January 2026

DEC Bulletin

I hope everyone reading this had Happy Holidays and I hope your New Year in 2026 will be prosperous. I also hope Santa brought that new radio or accessory you have been wanting.

For 2026 EPCARES will continue to finish up the American Red Cross (ARC) amateur radio station at the Fort Bliss office. EPCARES is looking for two Amateur Radio Communications Teams (ARCT) Type 2 and Four ARCT Type 5 operators to provide radio support to the ARC office on Admiral street and Ft. Bliss offices. For more information interested candidates should contact me at the email address shown below.

EPCARES in 2026 will be experimenting with Meshtastic to see how we can integrate it into our toolbox for EMCOMM use.

We have some exercises with the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) coming up in 2026. The dates are yet to be determined. One of the exercises will be involving all of District 6 of the West Texas Section. I will announce these exercises and the number of volunteers needed when more information is available.

We still have a need for 11 volunteers for the hospital communications project. Interested candidates can contact me as shown below.

New for 2026. EPCARES will begin having ARES® Training Net on the Amigo Link frequencies on Wednesdays immediately after the SKYWARN Net. Non-ARES® amateur radio operators are welcome to check in. Please follow the instructions given in the net preamble on how to check in. The first training net will be Wednesday, January 21, 2026.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Lew Maxwell, KB5HPT

Amateur Radio Emergency Service

DEC, District 6, WTX Section

TX RACES: DRO-8A

Email: kb5hpt@arrl.net