Dial has been an American Radio Relay League (ARRL) affiliated club since 1941. Dial was originally called “Dial Twisters”.
The following are some of our past events going back to 1941.
Field Day and Family Picnic – June 2025
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day and we had our yearly family picnic at Smith Park, Middletown, OH.
The goal is to contact as many other stations as possible under abnormal situations for 24 hours.
We had a total of 134 GOTA (W8BLV) and 963 K8PI contacts on the 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, & 2 meter bands using SSB, CW, FT4, and FT8 modes in Field Day Class 3A.
It was very hot until it rained at the end of Field Day on Sunday. We started shutting down and packing early, but we still got soaked.
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Dayton Hamvention – May 2025
Dial continues its long presence at the Hamvention, Greene County Fairgrounds, OH.
It was a fun time with another record breaking attendance of 36,814. Weather was nice.
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Ohio QSO Party – August 2024
Dial competed in the 2024 Ohio QSO Party at the home of Dave (N8YFQ).
We had 350 contacts, 57 Ohio counties, 37 states, 3 Canadian provinces, and 4 DX contacts to Italy, Germany, Romania. We operated from noon until 10PM with two Elecraft K3 radios on SSB & CW to five antennas (75 meter Double Bazooka, 20 meter Endfedz, 20/15/10 meter Rotatable Dipole, 80-10 meter Carolina Windom, and 40 meter dipole). We enjoyed pizza, snacks, and beverages.
Field Day and Family Picnic – June 2024
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day and we had our yearly family picnic at Smith Park, Middletown, OH.
The goal is to contact as many other stations as possible under abnormal situations for 24 hours.
We had a total of 99 GOTA (W8BLV) and 1,400 K8PI contacts on the 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, & 2 meter bands using SSB, CW, FT4, and FT8 modes in Field Day Class 3A.
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Dayton Hamvention – May 2024
Dial continues its long presence at the Hamvention, Greene County Fairgrounds, OH.
It was a fun time with another record breaking attendance of 35,877. Friday was a little chilly and wet.
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Winter Field Day – January 2024
Dial competed in the 2024 Winter Field Day with the Butler County Amateur Radio Association at the Fairfield Township Building for 7 of the 24 competition hours. Started at 2:00PM we made 123 contacts with one SSB station and one SSB/CW station. We had to take down our antennas in a heavy cold rain.
Ohio QSO Party – August 2023
Dial competed in the 2023 Ohio QSO Party at the home of Dave (KD8W). Photos provided by Steve (KD8CPV).
We had 515 contacts, with a score of 118,690 points.
Field Day and Family Picnic – June 2023
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day and we had our yearly family picnic at Smith Park, Middletown, OH.
The goal is to contact as many other stations as possible under abnormal situations for 24 hours.
We had a total of 1,563 contacts with a score of 7,500 points on the 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, & 2 meter bands using SSB, CW, FT4, and FT8 modes.
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Dayton Hamvention – May 2023
Dial continues its long presence at the Hamvention, Greene County Fairgrounds, OH.
It was a fun time and great weather, with record breaking attendance of 33,861.
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Ohio QSO Party – August 2022
Dial competed in the 2022 Ohio QSO Party at the home of Dave (N8YFQ).
We had 377 contacts, 88 Ohio counties, operating from noon until almost midnight with two Elecraft K3 radios on SSB & CW to four antennas. We enjoyed a variety of chip, cookies, and brownies throughout the day and pizza for dinner.
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Field Day and Family Picnic – June 2022
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day and we had our yearly family picnic at Smith Park, Middletown, OH.
The goal is to contact as many other stations as possible under abnormal situations for 24 hours.
We had 1,325 contacts with a score before bonus of 4,896 using SSB, CW, FM, FT4, and FT8 modes.
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Dayton Hamvention – May 2022
Dial continues its long presence at the Hamvention, Greene County Fairgrounds, OH.
This is the 70th Hamvention after it was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID Pandemic.
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Ohio QSO Party – August 2021
Dial competed in the 2021 Ohio QSO Party at the home of Dave (N8YFQ), even though Dave had to leave with the Ohio Task Force One to Louisiana because of Hurricane Ida. Thank you to Dave’s wife (Linda) for having us.
We had 354 contacts, with a score of 75,624 points, using about 45% SSB and 55% CW modes, starting at noon until about 10:00 pm. We stopped to enjoyed some good pizza from Marion’s.
Field Day and Family Picnic – June 2021
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day and we had our yearly family picnic at Smith Park, Middletown, OH.
The goal is to contact as many other stations as possible under abnormal situations for 24 hours. We had 1,501 contacts with a score of 2,505 points using SSB, CW, and FT8 modes.
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Ohio QSO Party – August 2020
Dial Radio Club participated in the Ohio QSO Party at our own homes instead of at a single members home because of the COVID Pandemic.
We had 10 Dial members that contributed points toward our club total.
Field Day – June 2020
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day at our homes instead of Smith Park because of the COVID Pandemic. Utilizing the ARRL special rules, we used our own individual call signs, submitted our contacts as independent scores, indicating our club name so our scores were added together for our club total.
We had 20 Dial members give us a club total score of 22,489 points in the D and E classes. In comparison, last year Dial had 7,112 points in the 3A class.
Two Articles From The Middletown News-Journal
Operating From Our Homes Photos
Ohio QSO Party – August 2019
Dial competed in the 2019 Ohio QSO Party at the home of Dave (KD8W).
We had 616 contacts, finishing 5th place in the multi-operator category, starting at noon with three stations, six antennas that were operated on SSB and CW. We stopped to enjoyed some good pizza.
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Field Day and Family Picnic – June 2019
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day and we had our yearly family picnic at Smith Park, Middletown, OH.
The goal is to contact as many other stations as possible under abnormal situations for 24 hours. We scored 7112 points, placed third in Ohio, third in the Great Lakes Division, and 23rd in the US.
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Dayton Hamvention – May 2019
Dial continues its long presence at the Hamvention, Greene County Fairgrounds, OH.
We are easily distinguished by the yellow Dial flag on the mast that supports our portable repeater. We have a trailer for temporary storage of purchases, display tables for members to sell radio related items, and a canopy for shelter. We also provide water, soft drinks, snacks to members, and some chairs for relaxation.
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Ohio QSO Party – August 2018
Dial competed in the 2018 Ohio QSO Party at the home of Dave (N8YFQ).
We finished 2nd place in the multi-operator category, starting at noon, with three stations that were operated on SSB and CW. We took about an hour break to enjoy pizza.
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Field Day and Family Picnic – June 2018
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day and we had our yearly family picnic at Smith Park, Middletown, OH.
We finished 2nd place in Ohio and 18th place in the country in class 3A.
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Ohio QSO Party – August 2017
Dial competed in the 2017 Ohio QSO Party at the home of Dave (KD8W). Three stations were operated with SSB and CW starting at noon until 23:50, except for taking about a 1.5 hour break for pizza. We did very well making 540 contacts with a score of 138,138. We used a ladder for one of our temporary antennas show in the first photo.
Field Day and Family Picnic – June 2017
Dial Radio Club participated in the ARRL Field Day and we had our yearly family picnic at Smith Park, Middletown, OH.
We finished second in Ohio, 3rd in the Great Lakes division (OH, MI, KY), and 24th in the country in our class 3A.
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Dayton Hamvention – May 2017
Dial has a long presence at Hamvention which occurs in mid-May. For many years we have been at Hara Arena Hamvention. In 2017 we continued the tradition at the Greene County Fairgrounds, flea market spaces 8301, 8302, 8303, 8304 near the entrance of the main flea market field.
We also continued the tradition where we are easily distinguished by the yellow Dial flag on the mast that supports our portable repeater. We have a trailer for temporary storage of purchases, display tables for members to sell radio related items, and a canopy for shelter. We also provide water, soft drinks, snacks to members, and some chairs for relaxation.
Dial Amateur Extra Class – March 2017
Instructors
Students
Dial held Amateur classes for decades, until 2020 when the COVID Pandemic occurred.
The Extra Class instructors are Dave (KD8W) and Carl (K8CM).
Dial Competed in the Ohio QSO Party – August 2016
Dial operated outdoors at the home of Dave N8YFQ for the 2016 OH-QSOP. There were 5 operators and 3 spent the entire period at Dave’s place. Two stations were operated, one strictly SSB and the other a SSB/CW mix. Operation ran from noon until about 11:30 pm (official end was at midnight) – except during a thunderstorm with 60 mph winds that hit around 3:00 pm. Dial finish 6th in the Multi-Operator division.
Dial Field Day 12th in the Nation Class 3A – June 2016
In spite of less than spectacular band conditions, Dial finished #12 nationally and #2 in Ohio. The OH-KY-IN Club beat us by about 200 points. Setup went well, and computer/station/antenna problems were few. We had a good turn out, and a few dedicated operators put in long times in the chairs while ‘running a frequency’. As usual the CW guys made a lot of contacts. The two SSB stations had good luck in sputs. Six meters was poor for almost the entire contest.
75th Anniversary Meeting – April 18, 2016
Dial Story by Carl K8CM – 2016
Read the Dial Story by Carl K8CM
Dial Radio Club Photo Archive – 1960-2016
Ohio QSO Party – August 22, 2015
Dial competed in the 2015 Ohio QSO Party. We operated two stations with one station full time SSB voice and the other was SSB voice/CW operation. We placed 5th in Ohio and 1st in Butler County.
Dial Field Day First in Ohio Class 3A – June 2015
In spite of some pretty severe weather during setup on Friday (trees were downed, roads were blocked and power was off to areas surrounding our Field Day site at Smith Park, Middletown, OH), we were able to set up our stations and operate for the full period.
We tried networking our logging computers using N1MM’s program and wireless networking. Bad traps in our 20-10 m beam caused lots of RF on the feedline which interfered with the networking. We had to stop in the middle of operating and string up wire antennas for 20 and 15 meters.
Several members of Dial put in very long times operating and having good runs. Chris, W8OOO (now WM8MM) operated much of the period with long runs on 40m SSB and racked up the contacts. The CW guys (K8CI, KD8W, N8AA, N8HP, W8EH, W8LR) had a very good performance as usual. Mark, WD8NKJ, stopped by around Sunday noon and had a nice run of about 30 contacts on 6 m SSB.
Dayton Hamvention – May 2015
Dial has a long presence at Hamvention which occurs in mid-May. For many years we have been located at site 3201 at Hara Arena. We are also easily distinguished by the yellow ‘Dial’ flag on the mast that supports our portable repeater. We have a trailer for temporary storage of purchases, display tables for members to sell radio related items and a canopy to keep the sun off – sometimes it is not too good with the rain. We also provide water, soft drinks and snacks to members, and the lawn chairs sure are a relief for tired feet.
In 2015, our repeater antenna ‘caught’ a flying pop-up canopy. The canopy became airborne during a thunderstorm that occurred after Hamvention had closed for the day.
International Pi-Day – March 14, 2015
Dial’s contest call is K8PI, so it was only natural to operate K8PI as a group activity on International Pi-Day (03/14/15). W8EH offered his home as a site and quite a few Club members came by to participate. We made a special QSL card that was requested by about 150 of the people that we contacted.
Ohio Packet Radio Association – January 1987
Sponsored jointly by Miami University Department of Engineering, Dial Radio Club, and the Ohio Packet Radio Association (OPAC) to introduce all interested parties in Amateur Packet Radio, AX.25 protocol. This is the first OPAC forum not held in Columbus. It will later be called the Southwest Ohio Digital. Symposium.
Miamisburg Train Derailment – July 1986
On Tuesday July 8, 1986, a train derailed on the west side tracks of Miamisburg, Ohio. Among one of the derailed cars was a tanker car containing 12,000 gallons of toxic, white phosphorus. The tanker car was dragged close to a full mile, coming to rest south of the Bear Creek bridge and in the process was punctured. As the white phosphorus vapor and oxygen in the air met, it ignited spontaneously, which sent white phosphorus clouds rising up to 15,000 feet into the air over the city. A second and larger flare-up on Wednesday evening of the tanker car caused the Miamisburg Police Department to request much more help. Saturday, July 12th, the fire finally subsided. Many amateur radio operators including Dial members assisted with communications. Dial received a recongnition of meritorious service from the president of the ARRL, Larry W4RA.
Ohio Bell Communications Down – May 1985
Ohio Bell communications went down in Middletown and surrounding communities because of a heavy rain leaking through the roof into the switching circuits. Promptly Deputy Chief of Police Ernest Howard Sr. WD8DEZ notified the Dial Radio Club of Middletown, of which he is a member and particularly Ernie Howard Jr. AGSY who is the local club 2 meter repeater trustee and also a City electronics technician rounded up as many local Hams as he could by means of the repeater and otherwise and then dispatched them to all critical locations in the city where emergency communications would be most likely needed. Operators were also sent to outlying locations such as much frequented stores and other locations where people could get a call relayed to the police, fire, hospital or other emergency services. The word rapidly spread through the area partly by police cruisers on their paging amplifiers and by the local media and adjacent city media both Dayton and Cincinnati. During this telephone blackout a radio call resulted in dispatching a doctor and three nurses to Middletown Regional Hospital to perform an emergency appendectomy and also by using a radio patch between Middletown and Camden operators were able to contact a Middletown doctor whose patient in Gratis, a small community nearby, needed assistance. Dayton Amateur Radio Association sent their communications van to be stationed at the hospital and a mobile unit was sent to Dayton Kettering Hospital to stand by. Hams from Dayton, Germantown, Camden, Hamilton, Cincinnati responded to the call. Fire fighters and Emergency Squad operators stood by at their respective stations in case of need. Vice President Ernest Howard Jr. stationed himself at the Middletown Police Department and conducted the net on 146.01/146.61 mhz repeater for a total of nearly 10 hours until the telephone crews, by every
means they had at their disposal including hair dryers, repaired the equipment and slowly returned the service at about midnight. The Ohio Bell spokesman for Middletown is Robert Watts, who informed Tom Koerber KBGCV, stationed at the telephone building, of the progress to be reported to the net.
Dial History Summarized – 1930s-1970s
Read about the 1930s – 1970s Dial History
Field Day – 1957
The club younger members set up 3 stations for field day. The location was off St. Rte 42 about 2 miles south of Lebanon at an abandoned farm. Jim Mulford, John Davis, Bob Zuehlke, Charles Bunnell, Gerald Dakin, Jim Frey and one or two others participated.
Club Meeting Location – Mid 1950’s
During the middle 1950’s the club was meeting at the fire station in Monroe, OH. They had a club station set up in the back corner of the fire station.
Camp Hook – 1951
Several members of the club came out to Camp Hook for a Boy Scout weekend campout during the summer of 1951. They set up a station to demonstrate amateur radio.
Field Day – June 1951
Dial Radio Club’s first full-scale participation in the ARRL Field Day took place on the farm of Les C. Currier, located on a Marshal Road with Clifton Whitehead as the chairman.
Mobile Communications – 1951
There were 30 active amateur radio operators in Middletown and a total of 100 in Butler and Warren counties. The club was paying a lot of attention to Civil Defense communications. The City Commission had given the club obsolete police equipment that was to be used to establish a mobile communication unit. At the same time, there already were 11 radio amateurs in the city operating mobile radios in their automobiles.
Veterans of. Foreign Wars – April 1947
Dial Radio Club had 18 active members and was under the sponsorship of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The officers of the club included Earl Shea (president), “Squire” Collier (vice president), and Russell “Rusty” Johnson (secretary & treasurer). Other members were Cliff Whitehead, Don Imhoff, John Hunt, Les Currier, Bob Bookwalter, Gail Humston, Larry Beckwith, Rob Johnson, Bill McGohon, Bob Marshall, Don Conrad, Bill Yarber, Dell Averdick, Elmer Thomas, and Chuck Taylor.
W8ROT – April, 1944
Dial Radio Club had their own club radio transmitter with the call sign W8ROT. The transmitter was moved to the headquarters of the Queen City Radio Club which the Dial Radio Club was connected.
Field Day – June, 1941
ARRL Field Day was the first Dial Radio Club activity. Five members set up equipment at the old Hetzler School, southwest of Germantown, OH. Power was provided by a truck-mounted motor generator set which was provided by Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company. Some of the members participating were Joe Moeschl, T.R. Wayne, Coleman Copper, Sam Murray, and C.M. Cox.
ARRL Affiliated – May 9, 1941
Dial Radio Club became affiliated with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Charles Whitehead was the first club president.