CORPORATION OFFICERS
PRESIDENT
BOB SITTERLEY K7POF
VICE PRESIDENT
AL BARBER AA7OV
SECRETARY
PAT MATTHEWS K7PAT
TREASURER
PHILIP HAZLETT WA7UID
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
HARTLEY GARDNER W1OQ Tech
MIKE WILLIAMS KC7QKS
JERRY ROBERTS KB7CN Tech Web
CHUEY MENDOZA WA7JC Tech
TONY BROWN WB6LWI Tech
SONJA HAZLETT WB7 CWW
PEGGY WILLIAMS KD7AWU
LINDA SITTERLEY W7POF
GROUP HISTORIAN
Linda Sitterley
HISTORY
OLIVER GRIEVE W7AFC DIRECTOR / FOUNDER EMERITUS
This Group was founded in early 1974 by about ten Hams who believed a need for good communications existed between Phoenix and the northern central mountains of our great state. With this thought in mind, the push began with members donating gear, money and time (lots of time).
The struggle began with an old Motorola tube type base station that was set up in the home of Oliver Grieve, W7WGW. The first call letters assigned to the machine were WR7ABL, licensed to Gabe Romero K7NOK.
Late in 1974 the call letters WR7AFC were issued to the site and we became known as "Arizona's Finest Channels". Months later, site call signs issued by the Federal Communication Commission were not required. The F. C. C. permitted individual amateur's call signs on each site. The site then became W7WGW/R.
Our repeater was established in the KOOL translator building on Mingus Mountain and not long afterward it was stolen. A year passed before we were able to acquire our own site, and on Fathers Day, 1977, the group installed our first repeater on Mingus Mountain, at a different location than the KOOL building. The building and the tower were homemade and assembled and welded in Phoenix.
In October 1977 the frequency pair of 147.870/147.270 was acquired by the group, and a second machine was installed atop the Financial Center, Central and Osborn in downtown Phoenix. In June of 1985 the frequency was changed to 147.880/147.280 to conform to the Arizona band plan of a 20 KHZ seperation.
In 1979, a UHF repeater operating on 447.150/442.150 MHZ was installed at the Mingus site, ushering the group into the UHF era. Later this repeater, located on Mingus, became a part of the Northlink system.
In 1988 a new building was added to the site on Mingus to house all the equipment owned by MMRG Inc., and the old building is used for the batteries and chargers which operate the systems daily on the mountain. In 2004 the MMRG Inc. celebrated it's 30th year.
FOUNDER AND FORMER PRESIDENTS
Wm. Oliver Grieve, W7AFC, Founder/Emeritus
Ernie Hawran, WA7VWG, Emeritus,
Past President 1976-1994
Bill Lieske, W7GLT, Emeritus,
Technical Committee 1974 - 2003
Vice President, 1994 - 2000
Philip Hazlett, WA7UID
President 1994- 2003
Dwayne Houlihan AE7DH
President 2004-2008