The 2000s

At the beginning of a new decade and century, the University of Texas Amateur Radio Club was becoming more proficient at fund-raising than ever before. A major source of financial support for the club were grants from the University Co-op Society. As a not-for-profit cooperative, surplus revenue from the textbook store near campus is returned to members in the form of dividends, and to the student body at large through grants to student organizations. The grant application process was a lot less difficult and intimidating than getting funding through the University or the Student Government, and UTARC began applying every semester for help building the club station, N5XU. Funding from the Co-op helped purchase VHF amplifiers, partially funded the purchase of a new Yaesu FT-847 transceiver, helped purchase satellite station hardware, purchased new microphones and headsets, and partially funded a second tower on the roof of WRW. This valuable source of funding helped fuel continued growth in the club, as there was always some new project in the works for club members to get into.

N5XU Raided by Secret Service

Amber, Camille, and Derek Wills AA5BT during Kid's Day, January, 2001.

On January 4, 2001, the N5XU station was raided by the U.S. Secret Service. Derek Wills AA5BT had just gone to the roof of the station with Steve Runyon WQ5G and two girls Amber and Camille to operate the annual Kid's Day operating event. Twice a year, Kid's Day encourages kids to get on Amateur Radio (with licensed supervision, of course) and contact other kids their own age. Derek had been bringing the kids of family and friends up to N5XU for this event for several years. As Derek relates, "After about five minutes, the door opened, and there was a law enforcement officer and a mean-looking gentleman in a dark suit (no sunglasses, but looked as if they would suit him.) `I'll have to ask you all to step outside.' It turned out that President-Elect George W. Bush was going to be passing nearby, and I guess they had to check out all the rooftops, and clear them of suspicious characters." After the Presidential visit, Derek and his two Kid's Day operators were able to get back on the air.

This was the second raid of the UTARC club station to temporarily remove station operators during a VIP visit to the campus. Robert Barron KA5WSS related in the February, 2001 issue of UTARC News that he and some of his friends were ordered off the roof at gunpoint by a SWAT team in the late 1980s during a campus visit by Prince Charles of Great Britain!

HF Operating

Johanna Preston W5JLP, operating in the 2001 ARRL November Sweepstakes, CW. Johanna made over 500 QSOs.

Perhaps unique among college and university radio clubs at the time, all of the UTARC officers for the 2001-2002 academic year were women. The club president was Johanna Preston W5JLP, who had served as club secretary/treasurer the year before. Club vice-president was Monique Stinson N3TNN (later NE5RO) who actually held the post of vice-president for three consecutive years. The club secretary/treasurer was Louisa Preston KB5LBN (Johanna's sister,) who would also hold that office for three years. Johanna and Monique were Extra class licensees, and Louisa held a General class license.

Johanna especially was very active on HF, and enjoyed CW. Having been introduced to contesting in the ARRL November Sweepstakes, she and her fellow club members continued to be active in many contests from 1999-2003. The most popular were the ARRL November Sweepstakes, the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes, and the ARRL September VHF QSO Party, but major club efforts were also organized for the Texas QSO Party. Johanna alone made over 500 QSOs in the 2001 ARRL November Sweepstakes, CW, helping N5XU win the South Texas section.

Johanna and Louisa began keeping an HF sked with college students in and near Paris, some of whom were at the University of Versailles, some of whom attended other universities. All of the French students belonged to the Radio-club de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines F6KRK, and used the HF station at their club. N5XU and F6KRK continued regular exchanges in both English and French for over a year, including both HF conversations and messages relayed over the packet radio network. After graduating from UT in 2002, Johanna would attend a graduate school program in chemical engineering at the University of Versailles.

K5T Special Event Station

Louisa Preston KB5LBN, operating 40 meters SSB during the 2001 Texas QSO Party K5T Special Event Operation.

In October, 2001, the club decided to celebrate its 80th Anniversary by getting a special event callsign from the FCC. The club applied for, and was granted, the call K5T, which was good from September 29, 2001 through October 7, 2001. This happened to overlap with the annual Texas QSO Party radio contest, and the club decided to enter the contest in the multi-operator, multi-transmitter category, to see how many QSOs could be made.

The station was arranged so that club members could operate on both 40 meters (using the wire dipole and the Yaesu FT-847) and 20-15-10 meters (using the tribander and the Kenwood TS-850SAT) at the same time, although there was some inter-station interference, especially when 15 meters was being used. In addition to HF, a few contacts were also made on 144 MHz, 222 MHz, and 432 MHz. Despite efforts, nobody could be worked on 50 MHz that weekend. The six operators were Johanna W5JLP, Louisa KB5LBN, Derek AA5BT, Robert K5PI, Gary KM5TY, and Ken WM5R. The team made a total of 1,085 QSOs and finished in second place.

The special event callsign was good for the rest of the week after the Texas QSO Party. Some additional non-contest QSOs were made during the week, including some of the first PSK31 contacts made from the club station. Ken WM5R also made a few K5T contacts in the California QSO Party the following weekend. Special QSL cards were made after the event, and hundreds were sent out to Amateurs around the world.

N5XU on Satellites

In the fall of 2001, the club began getting serious about putting together a satellite ground station at N5XU. Ken Harker WM5R came up with a viable plan to mount a 15' tall mast to the staircase on the side of the penthouse on top of WRW. The mast would be bracketed twice to the railing of the staircase, and twice with custom brackets made of aluminum channel and attached to the side of the building. The bracketing material and U bolts were all acquired locally, and after a search, a shop was found that could sell (and deliver to) the club a galvanized mast. At 21' long, it was more than was wanted (the satellite antennas only really needed to clear the penthouse roof, and any additional length would only make the structure less stable.) Chris Wilkinson N8DVM had to fetch a reciprocating saw from one of the engineering workshops to cut the pipe to length at ground level, because at 21', it would not fit inside the stairwell! The cut end was sealed with a cold galvanizing spray paint.

The N5XU Satellite antenna system, February 2003.

Over the spring, 2002 semester, through donations from the University Co-op Society and club members, the rest of the hardware and software for a satellite ground station were purchased or collected. George K5TR came up with a short 145 MHz yagi, and Robert K5PI donated a 13 element 435 MHz cross-polarized yagi. Ken WM5R worked late in the evenings to install the 15' mast, the Yaesu G-5500 azimuth/elevation rotator, an 8' fiberglass boom (painted black,) the antennas, and all the feedline and rotor cables. The satellite radio was a Yaesu FT-847, purchased in 2001 with help from the University Co-op Society. A very nice, compact solid-state radio, it also operated on the six meter band (replacing the Kenwood TS-600, which was sold at a hamfest) and all the MF/HF bands. Gary Raney KM5TY set up the Nova for Windows software as well as the NovaTune interface hardware and the computer interface to the rotator. At hamfests, the club eventually found a nice cross-polarized two meter yagi, as well as a "barbecue grill" dish antenna for 2.3 GHz to improve the station. The club never did get the cheap 2.3 GHz downconverter that came with the grill antenna to work. Nevertheless, by the fall semester of 2002, Gary was regularly making satellite contacts on 145 MHz and 435 MHz all over the western hemisphere.

A three meter dish on the east penthouse of WRW, before a feed was installed. Notice the concrete pad below the staircase.

Even more satellite-related activity got under way on WRW in the winter months of early 2003. A research group in the Aerospace Engineering Department (also located in WRW) acquired a three meter dish and substantial additional hardware from the U.S. Air Force to help build a satellite ground station lab for Aerospace Engineering students. The big dish was installed in the middle of the eastern penthouse on the roof of WRW, and a small tripod roof mount antenna support was installed in a corner of the penthouse roof that would eventually support a Yaesu G-5500 azimuth/elevation rotator with long-boom cross-polarized yagis for 145 MHz and 435 MHz. The lab on the fourth floor of WRW included an Icom IC-910H transceiver, two Icom IC-R7100 receivers, and Nova for Windows software. After thirty years on the roof of WRW with no satellite station, suddenly Radio Amateurs at UT had two stations to choose from!

Initially, there was almost no overlap between the membership of the UTARC and the satellite research group. Most of the aerospace students were Technician license holders who were only casually interested in satellite communications, and had no real interest in other aspects of ham radio. Many UTARC members were into HF or VHF terrestrial work, and not as interested in satellites. Tom Campbell KD5TIO, an Aerospace graduate student, and Gary Raney KM5TY, the UTARC president at the time, tried to cross-promote the two groups, without much immediate success. There was, however, one immediate benefit of the aerospace satellite station project for UTARC. Since the antenna installations involved concrete work, Chris Wilkinson N8DVM persuaded the engineers to pour a concrete pad during the work so that UTARC could put up a second tower, bracketed to the east penthouse of WRW.

A Second Tower

Gary Raney KM5TY works on bracketing the new Rohn 45G tower at N5XU after the first two sections were raised in place.

Acquiring the parts for a second tower (and the money to purchase them) would take much of the next year. Wanting a larger, stronger tower than the existing one, the club spent extra time looking for Rohn 45G hardware instead of Rohn 25G. The new tower would be an extra 6" wider on each of its three faces, and would support more windload, which is to say larger or more antennas. Eventually, a seller was found just north of San Antonio, and an elite team of Gary KM5TY, Trent K5TWJ, Ken WM5R, and Jen W5JEN went to retrieve six 10' long sections of Rohn 45G and a mast in the summer of 2004. A good, used HyGain Tailtwister rotator was purchased from local contester Dennis K5YA, who had recently become a distributor of Alfa Spid rotators, a new brand out of Canada, and was standardizing his own station on these new rotators.

In the fall, two club members drilled holes in the pad and cemented in anchor bolts. Several weeks later, four tower sections were installed in November, 2004, bracketed to the staircase on the penthouse at 15'. This is a similar bracketing strategy used for the existing tower on the western penthouse, but made stronger because more bracketing points are involved. The two unused sections of tower were sold to another local ham to raise additional money for the project. Further progress on the tower would await additional parts like a thrust bearing, feedlines, and antennas!

History of the club station >>>