Amateur radio club to set up emergency repeater in old Cooke County jail

GAINESVILLE, Texas — The Cooke County Amateur Radio Repeater Association will set up an emergency communications station in the old radio room of the former county jail, after commissioners approved the arrangement Monday. The group, known as CCARRA, plans to install a repeater on a 250-foot antenna that previously carried the VHF Sheriff’s Office dispatch signal and is currently out of service. The repeater will support severe weather spotting, Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) operations, and real-time coordination with the National Weather Service. The equipment came from the estate of James Floyd, a CCARRA charter member who died and had operated the repeater system from his home. CCARRA member Rickey Nichols told commissioners the group acquired Floyd’s equipment and intends to make it available to the public. “We got the equipment that was used at his house, and it would be available to the public,” Nichols said. Emergency Management Coordinator Brown said the primary county cost would be electricity to power the repeater — less than what the county spends powering the light fixtures in the commissioners chamber. HAM radio operators play a formal role in Texas emergency response through the ARES program, which partners licensed amateur radio volunteers with government agencies when commercial communications fail during storms, disasters, or other emergencies. In other business Monday, commissioners approved removing a firearms prohibition from the county employee handbook and voted to form a committee to oversee hiring of a new Emergency Medical Services director.