operator and these descriptions and figures should be checked before use or publication.
Raw AC = No rectifiers in the transmitter.*
DC = Direct Current
AC = Alternating Current
| 
