About Our Group
The purpose of our group is to support the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management (GCOEM), which is located in the Galveston County Emergency Management Facility (EMF) on FM 646 in League City, just east of Interstate 45.
Our group is composed of amateur radio operators from Galveston and surrounding counties. Our station (callsign WR5GC) resides in the EMF. When the group is activated by the GCOEM, we operate the station in shifts. We pass emergency traffic between GCOEM personnel and other agencies around the country. We monitor emergency traffic nets and local repeaters during activations. We have radio operators who are ready to assist in locations throughout the county at local city Emergency Operations Centers.
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We manage two repeaters, both of which have their antennas located at the EMF: 145.410 MHz (tone 131.8 Hz) and 442.225 MHz (tone 131.8 Hz). In the radio room we have two dual-band Icom IC-2720 radios, one Kenwood TS-570S HF transceiver, one Kenwood TM-261A used in conjunction with a Kantronics KPC-3+ TNC for Airmail and packet (WR5GC on 145.050 MHz), and a Yaesu FT-8800R dual band radio which is used for Skywarn (WX5HGX).
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Membership in our group does not require dues of any kind, and membership in other area groups or clubs is encouraged. Emergency communications training is taught for the benefit of our members, and to allow us to serve the GCOEM to our fullest capacity. We meet on the fourth Thursday of each month, at the EMF. During periods when we are not activated, we occasionally operate our ham equipment at WR5GC to maintain proficiency and equipment operability.
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Click HERE for a more detailed Powerpoint presentation about our group and amateur radio. Thank you for exploring our website.