Honey Grove, Texas -- The last weekend of January is reserved for Winter Field Day, where the Fannin County Amateur Radio Club joins other radio operators to test equipment and make contacts with as many other operators as possible across the country and around the world.

Members gathered at the Honey Grove EOC to operate three radios on different “bands” including 10-, 20, 40, 80-meters to log those contacts, and enjoy visiting while others took a turn on the airwaves. Guests shared in the excitement of contacts, and our Chili Cook Off as well. Duncan Berry took home the trophy this year.

Some members opted to spend the night working the radios in the wee hours of the morning. The previous week that time had been roaring on some of the bands. Saturday night was a little different unfortunately, as propagation came and went.

At the end of the time period for Winter Field Day, FCARC had 396 unique contacts. We had all states except North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, and Louisiana. We missed the sections West Texas and San Diego, California as well. Some states have more sections due to the number of operators in the state. We even made contacts in Alaska and Hawaii! Contacts in other countries (we call that DX) were made as well.

Fannin County Amateur Radio Club meets the third Saturday of each month at 9:00 a.m. The regular meeting place is at Bois d’Arc Creek Cowboy Church on SH 121 S. Meetings are open, and we invite guests to check out our operations.

Our website is www.k5frc.org and we have Facebook page as Fannin County Amateur Radio.