The City of Lights Chapter of Ten-Ten International was started on Monday (CST), November 8, 1976 by members of the Aurora, Illinois, USA local ham radio club, The Fox River Radio League (FRRL). Aurora Illinois claimed to be the first city to have electric streetlights, which led to its slogan and our chapter name, “The City of Lights.” The Monday night nets have continued in an unbroken string to date.
The first Net Control and Chapter Head was Jerry Frieders, W9ZGP (SK) 10-10 #12847. In mid-1995, and then in ill health, Jerry turned the Net over to Joe Dubeck, NA9A, 10-10 #31121. Joe remains the Chapter Head and was usually Net Control for the SSB & CW nets until June 2020 when he had surgery that resulted in six months of off the air rehab. Thankfully, the unbroken string of weekly nets was, and still is maintained by Dean Holste, KC9EOQ, 10-10 #74609, with periodic help from Roger Bara, W9YU, 10-10 #77118 and “CJ” Johnson, WT2P, 10-10 #67368.
The first and current SSB nets are held at 28.720 MHz. In the 90s, an SSB “Early Net” ran for quite a while at 28.430 MHz (7:30 PM CST) for Novice and Technician Class licensees. They were headed up by Ron Kennedy, N9KBJ, 10-10 #58638. That net went QRT when Ron moved to California.
Also in the 90s, the City of Lights CW Net was started at 28.280 MHz by Lee Fenton, WS9F (SK), 10-10 #60236. When Lee suddenly passed away, the CW net was taken over by Bill Schaben, WA9AUW, later W9AX (now SK), 10-10 #62915. When Bill’s time was restricted by evening work commitments, Robert “Benny” Benson, W9CZA (SK), 10-10 #62970 stepped up to the key and moved the CW Net to 28.150 MHz – where it remains today. In April 2009, Benny’s health forced his retirement as the CW Net Control. Next the CW net was run for several years by Eric Needles, AB9OS, 10-10 #42388 until Eric moved to Montana. Next the CW net was run by Kermit Carlson, W9XA, 10-10 #73844. Kermit had to give it up when he was elected to the position of ARRL Central Division Director, because those duties caused his availability to run the net to be intermittent. The CW net now is being run by Dean Holste, KC9EOQ, 10-10 #74609.
The main interests of the City of Lights Chapter and its nets have been mostly social and contesting. Although some members have City of Lights (COL) numbers, the chapter has never taken part in the popular Ten-Ten “Paper Chasing” activities and has no points or upgrades in membership.