The Club

Tom Fronapfel (K5EIS) was one of the organizers of the club and Ed Jones (K5ZPC) was a charter member.  The following is a little bit of information about the beginnings of SWDCARC as told by Tom:

“I worked with Bill Smith (W5WSF/KO5Y) and Fran Shieffer (WA5WFY) to form the Southwest Dallas County ARC in the early 70’s. We initially met in the auditorium of the decommissioned Nike Army base in Duncanville. We didn’t think there were enough Hams in the city of Duncanville to support a Duncanville club, so we selected a club name that would encompass more cities and therefore, more potential members, without encroaching on other ARCs in the area. We drafted an initial constitution and bylaws for approval at the first meeting and started spreading the news about establishing a local club to support a local 2 meter repeater.  By the second year, our membership was at 58 members”

Be sure to check out Tom’s Ham Radio story at:   http://www.qsl.net/k5eis/

The Southwest Dallas County Amateur Radio Club has been very active in its communities. The club has assisted in numerous bicycle rallies over the years for Oak Cliff, the City of Duncanville and lately for the Cedar Hill Rotary Club’s Head For The Hills Bike Rally. Our assistance was in the communications portion of the events. The club has also donated books for the libraries in Duncanville, DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Lancaster and Grand Prairie to assist interested people in getting their amateur radio license. We also have donated time and money to other civic projects.

Along with the community service, we also have found time for other projects such as participation in the National ARRL Field Day each June, achieving the top score for the 3A category in the West Gulf Division in 2006 (coming in 5^th overall in class 3A) as well as attending various Ham Conventions throughout the area. Our club has had numerous members participate in the Texas QSO party each year, as well as other contests.  We have transmitter hunts to learn how to become proficient in finding the “fox” or transmitter.  There are many different ways to participate in the Amateur Radio hobby.  This club also offers opportunities to test for the primary license or upgrade to the next level.  We also have a weekly net on the two-meter repeater on Monday at 8:00 p.m. All licensed amateurs (members or not) are encouraged to participate.

This is a family oriented club.  Husbands and wives are involved with the club, and licensed children often participate in Field Day or other club events.  Practically every aspect of Amateur radio can be found practiced by some member of SWDCARC such as ATV, CW, SSB, PSK31, packet, contesting, QRP, RTTY or satellite to name just a few.

We invite you to attend one of our general membership meetings to find out more about SWDCARC. Our general membership meetings are very little “business meetings” as that is mostly done at the Board Meetings. We have interesting programs at our general membership meetings and encourage you to attend!

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SWDCARC