Though many men have contributed to its expansion, the radio club’s genesis is credited to the efforts of two Queens men—John Mulloon and John Komp.

In 1963 Mulloon, a licensed amateur radio operator, was the community affairs officer at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica.

Wishing to start a ham radio club for the borough’s youth to engage in, Mulloon initially proposed that the Police Athletic League (PAL) incorporate the hobby into their program.

Yet, because the activity was not viewed as an athletically oriented pursuit, PAL directors shot down the idea.

Undeterred, Mulloon soon came in contact with John Komp, manager of the Queens Chapter of the American Red Cross—then located on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica—and coincidentally a licensed ham radio operator.

Ironically, around the same time Mulloon was pushing the PAL to start a radio club, Komp too had pitched a similar idea to the Red Cross. His plan called for the creation of a Queens amateur radio club, run in conjunction with the Red Cross of Greater New York in Manhattan.

Komp envisioned that while the organization would serve recreational purposes, the members could also engage in community services and aid communications in times of local emergencies. Red Cross officials were extremely supportive of Komp’s plan.

A short while after Mulloon and Komp met, a constitution for the American Red Cross Emergency Radio Club, Central Queens Chapter was drafted and adopted and 18 members soon joined its ranks.

"What’s the probability of that happening," said George Sau, the current president of the Queens Radio Club, who’s been with the organization for 35 years. "They both had the same idea and they both conversed."

About 15 years ago, leaders of the club began a series of classes teaching ham radio in an attempt to recruit more members and, although their purpose remains the same, the club’s membership has swelled to its current 67 volunteers.

"The members are primarily from Queens, they have their roots in Queens at one time or another," said Sau, who now lives in Long Island, but originally hails from Jamaica.

While hams in the Queens Radio Club primarily classify amateur radio as a hobby, that’s not to say it does not have a serious face.

In the 36 years they have been in existence they have assisted in countless local, national and international emergency efforts when regular communication channels have failed.

Chwat, standing by his ham radio.

"Ham radio is a hobby but it’s not really a hobby because the federal government is giving you a license so that in case of an emergency, they will have a core of people who will be able to help out," said Chwat, a member of the Queens Radio Club since 1984.

According to William Cross of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the public service aspect of ham radio predates the regulation of radio—which began in the early part of the 20th century.

"We provide for the Red Cross an in-house communication infrastructure that they can use in a time of emergency and a time of disaster," said Sau.

The New York City blackout of 1965, the U.S. Air disaster at LaGuardia in 1992 and the World Trade Center Bombing in 1993, are just a few of the events the Queens Radio Club has participated in. They’ve also aided in the communications of numerous agencies during several natural disasters over the years.

During local emergencies, the radio club forms an emergency net, which in turn lends its services to the local authorities—aiding in correspondences in order to maximize the allocation of resources.

Yet the Queens Radio Club has also rendered its services in international crises, most often natural disasters when ravaged countries can only communicate through wireless radio because all other systems have been destroyed.

"On an international level a lot of countries, especially in the Caribbean, don’t enjoy such a protective infrastructure of communications as we do. So when a hurricane hits, everything goes," said the 50-year-old Sau, who works for Bell Atlantic.

"In connection with the Red Cross, we coordinate a lot of the logistics in finding out the well being of individuals down there and more importantly, what kind of resources, supplies and medicine is needed," Sau said.

For instance, during Hurricane Hugo, a Queens ham coordinated an emergency shipment of insulin to a Caribbean island.

"I got into an emergency net with hams in Trinidad and Jamaica during Hurricane Gilbert," said Chwat, referring to the storm that ripped through the island of Jamaica in 1988, knocking out the country’s phone lines.

According to Chwat, during the storm the Jamaican prime minister, on vacation in Trinidad, got in touch with a nearby radio operator.

"The ham in Trinidad tells me, and I almost dropped dead so to speak, ‘I have the prime minister of Jamaica next to me here and we got to have something resolved’," said Chwat, a retired U.S. foreign service officer.

Requesting information regarding when emergency planes would arrive, and with what supplies they would bring, Chwat acted as a link between the prime minister and the United Nations, who were already organizing a relief effort.

The Queens Radio Club also engages in what they refer to as "health and welfare" services, in which they aid locals in their search for loved ones caught in remote disasters. Chwat, who’s partaken in many health and welfare searches, said the job is exhilarating but can also take an emotional toll.

"During a hurricane there was a ham who said he was on the top floor of a hotel and was looking at the sky because the roof just blew off," he said. "He said he’d keep talking as long as he could, which he did. Then he said, and I’ll never forget this, ‘and furthermore as far as I’m concerned’ (silence)."

After the ham was cut off mid-sentence, Chwat deduces that either he was injured or his equipment was destroyed.

For many the term "ham" is associated just as much to amateur radio as it is to pigs or an overacting performer, yet few know how the word came about.

"There’s a number of explanations that have been used," said Bellerose resident and Queens Radio Club ham of 33 years Larry Lutzak. "There are several stories."

Although several stories exist regarding how the word ‘ham’ came to describe one who operates an amateur radio, one of the more widely accepted stories maintains that the word was first applied in the early 1900s.

According to the story Albert Hymen, Bob Almy and Peggie Murray, three members of the Harvard Radio Club, operated one of the first amateur wireless stations that they referred to as Hymen—Almy—Murray.

For the sake of brevity, the three shortened their station’s call letters to, Hy-Al-Mu—in the early and unregulated days of radio, amateur operators picked their own frequencies and call letters, which are now controlled by the FCC.

In 1909 confusion between the signals of Hy-Al-Mu and a Mexican ship named Myalmo, convinced the group to use only the first letter of each name, thus identifying their station as HAM.

With the passing of the Radio Act by Congress, licensing fees and other requirements threatened the existence of many amateur stations. Hymen chose the controversial bill as the topic of his thesis, and sent a copy to Senator David Walsh.

Impressed with Hymen’s work, Walsh invited him to speak before the committee on how the bill affected amateur radio. Hymen’s testimony opened up the debate between commercial and amateur stations, and once the bill reached the congressional floor, speakers often mentioned Hymen’s little station HAM.

Since then the term ham has come to encompass all those participating in amateur radio.

The licensing of all radio operators started with the Radio Act of 1912. "Prior to that it had been a free-for-all," said Cross.

According to Cross, those wishing to be hams must take tests for three levels: technician (beginner), general (intermediate) or extra (advanced). The tests, which vary in difficulty depending on class, cover a range of topics including basic regulations, operating practices and electronics theories.

Depending on rank, a ham is allowed access to certain frequencies—extras are authorized to operate on all frequencies allocated to the amateur service.

Jennifer Hagy, spokeswoman for the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), recommends that anyone wishing to become licensed, contact the ARRL at 1-800-32-NEWHAM. Callers will receive a booklet on amateur radio, a list of clubs in their area and local FCC test sessions.

Once certified, a ham can purchase a radio for as cheap as $250 or as much as $6,000.