DL75HIL Bio / Historie English

DL75HIL Bio / Historie English

Hilden is a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated in the District of Mettmann, 10 km (6.21 mi) west of Solingen and 15 km (9.32 mi) east of Düsseldorf. More than 55.000 people are living here (as of December 2020).

About two years after the end of World War II in Germany, new interest groups emerged, who were engaged in Amateur Radio. To operate an HF transmitter was strictly prohibited to private persons in the times of the Nazi regime, as well as under the British occupying forces. After some negotiations with the British administration however, we saw a revival of Amateur Radio, which until then had been organized under the name of DASD (Deutscher Amateur-Sende-Dienst).

Until the year of 1950, a number of regional associations, so-called districts of the DARC (Deutscher Amateur Radio Club), had been formed in Germany. Among these was the Ruhr District, which held its foundation assembly on June 1, 1947. The goals of this assembly were, among others, the specification of a preliminary set of articles of association and the formation of local chapters:

The document above is the invitation to this assembly.

Shortly after this assembly, on July 17, 1947 the Hilden Chapter was founded as a local charter within the Ruhr District. In fact, this foundation took place even before the official rebuilding of the DARC as the umbrella organization of all German radio amateurs, which occurred later in September 1950.

On July 7, 1947, a member (chairman?) named Franz Martellock sent the document below to the municipal administration of Hilden, indicating the foundation of the Hilden Chapter and explaining the goals of this organization of radio amateurs.

Based on this document, the members of the Hilden Chapter are celebrating the 75^th anniversary throughout the year of 2022. The Hilden Chapter, at its best times, had well over 100 members. Nowadays we just count 40 members.

In the course of its history, the Hilden Chapter changed the location of their monthly assembly several times. Currently the members meet every first Friday in a month in the students‘ room of the QQTec, a museum of art, culture and technology on 73 Forststrasse in Hilden. However, during the actual COVID-19 pandemic, because of state regulations, the meetings actually occur only virtually on the UHF FM frequency 430,300 MHz and via Echolink (conference server DLØHIL-L).

On the occasion of the 75^th anniversary, the Hilden Chapter operates a Special Event Station with the callsign DL75HIL throughout the complete year 2022. This radio station gives away the special DOK number 75RØ4. In addition, a special award diploma named „75 years of Ham Radio in Hilden“

is offered. Members of the Hilden Chapter and our friends in the neighborhood chapter of Solingen will develop numerous activities on the Amateur Radio bands from 160 m up to the satellite bands.