HamSCI: Continuing a Long Tradition of Amateur Radio Citizen Science

In 1957, 1958 I was a high school student, and only an amateur radio operator for two years when I joined the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Propagation Research Project. This ARRL program was supported by the Air Force and collected information on Ionospheric VHF radio propagation from reports by radio amateurs.  The program was part of the 1957, 1958 International Geophysical Year (IGY). This was a world wide program to study the Earth.  It involved scientists from 67 countries and made many contributions to our knowledge of Earth. The ionosphere was one of the subjects or study. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL), in cooperation with the US Air Force, set up a program to collect observation reports from radio amateurs of unusual propagation on frequency bands of 50 MHz and above. I was happy and proud to be one of these amateur stations. In reflection of the more that 60 years since, I am certain that this early experience in the ham science (HamSCI) of the 1950s was part of my decision to follow a carrier in science and engineering. A carrier that included the Apollo program at one end and the Space Shuttle program at the other. I want to point out that an early experience in science and technology as a young radio amateur can and did lead to successful and exciting carrier.