The 1980s

Once again, the club fell into a period of low activity until a new wave of interested Amateurs would arrive on the 40 Acres. Clark Meier N5ADD and Felix Kneuper WB5NED decided to get things jump started in the spring of 1982. Together, they tracked down faculty adviser Mike Becker KW5F and set up an organizational meeting later that fall. At the organizational meeting, a new group of officers were elected and the club began a period of activity that would remain high for the next eight years.

N5DRK and WB5NED, Field Day 1982

For student organizations, money can be a persistent problem. Often, students are just barely making ends meet, so there's seldom enough to donate to get new equipment for a club station. Club members thought that they may have found a solution to this problem when they found out about a program that paid groups about $200 or $300 for helping clean up Memorial Stadium Sunday morning after a Texas Longhorn football game. The participating club members quickly discovered how much work was required, and never attempted the feat again.

Nevertheless, the club did manage to gather up enough money to construct a tube-type two meter repeater. After sweet-talking the Mathematics dean into letting them install the equipment, the group, led by James Reese WD5IYT, set about putting it on the roof of Robert Lee Moore Hall (RLM). Someone donated a long monopole antenna for the cause, which presented a logistical problem. The antenna was too long to fit in the freight elevator! Not wanting to haul the thing up seventeen flights of stairs, they compromised. By opening the emergency door of the freight elevator, they could get the antenna inside, but could not go to the top floor without smashing the top of the antenna. They took it up as high as they dared before completing the journey by feeding it hand-over-hand between the railings of the stairwell. The repeater operated for several years until the maintenance required for its upkeep became too much for the club to bear. Several pieces of the repeater, including the antenna and cavity filters, are still at the top of the building.

An Exciting Morning

U.S. Army Rangers parachute into Grenada, 1983

On the morning of October 25, 1983 at 9:00 AM, Felix Kneuper WB5NED needed a break. He had been studying for a test in the shack and decided to turn on the radio to see what he could find on the bands. He found a DX station on the island of Grenada calling CQ and he answered. Felix was quickly informed that the island was being invaded by the U.S. military! As he listened to the DX station, he could hear jet airplanes in the background.

Felix's first thought was to help spread this late breaking news as quickly as possible. He got on the Joe Makeever's W5EBJ (now W5HS) repeater and made an autopatch call to the Daily Texan student newspaper. Felix identified himself as President of the club and informed them of the information he had just received. The staff at the Daily Texan seemed unimpressed. They indicated that they did not have any reporters available to check out the story and considered it a probable fraud since they had not received any information about such an invasion from the news wire.

Other Amateurs on the band at the time quickly jumped in to try and make contact with the Grenadan station. Eventually, a ham from ABC News grabbed control of the communications and effectively locked everyone else, including Felix, out of the loop.

The 144MHz EME array at KE5C, 1983

By chance, Lance Hagood N5EAD happened to be monitoring the W5EBJ repeater when Felix made his phone patch to the Daily Texan. In addition to being an Amateur Radio operator, Lance also happened to be a videographer at KXAN TV channel 36. Lance gave Felix a call on the repeater to see where the club station was located, ran into the news room, and grabbed news anchorwoman Linda Fredrick. Within minutes, Lance and the KXAN news crew were at the shack, and Felix recounted the events of the day, giving UTARC some good exposure. The news team filmed interviews with Felix and audio from the Grenadan ham station (with video of the s-meter moving!) Not only did this blow the local TV news competition away, but it also made a lengthy voice over item on Tom Brokaw's NBC Nightly News. The editor of the Daily Texan called Felix the next day and asked why Felix had not phoned them first!

While the Daily Texan fumbled the ball on that news-worthy event, the contact made with the club turned helpful in getting some publicity later that year. In December 1983, astronaut Owen Garriot W5LFL was scheduled to be the first Amateur to operate from outer space. UTARC intended to make an effort at communication and to generate some publicity for the club by inviting the Daily Texan to cover it. Being the first ever operation from space, the demand for contacts was very high. The club was unsuccessful in its attempt for a QSO, but nevertheless reaped an award. The Daily Texan carried a front page story about the effort. Unrelated to the club's effort, George WB5VZL (now K5TR), an active club member, was one of the few Amateurs to make contact with W5LFL in orbit. George accomplished this from the moon-bounce station of his friend John Dvoracek KE5C, in Temple, TX, and made an audio recording of the contact. The year 1983 generated a large amount of good publicity for the club.

The mid-1980's witnessed the start of one of the most active times in the history of the club. In 1985, Curt Black N5HPD (now WR5J) was Secretary/Treasurer. Curt was a natural motivator and cheerleader for Amateur Radio. He was constantly spreading the gospel of the hobby when talking to non-licensed visitors to club events. Once he became President in 1986, he set in motion a level of activity that has never been surpassed.

On-Air Activities

Curt Black N5HPD (now WR5J)

Curt stressed involvement by all club members in on-the-air activities. He organized club efforts in several Amateur Radio contests and provided most of the food and drink that the participants consumed. Curt threw UTARC parties for Christmas and the end of the school year at his home for several years.

Recruitment was a high priority for Curt, and he lead the club to its first West Mall demonstration of Amateur Radio in 1986. The first West Mall demo was a learning experience for the club members. A simple HF station was set up, and even being surrounded by tall buildings, several stations were worked. The problem was that the station also made unintentional contact with some other equipment. The tape recorders in the Undergraduate Library (UGL), just behind the UTARC table, reported high levels of interference. Better antenna placement and filters would alleviate this problem in future demonstrations, but for much of that day, the HF rig was set for receive only.

Informing people about the existence of Amateur Radio was only part of the effort to recruit new members. In an effort to get more people licensed the club restarted Novice license classes in 1987. Club member James Brooks KB1CM (now 9V1YC), taught the UTARC classes until he graduated from the University in 1989.

N5HPD, AA5BT, and KA5ZVB operate Field Day 1987

The club station has several documents from the club's past piled up. Two newsletters from the early 1970's survived and came to the attention of Robert Barron KA5WSS . In 1986, he became Secretary/Treasurer and immediately started to print what was probably the first UTARC newsletter in 10 years. Publication of the UTARC News would be picked up by Ken Harker KM5FA (later WM5R) and continued through the end of the century.

UTARC activity was not limited to on-campus events. Several club members became active in public service communications at the time. Curt organized car pools to take people to area SKYWARN classes. At times, members helped other local clubs provide support for events such as the Capital 10K foot race. But the club also provided communications on its own for a couple of Austin Cycling Association rides. The club eventually received an unsolicited $100 donation from the ACA to thank the club for its help.

UTARC had been an ARRL affiliated club since the 1970's. In the mid-1980's, with heightened activity, the club decided to move to the next level and become a ARRL Special Service Club . The ARRL set up the category of Special Service Club to recognize those clubs that make an extra effort to publicize Amateur Radio and motivate its members. UTARC had to report its annual activities to the ARRL to demonstrate its commitment to being an above average club. UTARC maintained its SSC status from 1987 through 1990.

All of the increased activity of the mid-1980's resulted in what may have been a general meeting attendance record. In January, 1987, about 40 people showed up for a demonstration of Amateur Television.

Up to this point, UTARC had never received any funding from the University or the Student Government. In 1986, Curt Black N5HPD (now WR5J) made an attempt at winning a grant from the Student Opportunity Fund of the Ex-Student's Association. The funds were to be used to upgrade the shack and buy new radios. The request was denied in lieu of a small loan offer. UTARC did eventually get a one-time grant of money from the Student Government, but not until 1997.

W200EHM QSL Card

W200EHM

In 1987 and 1988, the United States was celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Constitution. The FCC allowed some stations to substitute the number 200 in place of the call district number in their callsigns to commemorate this event. Derek Wills AA5BT thought this might be fun and submitted the required request to do this.

From December 28 through the 30th in 1988, Derek made 233 QSO's as W200EHM. His first contact with the new callsign was on 20M CW with VU2UNI in India. Unfortunately, the time allocated for the use of W200EHM occurred during the winter break between the fall and spring semesters, so no other club members had a chance to operate.

Packet Radio

Club members continued to play a role in Amateur Radio in the Austin area. In the late 1980's, Trey Garlough WN4KKN (now N5KO) set up the first PacketCluster station in Austin. The PacketCluster was a packet based DX spotting network that allowed DXers and contesters to announce what they had heard on the air.

Paulus Adisoemarta N5SNN set up the first Austin Amateur TCP/IP to Internet gateway, located in the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (CPE) building. This allowed the Austin TCP/IP community to exchange email and files with Amateurs in other TCP/IP networks around the world. It even allowed for direct access to the Internet using Amateur Radio.

By the late 1980's, the club was beginning to lose many of the key people who had increased its activity. Curt N5HPD and Trey WN4KKN graduated from UT in 1987. James KB1CM graduated from UT in 1989. George WB5VZL and Robert KA5WSS graduated from UT in 1990. In many cases, graduation from UT did not mean that club members stopped participating in club activities. Curt remained very influential in club matters, and continued to offer encouragement and support. George WB5VZL (now K5TR) continued to work on the UT campus and often worked on the club tower or other station projects. For several years, Robert KA5WSS continued to organize multi-operator contest efforts from W5EHM. Curt would move to the Seattle area, Trey Garlough WN4KKN (now N5KO) would head west to Silicon Valley, and James Brooks would move all the way to Singapore (and become 9V1YC.)

On to the 1990s >>>