knights
The Knights of the Kilocycle
Ham Radio's Oldest Network - Since 1929
The Knights (and Ladies) of the Kilocycle, amateur radio's oldest net, was organized on Christmas Day, 1929, and is now celebrating over eight decades of operation. The Knights net has been on the air every Sunday except during World War II when amateur radio priviledges were suspended.
The Knights meet every Sunday morning at 7:30 (Eastern time) on 3910 Kilocycles from Florida. The net can usually be heard all over Florida and Southern Georgia and farther during optimal conditions.
Since 1929 there have been over 538 memberships awarded to amateur operators designating membership into the Knights of the Kilocycle. The Knights always welcome new members, feel free to listen every Sunday morning and make a call. Play the reel-to-reel taped audio of the Preamble 1000th Knight's Net on May 30, 1965 (1 minute 24 seconds)
Play the reel-to-reel taped audio of the 1000th Knight's Net on May 30, 1965 - History of Knights (6 minutes 25 seconds)
Play the reel-to-reel taped audio of the 1000th Knights Net on May 30, 1965 - History Part 2 (5 minutes 53 seconds)
Some of the Knights net members also meet each weekday Monday through Saturday on the same frequency and time, calling themselves "The Old Goats." Feel free to join in anytime at 7:30 am everyday.
We also encourage shortwave listeners to listen in to our group each Sunday morning and with the new FCC regulations that no longer require learning morse code to get a ham license, perhaps listeners may be encouraged to get a license.
Also see the links below for more ham information and archived news about the net that was originally published in the "Florida Skip" magazine where the Knights had a monthly column for many years until the magazine stopped publishing in the late 1990s.
N5GX List of Old Goat's Net members. Many of these hams also are Knights of the Kilocycle members.
Photo: The audio tape of the 1000th meeting on the air of May 30, 1965 was made by the late Ralph (Charlie) Dawson of Sanford, Florida, and provided courtesy of Chuck Whittington (K4CEH) of Riverside, Florida, a member of the Knights and also a participant of the "Old Goat's" net which meets daily on 3.910 Mhz at 7:30 a.m. In Memoriam: Dr. Alan Pickering, KJ9N of Duette, Florida died June 29, 2013. He was born in 1928, and a retired Presbyterian minister. Alan was a decades long member and former Master Oscillator of the Knights of the Kilocycle and also net control for the daily Old Goats net on 3.910 khz. Alan was active in the Tampa area ham clubs and at one time operated the area 2-meter repeaters. Alan has served on the Board of Directors of the Quarter Century Wireless Association when he assumed the position of Secretary on December 17, 2003.
He has been a Broadcast announcer and engineer for five radio and TV stations. He is a former Navy pilot, holds bachelor, master and doctoral degrees and has taught at several universities and colleges. He was employed by the national YMCA as its National Training Director, and retired from that position in 1991.
He was first licensed in 1954 with the call W8ULS. He has been the presiding officer of seven amateur radio groups, including two QCWA chapters, a member of Air Force MARS and is a LIFE member of ARRL and QCWA.He is survived by his wife Martha Kay. Alan's twin brother Austin, WR4AP died in January 2013. Obituary for Alan..
(Audio recording on YouTube of Alan as Master Oscillator on the Knights net on December 2, 2007. Don, KQ4YM was checking in to the net and made a video of that morning.)
1949 Certificate courtesy of Robert S. Elmore. His grandfather Howard J. Elmore, W4JIP of Miami, became a silent key in 1983.
