GCARC held Family Fun Days 

October 4th, 5th and 6th, 2024 at Eisenhower State Park

We had a great time. Due to the “burn ban” we were restricted to propane cooking, so no campfires or Dutch Oven Bake. 🙁  The fox hunt was fun and we got some great walking in. Conversations, “corn hole”, food and that all-important “camaraderie” rounded out the event! Thanks to all who came out, even if it was just for a little bit!

Check out the ARES information detailing the Grayson County quadrants and simplex frequencies. It is found in the About GCARC menu at the very bottom.

About our Club

Our Club nets are held 8:00 PM on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday of each month on the W5RVT 147.000 repeater. [What’s a “net”, you ask? It’s when we all get on our radios and have a meeting on the air using the same frequency.]

The ‘Ladies Net’ is held on the 4th Monday night of each month at 7 PM on the Sherman repeater: 147.280 +600 pl 107.2. Net Control is Tamara Higgins – KI5ZIP.  Next Ladies Net is October 28 at 7PM. Men are also encouraged to participate. See you there.

Our Club meetings are held at 7:00 P.M. on the 3rd Tuesday of the Month.

The next meeting is on Tuesday–October 15, 2024 – and ALWAYS on the 3rd Tuesday of the Month.

Amateur Radio Exams by ARRL VE’s are administered prior to the monthly meetings at 6:00 P.M. and located on the 2nd floor, Room 260 – ‘Planning Room’

The general meetings are now at the TCOG (Texoma Council of Governments) first floor, located at the following address…

1117 Gallagher Road, Sherman, Texas, 75090

NOTICE

The Intermediate CW Class is now completed. Upcoming plans are to have an In-Person Advanced Class Course that will start sometime in the fall if people sign up for it. The goal is to achieve CW speeds of 25 to 35 WPM. The class can only accept people that have already attained a speed of 20 WPM. Those who achieve 35 WPM can then attend a Contest Course if interested. If you are interested in attending and want to be informed as to the actual start date of the class, please contact the instructor, James – KW5CW at gcarccourses@gmail.com and acquire information you would need to attend. Also in the works are ONLINE CW COURSES designed for the beginner in CW to the Advanced Operators and will eventually include training on CW Contesting. 

The special radio events held during the year are the following…

Perrin Field Special Event  May 18th @ 0000z to May 24th @ 2359z using the call W5P (concluded)

Red River Bridge War Special Event- July 20th@0000z to July 26 @2359z using the call W5B (concluded)

NEXT SPECIAL EVENT

Eisenhower Birthday Special Event – October 12 @ 0000z to October 18 @2359z using 10 1-X-1 calls to spell Eisenhower

The club participates in Winter and Summer Field Day operational events to hone skills in both casual and emergency communications.  Whether you are a seasoned ham, just earned your license, or are interested in learning more about amateur radio, you are welcome to the GCARC. 

The GCARC is now doing ARRL license testing once a month just prior to the general meetings on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. If you would like more information or want to sign up for a test session, just go to the dropdown at the top of this webpage called ‘ABOUT GCARC’ and then select ‘License Testing’ from the dropdown menu. All the information you need, prior to arriving to take the test, can be found on that page. Also, there is a link on that page that will instruct you on what to bring to the test session. If you are applying for your first license, you must go online and acquire your FRN number BEFORE arriving to take a test. Your testing VE cannot submit your test results to the ARRL without your FRN. You do not have to be a GCARC member to take ARRL license tests by the GCARC.