The Murgas Amateur Radio Club is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a special event that includes the University of Scranton, Kings College, and amateur radio station W3USR. The station is part of the University of Scranton Physics and Engineering Department, a university student club, and a flagship station for the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) project.

The event, organized in partnership with the Slovak Heritage Society of Northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA) and the Luzerne County Historical Society, celebrates the November 1905 public unveiling of the Father Murgas tone method, a wireless communication system capable of transmitting voice and sound over long distances and the forerunner of the continuous tone-coded squelch system (CTCSS) and digital-coded squelch (DCS). It was developed and patented by Father Joseph Murgas (PDF). The test included a series of messages exchanged between Father Murgas; then Wilkes-Barre Mayor Frederick C. Kirkendall; then Scranton Mayor Alex T. Connell; and Rev. Michael John Hoban, a former bishop of the Diocese of Scranton.

All of the activity begins at 1:00 PM EST Saturday, November 15. Wilkes-Barre Mayor George C. Brown and Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti will recreate that transmission with King’s College president Rev. Thomas P. Looney and The University of Scranton president Rev. Joseph G. Marina. After the tone method demonstration, W3USR will be on the air for ARRL November Sweepstakes SSB. 

All of the events are open to the public. The Murgas Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Affiliated Club.