Williamson County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, WC-ARES, consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment, with their local ARES leadership, for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. We are located in Williamson County, Texas, USA, normally meet on the 2nd Thursday of the month at the Williamson County ESOC, 911 Tracy Chambers Lane, Georgetown TX 78626. If you are not a member and are interested in attending our meeting you need to contact EC@wc-ares.org for approval prior to the meeting.

Our meetings start at 7:30 PM and we try to have a Guest Speaker, ARES Topic or Training at each meeting which last for about an hour. The only thing “Amateur” about this group is in the name. We strive to provide the most Professional Radio Operators possible. We support both government and non-government organizations with emergency communications in times of emergency.

WC-ARES uses two open repeaters:

• 147.080 PL=100.0 in Georgetown * (listen link)
• 146.640 PL=162.2 in Georgetown 
  • Linked with 145.45 PL=162.2 in Taylor
  • Echolink enabled, node N5TT-R

* We hold a training net on the 147.080 repeater every Sunday at 8:00 PM. The NET may be on either repeater, depending on conditions.

WC-ARES also owns a portable emergency repeater for use in disaster areas. It currently uses the frequency 444.650 and a tone of 100.0. The frequency is anticipated to change once we acquire a new duplexer. It is only on the air for disaster use, and would be in the disaster area.

Austin Ionosonde: real-time data from the Austin, TX ionosonde solar weather.