Red River Valley Amateur Amateur Radio Club celebrates 50th Anniversary

On May 20, 2023, the Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club (RRVARC) WB5RDD will mark its 50th Anniversary. The celebration will be held at High Cotton Kitchen located at 1260 Clarksville St. in Paris at 10 a.m. Confirmed guest speakers are Lamar County Judge Brandon Bell, Paris PD Assistant Chief Randy Tuttle and ham operators that are descendants of original Club members.

The RRVARC was established in 1973 by committed ham radio operators in the local community. Since then, the Club has established a dedicated location at the Paris Police Department headquarters, operating from their Emergency Operations Center (EOC), while providing community communications services. These services include tornado/storm spotting, ice storm communications support and planned functions such as Tour de Paris where the Club serves as the communications coordinator.

The entire region has been well served by the Club’s partnership with the National Weather Service (NWS) Fort Worth and a link via the North Central Texas Connection (NCTC) to one of the Club’s radio repeaters. Trained storm spotters/observers in the field provide information to Club personnel at the EOC, which in turn can provide that information to NWS personnel. The Club has served the Lamar County and Red River Valley communities for 50 years, supporting first responders in disasters of all types.

Founding members Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA), his wife Patricia (WD5FGW) and Mike Rice (WB5KWK), all continue to participate in the Club and membership continues to grow. The Club and individuals have received commendations from the Lamar County Judge and County Commissioners, thanking them for their dedicated service.

In the last few years, the RRVARC became an IRS 501(c)3 non-profit, purchased the domain name wb5rdd.org and launched a successful Internet presence. Recently RRVARC established a relationship with Broadcastify.com and started simulcasting the local repeater frequency (146.76) from the website via a direct link to Broadcastify and the Broadcastify smartphone app. In a disaster, even non-hams can now go to the wb5rdd.org website and live-stream our radio transmissions.

The group is an Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) affiliated Club, regularly teaches classes leading to licensing and conducts quarterly test sessions. Some groups that have taken training from RRVARC are church groups, Boy Scouts, Civil Air Patrol and volunteer firefighters, to mention a few.

For more information, additional material or to secure an interview, please contactmedia@wb5rdd.org or RRVARC Secretary Philip Beall (W5EBC) at 214-729-6182.