Austin Radio Club Organized, 1916
By Joe Fisher, K5EJL
ARRL Technical Specialist and CLM
(and self-appointed AARC Historian)
The Beginning
On Sunday evening, January 9th, 1916, five guys met in the home of David Harrell, Jr, and started the Austin Radio Club. We know this from a short article that appeared in the January 12th issue of the Austin American newspaper.
Three of the five were licensed, and two were still trying to get “set up,” one would suppose.
Whether more members joined in the next 16 months is not known, and Amateur Radio operation was suspended when the U.S. entered World War I in 1917. And it would be late 1919 before amateurs were again allowed, by the Navy Department, to operate.
The Revival
But by December 5th, 1919, the Club had grown, applied to the American Radio Relay League, Inc., (now ARRL) and been approved to become one of the first Affiliated Clubs. The announcement of the League’s Board of Directors’ action to approve the initial ten clubs appeared in the January 1920 issue of QST.
Wesley Hope Tilley, 5AL, reported in the December 1919 issue of QST in the first Calls Heard column, that he was hearing stations from around the country. Being the first president of the Club, he was then likely still President.
Amateur Radio was off and running again in Austin.
A History Video
Some information has been rounded up about our early club history, and is presented in this video. Among other things, some 1940s and ’50s home movies taken by former club members, and rescued from the trash heap, just in the nick of time. They would have been thrown out otherwise! Anyway, please enjoy.