HENLEYFIELD - Operating this year with a new callsign, the Pearl River County Amateur Radio Club placed second in category 2A in the 2010 American Radio Relay League Field Day contest. The local club placed fifth overall in the state of Mississippi.
      Mississippi amateur radio heavyweight Magnolia DX Association - which traditionally leads all entries in the state, had a dual-submission, operating this year in conjunction with Jackson County Amateur Radio Association. The dual team claimed a score of 8,636 operating in classification 4A. The score included 2,423 QSOs and 119 participants.
    Coming in second overall this year, and claiming first place in classification 2A was the Mississippi State University Amateur Radio Club with a score of 4,058 with 1,471 contacts and nine participants. The Jackson Amateur Radio Club placed third overall and first in classification 3A with 772 QSOs and 85 claimed participants.
    Coming in fourth overall in Mississippi and first in classification 1E was Curtis Waites of Petal, Ms. His was a one-man operation and earned 3,996 points for his 924 QSOs.
    In fifth overall and second in classification 2A was the Pearl River County Amateur Radio Club, operating again this year at the Henleyfield Community Center pavilion. The local club claimed 3,404 points and 953 contacts with 22 people participating. The club used the new call sign K5PMS this year and KR5T for the GOTA station.   
    The remainder of the top 20 scores for Mississippi were:

Club Name                         Class    Points
Jones County ARC               3F       2,742
S.W. Mississippi ARC          1A       2,188
Dixie Amateur Radio Team    3A      2,138
Olive Branch ARC                 2A      2,004
Tupelo ARC                          2F      1,582
ARC Amite County                3A     1,500
Tishomingo Co. ARC             5AC   1,360
Central MS. ARA                  2A     1,350
Larry Morgan                        1D      867
Van Richardson                    1D      774
MS Coast ARA                     3A      754
Charles Anderson                 1E       560
Meridian ARC                       1F       472
Luther Bishop                       1E      402
Central MS Field Unit            2D      258

The Pearl River County Amateur Radio Club is looking into holding a Special Event Station event station in conjunction with the Stennis Space Center Amateur Radio Club.

Details have not yet been worked out, but the plan would allow members to set up and operate an amateur radio station from the grounds of the Stennis Space Center, located just south of Picayune in north-western Hancock County.

The special event station would be a first-time collaboration between the Pearl River County group and the Stennis amateur radio group.

POPLARVILLE - The Pearl River County Amateur Radio Club voted to hold the annual Field Day event inside the county at February’s regular monthly meeting.

    Studies are being done now to determine the exact location of the Field Day Event. 

POPLARVILLE - A Technician-level

ham radio licensure class has been scheduled for early March in Poplarville. The two-day class will be held Saturday, March 7 and Saturday March 14, with testing for license to be offered the following weekend - Saturday, March 21.

The class will be taught by Pearl River County Amateur Radio Club Vice-President Larry Wagoner, and will cover all material necessary to pass the technician level examination for license. Subjects included in the class will be FCC law that governs amateur operation, examinations, call signs, international laws that govern radio operations, authorized frequencies, amateur radio licenses, types of operation, who can operate a station, methods of operation, basic electronic and radio theory, radio equipment, common problems and how to avoid or fix them, digital communications, special kinds of operations including via internet or satellites, emergency operations, antennas and of course, safety.

The class itself is free, but testing for license costs $14. All materials necessary for the class other than a pen or pencil and scratch paper is provided.