Links – Harris County ARES

Communication Tools

https://stxares.groups.io/g/main – South Texas (STX) ARES Forum
https://stxares.groups.io/g/District-14 – STX District 14 (D14) Forum
https://stxares.groups.io/g/District-14-NW – STX D14 Northwest Unit Forum
https://stxares.groups.io/g/District-14-SW – STX D14 Southwest Unit Forum
Winlink Globa l Radio Email – our primary radio email communication tool, even if you don’t have a radio
STX Depot – Where your competency and training Task Book is held
WebEOC – instructions are found here.

CISA.gov Field ops Guides (FOG’s): National Interoperability (NIFOG) & Auxiliary Communications (AuxFOG)
7290 Traffic Net – Radiograms (formally known as “traffic”) are passed around the world daily on 7290Hz.
The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN.org)
Texas Power Outage Map
APRS.FI – See the location of any APRS-enabled radio.
ARRL Numbered Radiogram Lookup
RadioReference.com Houston Frequencies – Just about every public and private entity’s registered frequencies listed in one place.
Repeaterbook.com List of Texas Repeaters | Repeaterbook.com Proximity Search | Repeaterbook.com Houston Area Repeaters
Houston-Area AM/FM Radio Stations – Good for getting the news when things have gone poorly. Consider printing this.
FEMA.gov Resource Typing Library Tool – Need to lookup a specific flavor of MRE to order for a deployment? Find it here.
N5TW’s PacStat Station Uptime Reporter – This site shows all the Texas Packet & VARAFM Winlink RMS Stations.
University of Texas Topographical Map Archive
CenterPoint Energy Power Outage Tracker
CHIRP – Program most radios on the fly with your laptop and the appropriate programming cable

HF Signal Identification Guide
Vernon Mauery’s EMF Exposure Calculator – Every station is now required to have an analysis of the EMF transmitted, this handy calculator makes it easy to get such a thing.
Antenna Feedline Loss Calculator – Feedline loss will almost certainly be a larger factor in lost power than SWR, figure out by how much with this nifty tool.
ARRL Frequency Allocation Chart | ARRL Frequency Allocation List
Pure ERP and EIRP Calculator – What wattage are you transmitting when you factor in the gain of your antenna?
APRS.MENNOLINK.org – See the current APRS repeaters that can hear each other, indicating VHF band conditions and openings.
HamCall.net/GreatCircle – Order a printed map with your point-to-point distance to anywhere in the world, with the direction and major cities.
Amateur Radio License Map – Map the FCC’s listing for any US Ham’s QTH.
Net Logger
Ham Radio Licensee Map – See where a licensee is registered to on a map, with surrounding licensees.

All About Ham Radio for Beginners
FEMA’s Official Emergency Management Institute – Take the ICS (IS) 100, 200, 700, and 800 classes online free of charge here.
- IS-100
- IS-200
- IS-700
- IS-800
FEMA’s Student Identification System – Create an account (SID) in order to take ICS Exams.
ARRL STX Depot – Log the date of your ICS exam completion here, this is your “Task Book.”
Preparing Texas – Texas Division of Emergency Management. Upload your ICS completion certifications here as well.
Winlink Workshops – Setup, configuration, different modes of digital communication
HamStudy.org – Free website to learn and study the test question pools for your next license class. Look for contributions from Harris County ARES Members.
ARRL ARES Page
ARRL EmComm Training Page
ARRL South Texas Section (STX) Page