Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville
Welcomes You!
The Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville (RACK) was founded in 1954 as a way of promoting the interest of amateur radio operators in the Knoxville Tennessee area.
Embedded Files
KNOXVILLE HAMFEST
KNOXVILLE HAMFEST
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DATE: Saturday, June 13, 2026
LOCATION: Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN
FIELD DAY 2026
FIELD DAY 2026
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DATE: June 27-28, 2026
LOCATION: Ft. Dickerson Park, Knoxville, TN 37920
Next RACK Meeting
Next RACK Meeting
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DATE: Thursday, May 21st, 6pm
LOCATION: Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN
See more details about RACK Meetings below.
Recent Happenings & Updates
May 2026:
May RACK Meeting
Thursday, May 21st, the RACK presentation will be by KK4PAL Bill who will be showing and talking about building battery boxes. Bill will be bringing a case that is already pre-drilled as it tends to make a mess. Bill will be talking about where to buy parts and where not to buy parts the proper parts to buy and then showing how to put the battery box together.
Then, for one of the lucky people in attendance, we will be randomly drawing a name of those that check-in and giving the battery box that Bill builds away, battery not included, so please come join us.
WHEN:
Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 6pm
WHERE:
Wallace Memorial Baptist Church
View a Google Map here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/SxPpQii2wPuxZcv16
ONCE YOU ARRIVE AT THE CHURCH:
Drive around to the back parking lot and enter through the glass door. Walk straight ahead, up a ramp, then take the elevator up the 2nd floor. Listen for chatter. That will be us.
As always, all are welcome — whether you're a longtime operator or just getting started in the hobby.
Dues for 2026 now payable, $20.
See Jay at the meeting or Pay dues here
Past Happenings & Updates
April 2026:
RACK Meeting on Thursday, April 16th, 2026, at 6pm
Carl presented a talk on Radio Astronomy and radio meteor detection at the April club meeting. He has been involved in the production of radio astronomy receivers for 30+ years.
He began a demonstration of his hydrogen line spectrometer used to detect the emission of hydrogen gas in the Milky Way, just as the rain was moving in. Also, he demonstrated hardware to detect meteor bounces from distant tv stations that anyone can detect from home. Carl has been a Ham for 54 years and is an avid electronics experimenter and US Patent holder. Retired (to some degree), he has been employed at Y-12 for 48 years.
Carl had a great presentation inside. Rain cut the outside demonstration short.
See photos from the April 2026 meeting below!
March 2026:
RACK Meeting on Thursday, March 19th, 2026, at 6pm
"FT8 DXing" by Robert Fanfant N7QT
Rob is an experienced DXpeditioner with an October or November expedition to Tokelau.
He has activated a number of rare and semi-rare entities and talked about getting contacts with hard to get DX stations. Along with the tools
QRZ, WSJT-X, PSKReporter, HamSpots, VoaCap, and GrayLine.
February 2026:
RACK Meeting on Thursday, February 19, 2026
Tennessee Amateur Association guests at the Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville!
See photos from February the meeting below!
January 2026
RACK Meeting on Thursday, January 15, 2026, 7pm (see details below the Winter Field Day info)
Winter Field Day 2026 – Special Event Station W4T!
Join the Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville as we hit the airwaves for Winter Field Day 2026, operating under the special event call sign W4T!
Location:
American Legion Post 2 Property
5700 Old Rutledge Pike, Knoxville, TN 37924
Operating Dates:
Saturday, January 24 – Sunday, January 25, 2026
We’ll be operating throughout the weekend as W4T, putting East Tennessee on the map for Winter Field Day! Whether you're a licensed ham or just curious about amateur radio, this is a great opportunity to get involved.
Powered by teamwork and emergency preparedness
All skill levels welcome – Elmers on site!
Make contacts, test gear, and enjoy good fellowship
Bring a coat, lol!
Learn about winter operations, emergency power setups, and HF/VHF communications — all in real-time.
Contact
Paul James, N2PJ
(703) 201-3441
kichroc@gmail.com
WFD flag arrived. The American flag is already on site. A separate mast will fly both the American Legion flag and the WFD flag; their height will be lower than the nation's flag.
Winter Field day was a test under winter weather conditions. These photos are from the setup and don't really show the rain, snow, sleet. It was cold!
Contacts were made, good times with fellow hams. Excellent experience.
Our first RACK meeting for 2026: Thursday, January 15, 7 PM
At this months meeting we gave away a new FT 65 hand held radio! Yes, a Yaesu Dual band HT
You just needed to be present at the meeting to be entered to win.
Ronnie Dockings, KB4WXS is the winner
Our guest speaker this month is Tim Berry, WB4GBI. Tim shared his expertise on repeaters — how they work, how they're maintained, and how they support our amateur radio community. He explained the functions of receive, control and issues when we are trying to 'get into' a repeater' Also the use duplexers and how they isolate the repeater's powerful transmitters and sensitive receivers using the same antenna. After the presentation, Tim demonstrated how a two way radio service monitor is used to monitor a signal from a nearby HT.
Archive of 2025: Happenings & Updates
Archive of 2025: Happenings & Updates
December 2025:
We did not have our normal meeting on the third Thursday this month.
About 32 of us met at Louie's restaurant on North Broadway for our annual Christmas dinner. Tuesday December 9th at 5pm. We had a great time, food, and a Ft65R for a prize!
November 2025:
Thursday RACK meeting
Our November meeting was November 20 at 7 pm.
ABR Industries had the program. They gave their presentation via Zoom. ABR Industries is a full-service cable assembly and bulk cable facility. Amateur Radio Coax Builder is a feature on their web site that we can use to specify and order amateur coax with the connectors we want. We had 21 in attendance pulse some joined via Zoom.
All are welcome. No experience, skill level, knowledge level required. Experienced hams or just folks who are wondering what ham radio is all about .
WHERE:
Wallace Memorial Baptist Church
701 Merchants Dr.
Knoxville TN 37912
View a Google Map here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/SxPpQii2wPuxZcv16
Directions once you arrive at the church: Drive around to the back parking lot and enter through the glass door. Walk straight ahead, up a ramp, then take the elevator up the 2nd floor. Exit, listen for a noisy group. That will be us.
October 2025
Our October meeting was at the Cokesbury Church back parking lot. We met early at 6PM to have more time before it gets dark .
The first thing was to elect officers for 2026. Since no one stepped up to take on the duties of an office, the current officers were voted to retain their positions.
Thanks
We had hotdogs and a small tailgate event to sell stuff we didn't really need so we could buy more stuff we might possibly need, someday. We had a silent auction. We had a collection of some nice amateur radio equipment donated by the families of SK members. RACK has limited storage space and would like to get this equipment into the hands of operators who will put it back into use. We did that. We even sold the big antenna. We still have a Tentec Jupiter. It will surly appear at another sale.
Some RACK members participated in Scout fest. It was near Madisonville at the airport. Saturday Oct 25th. More info on how this event went later.
September 2025
Our monthly RACK meeting was presented by Cindy Grant, KM4YYG.
She gave an outstanding presentation regarding(Air Force )MARS, very thorough, with details that included literature, on how to get involved, and some of what they continually do.
A $100 Chatt Radio gift card was given away via drawing, won by K8BYP Dave Campbell from Oak Ridge, TN
Burt shared with us a very heavy, well built CW key, from China.
August 2025
With August 23rd being the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we had Kevin Duplantis, W4KEV, discuss the impact and things learned from Hurricane Katrina. He talked about the role he played while working at a radio station while in the middle of the storm.
July 2025
Our July RACK Meeting
Our July meeting featured Jonathan Thawley, KC8CPW, Vice President of Hams over IP. Jonathan discussed the new system that essentially replaces Ham Shack hotline. The new system offers more flexibility for a ham to join the 'private ham phone system'. Get an ip phone, join the network and connect to other hams around the world. Connections via cell phones and even ham radios is built into the system.
Check them out at https://hamsoverip.com/
June 2025
Hamfest and Field day!!!
May 2025
Our May RACK Meeting
Thursday evening we had much discussion of our upcoming Knoxville Hamfest. Its only about a month away.
Also Paul has more details for Field day. It is the weekend after our Hamfest.
Also we try to have a gift certificate to give away every couple of months. You must be present to qualify for it.
Larry Franklin, KC4ZOA is the winner for May!! $100 gift certificate
Also, Steven is leading a group of RACK members teaching a 'technician' level class. It has started. Talk to him about it Thursday night. Would you like for RACK to have a class for General?
Thursday RACK meeting
WHEN:
Thursday, May 15, 2025, at 7pm
WHERE:
Wallace Memorial Baptist Church
701 Merchants Dr.
Knoxville TN 37912
April 2025
Our next RACK meeting
For our program this month, Steven,KO4JJU, and Will, KO4WIL, have an introduction to AllStarLink. This is a network of Amateur Radio repeaters, remote base stations and hot spots accessible to each other via Voice over Internet Protocol with over 38,000 ham radio users. Steven and Will always provide programs on interesting subjects, some that may not be common for all of us. So this will be a good opportunity.
WHEN:
Thursday, April 17, 2025, at 7pm
WHERE:
Wallace Memorial Baptist Church
701 Merchants Dr.
Knoxville TN 37912
MARCH 2025
Our next RACK meeting
WHEN:
Thursday, March 20, 2025, at 7pm
WHERE:
Wallace Memorial Baptist Church
701 Merchants Dr.
Knoxville TN 37912
FEBRUARY 2025
It is with a heavy heart, that I must inform all members of the Radio Amateurs Club of Knoxville, that as of 2-25-2025, Mr. Willard Sitton W4HZD, has become a silent key operator, and that the Amateur Radio community, as well as the world, itself has suffered an unimaginable loss, of such a wonderfully outstanding, and very loved, amazing individual.
Mr. Willard, we will miss your delightful presence, severely.
73,Sir.
KO4JLK
F. Kittrell
R.A.C.K. President
The obituary is at
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/knoxville-tn/willard-sitton-12263043
Our next RACK meeting
WHEN:
Thursday, March 20, 2025, at 7pm
WHERE:
Wallace Memorial Baptist Church
701 Merchants Dr.
Knoxville TN 37912
Renew Your RACK Membership for 2025
It's not too late to renew your RACK membership or join as a new member!
Please use this link: Renew Your RACK Membership Info
JANUARY 2025
Renew Your RACK Membership for 2025
It is time to join RACK or renew your membership for 2025. Please use this link: Renew Your RACK Membership Info
Check out all the new items for sale in January 2025!
Letter from RACK President
Good morning,operators!
Today is Monday December,30th…as you all know,this evening,@2100,the RACK Tech Net,will take place.Would anyone like to volunteer to serve as “Net Control”,for this historic weekly event? It is my belief,that full participation in any organizational event,tends to only enrich the organization,as well as act as a catalyst to other beneficial effects,too! …let’s all make the upcoming year (2025) a great success,
Thank you,All!
Best regards,
KO4JLK
Read past Letters from RACK Presidents here.
Recap of our 2024 Events
Join or update your membership to RACK
New RACK History Documents!
View the 1972 RACK HISTORY AND MEMBER LIST below:
1972 RACK CLUB INFO.pdf1972 RACK MEMBERS.pdfDonate to RACK!
If you would like to make a donation to RACK, click on the PayPal® link shown below. It's safe, secure, and tax deductible!
A letter to Mr Tim Berry :
Good afternoon,Sir!!….I just want to say, Thank you, so much, once again, for gracing us with your presence, yesterday evening at the January RACK meeting!! I’ve only been operating for a little bit over 5 years now, and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it! During my first few months of being a licensed operator, I quickly learned how highly regarded a guy name Tim Berry was!…and I greatly appreciate that!! Thank you for your continual service and commitment to the great state of Tennessee!! You are certainly more than welcome to drop in at ANY of our meetings!
Best regards!
F. Kittrell-KO4JLK
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