The Travis County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (TCARES) Texas is in District 7 of the South Texas ARES Section of the West Gulf Division of the ARRL. It has been serving Travis County and other agencies for over 50 years (established in 1972).
Monthly Meetings
Our meetings are held the 4th Tuesday of the month (in person and via Zoom). Please join our mailing list for an invite.
Weekly Voice Nets
We hold a weekly net each week, check out our Voice Net page for details and information.
Our Primary Agencies
Following our Operational Priorities, the Travis County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (TCARES) provides emergency communications to several served agencies with the motto “When All Else Fails”. Our members include industry experts in Engineering, Radio Communications, Emergency Management, Information Technology, Architecture, Counseling, and Disaster Response (and many others).
TCARES primarily operates and services Travis County, located in Austin, Texas.
The American Red Cross in addition to providing back-up communications as needed, TCARES maintains a radio room, and antennas at the Austin, TX Red Cross Facility .
TCARES is a SKYWARN partner organization. During weather events TCARES activates a weather net for amateur radio operators to report rainfall rates, strong winds or whatever type of weather report the net control operator is currently requesting.
Other Agencies
ARCHES (Amateur Radio Communication Hospitals Emergency System) provides back-up voice and packet communications between 15 area hospitals and the Emergency Operations Center
ADRN (Austin Disaster Recovery Network) – supplements ham radio operations to needs assessment and disaster recovery efforts
CTECC (Combined Transportation, Emergency, and Communications Center) – ARES equips and mans a radio room connected to the EOC that commands all emergencies in the city and county
Infrastructure Awareness gathers information on the functionality of basic infrastructure and provides that information through MARS to the Department of Defense and Homeland Security in the event of terrorist or cyber attack
Natural Disasters can make communications infrastructure inoperable, non-functional or overloaded. ARES provides back-up communications locally, in adjacent counties or regionally with the Austin Rapid Response Team
Want to help?
If you are interested in helping, we’d love to have you? Please join TCARES.