NO...  I said ARCHES as in, "Amateur Radio Communications Hospital Emergency Service".  All six hospitals in Williamson County have two VHF/UHF dual band radios.  On the 3rd Friday of every month we try to visit each hospital and test the radios.  We make a few voice contacts on the "Voice" radio and send a few short email messages on the "Packet" radio.  Both radios are the same make/model, just one has a microphone and the other a TNC, Terminal Node Controller.

If you would like to join us just to see what all the fuss is about fell free to do so.  We use the WC-ARES Yahoo Group to coordinate who is going to visit which hospital.  We use the WCARC repeater to coordinate any last minute changes and to coordinate the flow of email messages sent by Packet Radio.

 We do have some loosely defined teams and are always looking for more members:

• Paul, NE5PR, leads the team at St. David's Round Rock Medical Center.
• Keith, KE5ITH, leads the team at St. David's Georgetown Hospital.
• Charles, N5EXY, leads the team at Johns Community Hospital Taylor.
• Brad, NA5BD, leads the team at Seton Medical Center Williamson.
• John, KE5RS, leads the team at Cedar Park Regional Medical Center.
• Al, KE5OIZ, leads the team at Scott & White Medical University Center.

We also have two EOCs, Emergency Operations Centers, that have their own setups and commonly refer to all of this as ARCHES.

• Tom, W2MN, leads the team at the Cedar Park EOC.
• Dan, KB5TWO, leads the team at the Round Rock EOC.

To find out more about ARCHES or how you can help send me an email, chat with me on the radio, or catch me at one of our meetings, or fell free to contact one of the above members on our Yahoogroup.

73 Dallas, KD4HNX

Jim, NQ5L, needs to know who all will be able to help with this years SET (Simulated Emergency Test).  Part of the SET will be to test our knowledge of the WC-ARES Emergency Communications Plan.  We will also exsersize the Telephone Tree a few days before the SET and use it to remind WCARC members of the Club Picnic. 

To help Jim better write the script for the SET he needs to have an idea who all will be available and what resources they can bring to the table. 

Just some examples of where we get our training...

• Weekly ARES Nets, VHF and HF
  • Sunday Training Net; 8:00 PM on 146.640, - 600 Shift, PL=162.2
  • Monday Night ARES Net;
• Montly Meetings, 2nd Thrusday - Round Rock Fire Station at 7:00 PM
• Articles in QST
• Comments shared on various ARES Yahoogroups:
  • Williamson Co ARES
    • Send an email to:  to join. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • Travis Co ARES
    • Send an email to:  to join. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • ARRLSTX
    • Send an email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  to join.
• ARRL Courses AREC, Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
  • EC-001
  • EC-002
  • EC-003
• FEMA Courses ICS, Incident Command System
  • ICS-100
  • ICS-200
  • ICS-700
  • ICS-800
• Public Service Events
• Field Day
• SETs

Our Meetings are on the 2nd Thursday of every month at 7:00 PM at the new Round Rock Fire Station on Joe Dimaggio Blvd.  Joe Dimaggio Blvd. is just West of entrance to the Dell Diamond/Old Settlers Park on (Hwy 79) E. Palm Valley Blvd.  We use the 146.640 (- 600 / PL 162.2) Georgetown repeater as our talk-in frequency.  Visitors are always welcome.