OFFICER ELECTIONS WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE NEXT CLUB MEETING ON NOVEMBER 19, 2024. MEETINGS ARE HELD AT THE TEXOMA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS BUILDING IN SHERMAN, TEXAS. More details on the upcoming elections can be found at the drop down menu above.

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 November 25th 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 regular club meeting is on

Tuesday–November 19, 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

NEW NOTICE

The previously in-person scheduled Advanced CW Class that was to take place in the fall will not happen this year. There has been a lack of interest in an advanced course. In order to qualify, the applicant needed to be comfortable with sending and receiving at 20 WPM. The class goal is to to send and receive between 25-35 WPM. Instead of an in person class – the goal now is to provide online courses available for applicants to take at their leisure. Announcements of the online courses will now be delayed until 2025, when the courses are expected to be completed and ready for anyone interested from beginner to advanced sending and receiving CW. Speeds will be from 5 WPM to 35 WPM, and later in the year, a CW Contesting Class will commence. 

If anyone is interested in a CW online course, please advise James – KW5CW of your interest and he will keep you informed as to when the online courses are available. Their most likely will be a very slight fee to take an online course, to cover time to develop each class curriculum and the time it will take to assist applicants during the course process. There will be a Basic Course to cover 5-13 WPM, and Intermediate Course to cover 13-20 WPM, and an Advanced Course to cover 25-35 WPM. Eventually, there will be a Contesting Class, that most likely will not be available until the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026. 

The special radio events held during 2024 were the following…

Eisenhower Birthday Special Event Oct 12 – 18, 2024 (concluded)

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

Perrin Field Special Event May 17 through 23, 2025  @3459z using call W5P (concluded)

The club also participated and operated at the Solar Eclipse Event on April 8th, 2024 at Bonham State Park.

Contacts were made during the Solar Eclipse Cycle and several stations participated in the United States that were in the shadow of the eclipse. This rear event will take place again on August 23, 2044, but only can be seen from Montana, North and South Dakota. Similarly, the next solar eclipse will also only block part of the sun. On March 29, 2025 a partial solar eclipse will be visible in areas of Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America and the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, according to NASA. After the 2044 and 2045 total solar eclipses, the next total eclipses in North America will occur in 2078 and 2099. This total solar eclipse on May 11, 2078, will pass over the southern United States. This total solar eclipse on Sept. 14, 2099, will cross a wide swath of the United States.

 

NEXT OPERATING EVENT

CLUB WINTER FIELD DAY – January 25 and January 26, 2025 to be held at Eisenhower State Park

(tentative at this time)

COMPLETE WINTER FIELD DAY 2025  OPERATING DETAILS CAN BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING LINK…

WINTER FIELD DAY 2025 DETAILS

 

 

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.