About W9ACW

W9ACW is more than a call sign. It is a family legacy that reaches back to the earliest days of amateur radio.

The history of W9ACW in our family begins in 1939, when my grandfather, Morris E. Winn, became a licensed amateur radio operator. Period records confirm Morris operating as W9ACW by 1939, and the 1940 Radio Amateur Callbook lists him under the call from Brazil, Indiana.

He initially operated from Huntington, Indiana, before making his home in Brazil, Indiana, where W9ACW would remain on the air for decades. Amateur radio became a lifelong pursuit. He was active on HF using phone, CW, and RTTY, making contacts across the country and around the world and collecting the QSL cards that once filled his station.

Contesting was also part of that life on the air. W9ACW appears in surviving amateur-radio contest records, including the 1965 ARRL International DX Phone Contest, providing a small surviving glimpse of a station that was active during an era when international communication from a home radio station was still something remarkable.

Morris remained associated with W9ACW for the rest of his life. Following his death in 1980, QST recorded Morris E. Winn, W9ACW, Brazil, Indiana among the amateur-radio community's Silent Keys.

I was only a child when my grandfather passed away, so I never had the opportunity to share amateur radio with him as an adult. Years later, however, I became a licensed amateur operator myself. I was eventually able to acquire W9ACW, bringing my grandfather's call sign back onto the air.

In that sense, W9ACW connects two generations separated by many years but joined by the same fascination with radio, technology, experimentation, and communication. The equipment has changed dramatically—from the tube radios, paper logs, Morse keys, and mailed QSL cards of my grandfather's station to today's digital modes, SDRs, computers, and portable equipment—but much of the spirit of amateur radio remains the same.

Today I operate W9ACW not simply because it is an old call sign, but because of what it represents. It is a link to a tradition begun by my grandfather in 1939, carried forward across generations, and once again heard on the amateur bands.

W9ACW — a call sign, a family history, and a tradition still on the air.