09/20/2026
Texas QSO Party — K5QHD Clubhouse Operation
What a fun day of radio!
The Garland Amateur Radio Club participated in the Texas QSO Party from the K5QHD clubhouse station, combining our regular Open House with an opportunity for members and visitors to experience HF contesting and the excitement of a QSO party.
We operated two radios, primarily on 40 and 20 meters, and made 46 contacts during the operation.
Our Results
46 total QSOs
24 QSOs on 40 meters
22 QSOs on 20 meters
44 SSB contacts
1 JS8/MFSK digital contact
1 Digital Voice/FreeDV contact
22 contacts explicitly identified as Texas stations
The Texas contacts covered counties including:
Bastrop, Bexar, Brazos, Burleson, Dallas, Fayette, Galveston, Harris, Knox, Leon, Liberty/San, Madison, Montgomery, Milam, Nueces, Robertson, Smith, Tarrant, Walker, , and the SABI county entry.
Also made contacts with operators across the country, including stations in Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Connecticut, Illinois, Wisconsin, Virginia, Arizona, and Minnesota.
Chasing Texas Mobile
One of the highlights was catching K5EC, a Texas mobile station, on 40 meters. We worked the station multiple times as it provided contacts from several different Texas counties:
Madison
Brazos
Robertson
Leon
That was a great example of what makes a QSO party fun — watching a mobile station move through different counties and trying to work it as the county changed.
More Than Just Contacts
The QSO Party was also a great learning opportunity.
We had new operators getting experience using the club's HF equipment, giving them an opportunity to see what it's like to tune into a busy band, make contacts, exchange information, and work through the excitement of a pileup.
There were definitely moments when the bands got busy and we had to manage the pileup
And although most of our contacts were SSB, we also mixed in some digital experimentation, with one JS8 contact (text based) and one FreeDV digital voice contact making it into the log.
A Great Club Activity
The Texas QSO Party gave us a little bit of everything:
HF operating • Contesting • Texas counties • Mobile stations • Pileups • Digital modes • New operators • Out-of-state contacts • Club station activity
Most importantly, it gave members an opportunity to get on the air and operate rather than simply talk about radio.
The ADIF log shows nearly eight hours of logged QSO activity, while the overall clubhouse participation stretched to roughly 12 hours as members came and went, operated the radios, experimented with equipment, and enjoyed the Open House.
A big thank-you to everyone who stopped by, operated, chased contacts, helped with the radios, or simply hung around and shared the experience.
That's what amateur radio is all about — getting on the air, learning something new, and having fun together.
Remember: If you participated on your own using your personal callsign, when you submit your log, please make sure to indicate that you are participating as part of the Garland Amateur Radio Club.
Your contacts and points can then be counted toward the club aggregate score.
