Radio Amateurs of Cass County

Congratulations to Harold McMullen KE5WCQ for upgrading to general, to Bryan Loper KG5VDK and 16-year-old Jake Stegall KG5VDL for passing their technician!  Special thanks to all the VEs who volunteered with the test sessions.

Danny Richard KG5ESG was appointed the new ARES Emergency Coordinator for Cass and Morris County on June 21.  Danny got to work on implementing a county emergency communications plan for the counties.  Jim Collom N5YU donated a dedicated ARES repeater that provides wide coverage for both counties.

November marks the final formal club meeting each year for the RACC.  The 2017 officers were elected, and the 2016 RACC Christmas Party plans were finalized to be held at the Champions Bible Church on Saturday, December 17, 2016 at 6:30pm.  

An unusual band opening on 2 meters allowed for FM contacts to be made on simplex and repeaters further than two hundred miles away late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning (16-17 November 2016). 

The ARRL sent a mass email soliciting member support and action to encourage elected representatives to vote in favor of the Amateur Radio Parity Act.  The league has made it easy by pre-loading a form on a website where members can type in their information, and an email is sent to the appropriate representatives.

You can help, too!  Go to: https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ctas/urge-us-senate-to-pass-amateur-radio-parity-act

I went to the link and followed the instructions with a small twist...

A petition submitted to the Federal Communications Commission suggests limiting a vanity call sign grant to the duration of the amateur radio license.  

Recipients of the RACC Newsletter will start seeing something new starting in November.

The newsletter will feature a "License and Member Status" section that will check various aspects of the recipients amateur radio license, club membership, and ARRL membership status.

Congratulations to Ken Everage KG5POL for upgrading to General Class!

From Roger Fouse KB5ROD:  

"Bob Jones, mentor to many of us in the RACC club still getting QSL cards. Received this today in the mail and it was addressed to the Radio Amateurs of Cass County. At first I thought it was a QSL confirming a QSO on Texas QSO party day till I noticed the date and Frequency. Bob loved working 17 meters. Good work Bob"

Dan Bradshaw KG5PNN, Ken Everage KG5POL, and Roger Strong KG5PNM passed the Technician Exam at the VE Test Session after the RACC September club meeting!  

N52236 1943 Boeing A75N1 (Navy PT17)

We all remember the real pretty red and white bi-plane that showed up at the Fly-In back in May. Today, that plane crashed at the Indian Hills Country Club golf course across US 59 from the airport we meet each month.

Occasionally, we hear them on the air... the 'lids' or 'trolls' or otherwise just sorry hams.  I like to think that most of the time it's a non-ham who has an illegal radio.

I can't imagine how or why anybody with a ham radio license would want to bring discredit to the hobby.  The first lesson every ham should learn is what's in the very first part of Part 97!

Do you enjoy using the Freedom Link or NCTC linked repeater systems?  Prepare to be insulted!

Vicki Daniel passed her Technician License Exam at the VE Test Session after the August RACC regular club meeting.

Members of the RACC gathered after the July 2016 club meeting to see who could launch a bullet the farthest and closest to a target from their antenna launchers.

You can view the entire >>> Photo Gallery <<<

Two separate VE test sessions were conducted in July 2016.

Members of the Radio Amateurs of Cass County started gathering at the Hall-Miller Airport in Atlanta, Texas for the annual ARRL Field Day at 9:30am on Saturday, June 25, 2016. They selected the open grassy area on the right just after entering the gate leading into the airport where an open hangar recently stood.

The club operated using the club call sign with the designation 4A in the North Texas (NTX) section.  The club operated from Saturday at 1300 CDT until lightning came in to the area at approximately 1000 CDT on Sunday.  137 contacts were logged. Bobby WB5OSD logged 78 CW contacts, and the other stations accumulated 59 phone contacts.

Eric Woods of Texarkana, AR tested during the VE Test Session after the June RACC meeting.

There were two VE Test sessions held after the May 2016 RACC club meeting resulting in 6 new technicians and 1 upgrade to General class!

The Freedom Link Group will be able to connect to the North Central Texas Connection through the Sulphur Springs repeater increasing the footprint all the way to Abilene, Texas.

Students in the ham radio course as part of the BLAST after-school program aren't just learning about ham radio, they're experiencing it!  For the past seven weeks, Jerry Goodson W5BFF has been working with four students who are working towards passing the technician exam.  Launching the weather balloon was the "hands on" exercise during the course.  

 This is the new website that will replace the hand-coded HTML website at http://www.raccradio.org