10/16/2022

The San Angelo Amateur Radio Club[1] (SAARC), based in San Angelo, Texas, will
celebrate their 100th anniversary on October 15, 2022. The club has engaged in
a century of community service, science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) education, emergency preparedness, and disaster response.

Founded in 1922, SAARC held their first meeting on June 14 of that year, and
membership today has grown to 40 members. The celebration will take place at
their clubhouse located at 5513 Stewart Lane in San Angelo. It will include a
tailgate swap meet starting at 9 AM, amateur radio operators working to make
contacts with 100 stations, and the Boy Scouts Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA).

The club call sign, W5QX, honors Carl Brinegar, who originally held the call
sign of 5QX before the "W" prefix was added. He was one of the earliest members
of SAARC.

SAARC is currently working in partnership with Angelo State University's Mayer
Museum[2], located on the campus of Angelo State University, to create an
exhibit that will tell the story of local radio pioneers. Topics will include
amateur radio operators, retail radio businesses, public safety radio
innovators, and broadcast radio stations that formed in the Concho Valley area
in the 1920s and 1930s.

Club member Mike Dominy, KD5URW, said SAARC is the only club within a 70-mile
radius of San Angelo, Texas. "Our club and Amateur Radio Emergency Service¿
volunteers, cover 14,000 square miles with a population of 165,000," said
Dominy. "With cell phone coverage only along major roads and highways amateur
radio is the only communication during storms and tornadoes."

Dominy added that there are only 381 licensed amateur radio operators in the
area, and the club is working on grants to add and upgrade repeaters under a
5-year plan.

The SAARC is an ARRL Affiliated Club.

[1] https://www.w5qx.org/
[2] https://www.angelo.edu/community/mayer-museum/

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