A W5EHM QSL card from the 1970s no longer mentions the Texas Union in the club name.

In 1970, the club was finally asked to leave the space they had in the Texas Union. They had been at odds with the Texas Union management for some time, as they did not participate in many of the Union functions in the same way as did most of the other student organizations that had space in the building. A new home was found in an abandoned penthouse on the roof of the Engineering Labs building, later known as W.R. Woolrich Labs (WRW). Because of its isolation from the rest of the building, this space had evidently been used for some of the more dangerous chemical engineering experiments, but was abandoned when the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (CPE) building was completed. This remains the location of the club station to this day. Along with the move, the club decided to change its official name from "Texas Union Amateur Radio Society" (TUARS) to "University Amateur Radio Club" (UARC.)

The WN5CLS station in Jester dormitory featured a Hallicrafters SX-99 receiver.

Walter B. Fair, Jr. WN5CLS (later W5ALT, now KE5WJ) used the club station on top the WRW extensively from 1970 to 1972, often staying there all night operating CW in the novice bands. Walter claims he began studying Spanish in high school just so he could understand Spanish language shortwave broadcast stations! After his sophomore year, Walter learned the Morse code during a summer job in Kilgore, Texas, and took his Novice code and written exams before returning to the University. Walter got on the air with his new ticket and operated from both his dorm room in the Beauford H. Jester Center and the W5EHM club station. Just before his Novice ticket lapsed, Walter smashed his hand in a car wreck, was in and out of the hospital for about six months, and was not able to attend classes or do any operating. He couldn't send CW to pass the 13 WPM code test. He could copy just fine, but they had no sympathy at the FCC in those days. After leaving UT, Walter would eventually get his Extra license and the callsigns WB5XAC, WB5YLC, and W5ALT on the way to KE5WJ.

Others using the club station at the time included Mike Jones WN5BJH (now WB6I) and Sam Holt WA5UWI. Sam was an Advanced class ham, and would often make phone patches for Walter (who was a Novice at the time) to talk to his parents in Houston. The campus police at the guardhouse near the building knew these student hams quite well, since they had to make arrangements with the campus police to pick up and drop off the key to the club building. A few times, the building doors were locked during the night, and they were stranded on top until the next morning. While still a student, Mike upgraded to General and started devoting a lot more effort to the club.

UTARC members helped bring FM repeater technology to the Austin area. In 1970, there were few repeaters on the air and George Harvey's W5NFC repeater on 146.94 MHz was one of the first. It was located at George's home in south Austin. This machine was sold just as the Austin Repeater Organization W5FIT repeater on the same frequency was getting on the air. There was even less activity on 440 MHz in 1970. Nonetheless, UTARC member Nick Broline's W5FUA machine on 449.1 MHz was a beacon of activity for the area.

ARRL Affiliation

UTARC is affiliated with the ARRL, 1973

An increase of club activity in the early 1970's eventually led to affiliation with the American Radio Relay League. In May of 1973, Bernard Novy WB5HBM sought and acquired official ARRL Affiliation using the name "Amateur Radio Club, University of Texas". The original form listed the total number of members as 45, with 35 of those being licensed. The club belatedly celebrated it's 25 years of ARRL affiliation in January of 1999. Fortunately, the ARRL chose to overlook that the club's affiliation was inactive from 1976 to 1978 because the required yearly reports had not been filled out, and knowledge of the club's affiliation was completely forgotten until rediscovered by Randy Thompson K5ZD in 1978.

The faculty adviser of the club throughout the decade of the 1970's was Lloyd Edmonds WA5CVL. In addition to being the ham club adviser, Lloyd was also the manager of Texas Student Publications. Jay Miller, now KK5IM, was a staff photographer for the Daily Texan. According to Jay, "I remember Lloyd trying to fix one of our brand new typesetting machines. He was on the floor of the composing room with a soldering iron and a copy of the ARRL Handbook! By golly, he fixed it, too!!!"

Over the years, UTARC members have enjoyed a friendly relationship with the other hams in the Austin area. However, in 1974 tensions were running high on the relatively new mode of two meters FM. Don Steelman K5QOZ and several local Amateurs got into numerous arguments, and the club newsletter lamented "a decline in the Amateur spirit."

A Chess Match

W5AC QSL card for the March 23, 1973 chess match QSO. "Tnx QSO es setting up chess match on your end - gig 'em!" writes Dave WA5ZRB. Postage at the time was eight cents.

Two meters did serve the club well during an on-the-air chess match on March 23, 1974. The match pitted the chess clubs at the University of Texas and Texas A&M University against each other. The UT Chess Club set up their boards in the Texas Union. David Moore WB5EZM (now N7RF) and Rudy Zalesak WA5REI set up a two meter AM radio to communicate with Roger Wood and Roger Prior WN5DLV (now WB5DLV) in the club station. It is not known whether the two meter radios were part of the station equipment at the time, or were on loan for the event. From the club station, the moves were relayed to Texas A&M W5AC, Dave WA5ZRB operating, via 3.950 MHz SSB.

UTARC members Rudy Zalesak WA5REI and Keith Zimmermann K5WX also played two of the boards. Texas A&M appeared to have won the match, and UT Chess Club President Jim Musemici expressed frustration at some of the delays in relaying moves between the two locations. Keith recalls also being frustrated, and felt that most of the delays were the Aggies' fault.

UTARC members have often been willing to go out of their way to help introduce newcomers to the hobby of Amateur Radio. In 1973, Mike Jones WB5BJH (now WB6I) organized the earliest known official UTARC license class. There are no known UTARC newsletters from the mid 1970's. But David Snavely WB5EBC (now KA5B) found himself editor of a new IEEE Student Branch publication that he called The Circuit. He used his position as editor to get some news about the club into the publication and to help encourage newcomers to enter the world of Amateur Radio.

Often there was a close connection between schoolwork and Amateur Radio. In the late 1970's, David was assigned a senior project to build a repeater. Through the process he had the help, encouragement, and patience of Joe Makeever W5EBJ (now W5HS), since early attempts at running his repeater keyed up Joe's nearby 220 MHz repeater all of the time!