The American Eagle SSB CBers Club has quite a history. The Æ Club was originally started by four people: Larry (Æ01), Geoff (Æ02), Butch (Æ03), and Jim (Æ911 - later changed to Æ2). The club was formed in the Berkshires (Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts) with an original base QTH of Peru, MA; just northeast of Pittsfield, MA. These four founding members held the very first Æ Club net-night on 37 LSB on February 5, 1992. By the end of the second Æ Club net, on February 12, 1992, the club had twenty members. By the time one year had passed, there were 95 members on the roster.
The original board of directors are responsible for giving Æ Club its initially, very successful start in 1992. Of these four members, Jim, Æ2 was the only member that consistently remained active with the club through 1995. Jim now lives in Michigan, but does visit the Berkshires around the holidays. The other original three were issued separate honorary "0-prefixed" numbers that will not be issued to anyone else.
Many other people were members during this period, however at that time, there was a three-week sign-in rule. This rule stated that anyone missing three consecutive sign-ins was dropped from the roster. That rule was then amended to allow up to a twelve week lapse in sign-ins however, many members simply disappeared, and we continued to lose numbers.
After the second year, Æ Club was about 170 members strong, but the then Æ1 (Larry) lost interest in running the Æ Club net. Also, Geoff & Butch had moved out of the area and were not anywhere to be found on the radio. Jim did his best to run the weekly nets and was the only original founding member still on the radio.
Cori & Bill then came on the scene to help out Jim because of their key location up on Washington mountain, in Washington, Massachusetts. Cori ended-up with the job of running the Æ Club net and eventually became Æ1 (with Larry's consent) and Bill was issued Æ3.
Around late 1994 into 1995, a few Æ Club events were scheduled, members said they were interested but, never showed-up. This was frustrating and resulted in postponing any future Æ Club events.
Eventually, the Æ Club net was stopped all-together in early 1995. There was simply not enough interest, so the Æ Club lay dormant until October of 1996 when the net was restarted at the urging of Æ23, Keith. He began a monthly newsletter called Sporadic Waves in which he featured stories about American Eagle SSB CBers Club. [Please note: Sporadic Waves was not the American Eagle SSB CBers Club's Newsletter. Sporadic Waves was a separate entity that included stories & updates about the Æ Club. It just so happens that the author of Sporadic Waves is one in the same; Æ23, Keith].
Copies of the newsletter were distributed to any Æ Club member that the Æ Club had an address for. This was to get the word out that the net was going to run again; but in a new and exciting way.
Instead of people just mindlessly signing-in, it was agreed that the Æ Club net was to be more of a friendly chat session. True, it may make it difficult for members to sign-in, but we weren't looking for massive amounts of check-ins, we are looking for some good SSB conversation!
On February 9, 1997, the Sunday evening net was begun again, and proved to be successful. 39 people from 3 states signed-in and chatted from 9 to 10:30pm. By October, 1998, the Sunday night Æ Club net averaged around 60 check-ins and we passed the 350 member mark in this same month! Most of this success was due to Æ18, Roger, from Pownal, VT. Roger's excellent radio communications ability and dedication to being on the air every week, helped the Æ Club tremendously. Most all of the VT and later NY members were gained via Roger and we can honestly guesstimate that he was responsible for recruiting 100+ members!
By May of 1999, the Æ Club net was shut down for the summer. But, when the September start-up date came along, things changed due to Æ23, Keith, moving to a new QTH and Æ18, Roger, needed a break from his radios for a while. This meant no more Sunday evening nets, so again, the club slowed pace & lay dormant.
In October, 1999, Æ352, Mike, from Philadelphia, NY (NNE of Watertown, NY, off the East coast of Lake Ontario) Volunteered to start-up a Saturday night Æ Club net and began an aggressive Internet campaign to recruit new members. Mike also began the first Æ Club official web site in the beginning of the year 2000. The Æ Club net ran Saturday nights until 2003 each and typically shut down from May to October.
During the early 2000’s, Æ23, Keith, designed, edited and maintained the Æ Club web site. As of March, 2003, American Eagle SSB CBers Club ceased activity and no longer accepted new members. This was done due to lack of people interested in running the Æ Club.
In July 2006 Eric “Extreme” Goldberg from Auburn, Massachusetts, known as Æ813 decided to try and give Æ Club a new life. In the first 2 days of reopening the Æ Club with some simple internet advertising about 50 new members joined the Æ Club.
That is a brief history of American Eagle SSB CBers Club. What does the future hold? Nobody knows, but you can be sure Æ Club will not be allowed to go dormant again.
Æ - American Eagle SSB CBers Club
