Welcome To the Grayson County Amateur Radio Club

The Grayson County Amateur Radio Club was founded in 1994. The club is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization that promotes HAM radio in the Grayson County area. Our Goal is to have fun with Amateur Radio and provide vital emergency communications services to our communities. Membership fees and Donations are appreciated and are used to:

1) Facilitate the club working with local government and other community organizations to provide emergency communications during hazardous weather and local area disasters, or safety observation communications during local community events.
2) Conduct special radio event stations that commemorate significant local historical events in Grayson County.

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

Perrin Field Special Event – May (CONCLUDED)
Red River Bridge War Special Event- July (CONCLUDED) – W5R
Eisenhower Birthday Special Event – October

The club participates in Winter and Summer Field Day operational events to hone skills in both casual and emergency communications.  Winter Field Day 2023 is already history, but proved to be an enormous success as it was held at the Eisenhower State Park for the very first time this past January. The ‘Chili Cookoff’ was added to the event and it was interesting and fun to see who could brew up the best tasting chili of all who submitted their entries.

Summer Field Day has also come and gone, and just like Winter Field Day, it was held at a new location at the Eisenhower Birthplace Historical Site.  At all GCARC field events, everyone who attends has a chance to participate and make contacts, including visitors.   The modes of Sideband, digital were used this year. It was a fun event, and already the club has scheduled a reoccurring event for Summer Field Day 2024, June 22nd and 23rd. Note: Field Day weekend is always the 4th weekend of the month of June, and in 2024, there happens to be 5 weekends that month. 

We do not require you to be a member of the club to participate in our events, so feel free to jump in and join in the fun. 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 EXCEPT in December. 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. 

Our Club nets are held 8:00 PM on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month on the W5RVT 147.000 repeater.

The ‘Ladies Net’ is held on the 4th Monday night of each month at 7PM on the KG5SKM repeater – 441.325 + 5 MHZ pl tone of 82.5. Net Control is Tamara Higgins KI5ZIP. 

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

The general meetings will move from Grandys Restaurant, 3201 Texoma Parkway, Sherman, TX 75090, to TCOG (Texas Counsel of Governments, located at the following address, starting on October 17th, 2023. 

1117 Gallagher Road

Sherman Texas, 75090

Jim – KI5BMN -73

President of the GCARC