ICHMS collaborates with IRARC (Michigan)

The Iron County Historical & Museum Society (ICHMS) will have two new exhibits this summer thanks to a collaboration with the Iron Range Amateur Radio Club (IRARC) and a grant from the Crystal Falls/Dickinson Area Community Foundation. “We couldn’t be any more excited about this collaboration and the exhibits that will come from it”, states museum director Kathlene Long. The club members are in here helping build the exhibits and are bringing their expertise along with their own artifacts to build these exhibits in time for this coming summer season. The Club is building a working ham radio station in the museum. It will be fully functional. Museum visitors will be able to see the exhibit and signs will help visitors understand the importance ham radios – and amateur operators – have played in our county’s, and our country’s history. They will also learn why they continue to be so important. In addition, the Club is recreating a display of a vintage WIKB studio from pieces they have collected over the years. All of this is being paid for, in part, from a $500 grant from the Crystal Falls/Dickinson Area Community Foundation. “All in all, this is a lot of moving parts finally coming together to make this happen.” Long explains.

Club members will be on hand at select times to operate the ham radio, give demonstrations and talk to folks about the radio and its importance in our community. Mike Nies, Club President informs, “We’ll be here during the school visits just like always showing kids how it works and helping them talk to other radio operators all across the country. We get as much of a kick out that as the kids do!” Indeed, every spring, every kid in the county from K – fifth comes to the museum for a field trip and the third-grade kids learn about telegraphy. “We teach them about morse code and let them send messages to folks in other countries and we let them talk on the radio. They even learn to write their own names in morse code. We’ve been doing this at the museum for years now”, Nies continues. It is a great relationship that we have with the museum. We’ve been wanting to build these two exhibits for several years now. Finally, all the right pieces have fallen into place and we’re making it happen.