Amateur Radio Club

The UT Amateur Radio Club is a ham radio organization that operates station W4EAL. UT has had a student radio club since 1928. UTARC was initiated in 1947 by a group of students and faculty. The station operated in Estabrook Hall and then was moved to Neyland Stadium. From 1977 to 1999, the club maintained an antenna on the east stadium light tower until construction crews destroyed the antenna. In 2002 a new, state-of-the-art 25-foot antenna was installed on Neyland Stadium. In 2005 the club joined with other clubs and individuals in assisting with communications related to Hurricane Katrina. In 2008 the club sent a radio balloon called the “Spirit of Knoxville” nearly all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. The 40-hour flight covered over three thousand miles before the balloon came down two hundred miles from the coast of Ireland. During the journey, over thirteen million hits were received by their website.