W5ECO - Houston ECHO Society

Welcome! The Houston ECHO Society is a general interest amateur (ham) radio club serving greater Houston Texas, founded in 1974 to provide autopatches and assist with emergency communications. ECHO stands for Emergency Communications by Ham Operators. Today cell phones have replaced most of the autopatches on repeaters, but emergency communications is always of importance to the community.  ECHO maintains repeaters that may be used in times of emergencies as well as providing a pool of trained radio operators to assist in that effort. Houston is hurricane prone, so hams are vital if the area is hit by storms and bad weather. Click on a link below to learn more about ECHO. The club call is W5ECO. Photos of some of our activities are at the bottom of this page and on our photos page.

• Next club meeting -- Monday, May 11 at the American Red Cross, with pre-meeting dinner at 5 p.m. at Goode Company Taqueria, Westpark at Kirby. Our meeting will feature a zoom presentation by Randy Shirbroun, ND0C. Randy was first licensed in 1968 as a Novice (WN0VBW) when he was 14 years old living in western Iowa.  Since 1980 he has operated exclusively QRP from hias home station using either an old Ten Tec Argonaut 509 (3 watts) or a Yaesu FT-897D (running 5 watts). After retiring those rigs, he moved up to a Yaesu FTdx3000, which he runs only at 5 watts. His zoom presentation will be all about operating QRP. Zoom link will be sent out with the meeting reminder.
• Upcoming presentations - June will have an in-person/zoom presentation on scanner radios and how P25 changed emergency communications for goverment and private businesses. July will focus on the world of GMRS. August will be on JOTA and September on the Texas QSO Party.
  
• ECHO is always looking for amateur radio presentations. If you have a specialty contact martingblaise at gmail dot com. Presentations can be in person or by ZOOM.
• Please direct all "snail mail" correspondence to: Houston ECHO Society, Attn: Mike Nault, 2016 Peppermill Rd., Houston TX 77080-5541. For national information on ham radio visit the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL).
• Houston Area Hamfest Information
• More club info: ECHO membership application  Club bylaws  Possible topics for ham radio presentations 
  
• ECHO has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/W5ECO/  
  
• Ham Radio Web Sites/Resources                                                                  

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 Last updated on 1/27/2025 by Marty Blaise, AG5T