The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers is honoring the cable industry’s radio frequency (RF) roots by creating the SCTE Amateur Radio Club.

In keeping with the core of cable’s business – hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) – the new club will bear the Federal Communications Commission-issued call sign “W3HFC.”

The SCTE said the club highlights the prominent role that RF technologies play in the advancement of the cable telecommunications industry . In the cable industry’s formative years, employees with hands-on RF experience from military branches helped get cable services up and running.

“Although many new technologies are being adopted by the cable industry, competence in RF technologies is a cornerstone for successful operation of modern cable telecommunications networks,” said SCTE President and CEO Mark Dzuban, the new club’s president and a longtime ham radio operator. “This includes not only the network itself, but RF technologies that are used in satellite and wireless. RF was once a primary skill. In order to improve the operation of cable networks, we need to bring it back into focus so that frontline personnel can effectively deal with it.”

Much of the expertise in RF in the cable industry, Dzuban noted, has come from cable engineers who got their start by becoming amateur radio operators and then parlayed those skills into an effective cable career.

“But many newer cable employees have missed that stage,” he said.

In addition to Dzuban (K4MHZ) as president, the club’s inaugural officers are Frank Eichenlaub (N0TPR), vice president; Keith Hayes (KD4KDG), treasurer; and Steve Oksala (NI3P), secretary.

The club is open to all SCTE members, whether or not they hold a current amateur radio license. There are no club membership dues. SCTE members are encouraged to update their SCTE membership record to include their ham radio call sign to reflect their current status, and they are encouraged to send an e-mail to hamradioadmin@scte.org to join the club.