Travis County REACT Team #3022   Who is Travis County REACT? Travis Co. REACT Team #3022, the Bicentennial Team, was chartered July 4, 1976. We are an ALL-VOLUNTEER, Unincorporated Non-Profit, 501(c)(3) Association dedicated to providing public service and emergency communications to our community. While we no longer officially monitor CB channel 9 for emergencies, we DO monitor other designated emergency channels on various bands, including General Mobile Radio Service (UHF band) and Amateur Radio, and are also licensed to operate in the Private Land Mobile Radio Service. We are also affiliated with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) as a Special Services Club due to a high level of our members being licensed Amateur operators and being individual members of ARRL and ARES as well as REACT. What does REACT do to help? Click here for a listing of some of our events. Obviously this list is subject to change at a moment's notice when emergencies or another crisis may conflict with the best laid plans of mice and men. Many of our events are fun for the members to work, while some are more challenging but rewarding as you see the participants gratitude for your taking time out to be there. Our events range from working with the Area and State Special Olympics Games and events, to large bike-a-thon charity races, to the annual Trail of Lights in Zilker Park every December. Why is a REACT Team different than a Radio Club? Our focus is working together as a team, not simply a group of individuals. Unlike individual radio operators operating from a single station at home or in the mobile, emergency communications involves radio operators forming teams and relaying messages using both similar and dissimilar techniques. This has been the focus of REACT since it was founded in 1962. This is one reason why membership in REACT has always been through the formation of local Teams. REACT members know to be flexible. Knowledgeable emergency communicators know very well that it’s not a case of choosing which method is the “single one-size-fits-all method” for getting the job done but rather that it’s a mix of techniques, whichever is appropriate for that particular message. This is a strength of REACT’s all- mode/all-service approach, which encourages Teams to take fullest advantage of all available resources by using the capabilities of different licensed and unlicensed radio services. REACT members tend to diversify their communications skills by including more than one radio service. For example, many of our members are licensed Amateurs, plus licensed GMRS operators, plus have CB or other radios also legally able to be used. Travis County REACT has our own commercial UHF repeater in the Austin Area, allowing us to put volunteers on the air without their being individually licensed. And because our repeater is commercial in nature, we are able to work some public service events, or serve in rolls otherwise forbidden to folks using Amateur Radio only. What does it cost for REACT to help? There is NEVER a "charge" for our services, rather, due to the fact that ALL equipment, including uniforms and radios, is purchased out of our own member's pockets we may ask for a donation to our Team. If you are a 501(c)(3) group having an event that is FREE to the public, we don't ask for a donation, but if you charge the public to participate, or be admitted to the event, then we may request a donation. We can USUALLY provide some radio equipment for staff members, but there is a minimal charge per radio per day. We request a MINIMUM of 6 months notice for smaller events, and a year for the larger, more involved ones, to make sure we have enough time to properly plan from our end and to make sure we haven't committed our extra radio equipment elsewhere on that date. How do you spot a REACT Member! Our members wear uniforms consisting of white shirt (either security/police style for "dress", or a white summer-weight "polo" style for "informal wear") with distinctive patches, black pants or shorts, a black & orange ball cap with REACT patch, and an orange name badge with their name, unit number, call sign and other info.. Most of our members are now qualified to wear the STARFlight Safety patch shown, for participating in the Emergency Helicopter Landing Zone Coordinators' training class (See Event Page for more info), Where does REACT Meet? Our meetings are held on the 4th Monday of each month, at 7:30 p.m. Our current meeting location is at the Jim's Restaurant on Burnet Road (phone: 512-837-1119), 1/2-block west of US Highway 183 North and Burnet Road. You may want to contact a Team officer or member to confirm our meeting location date and time, just in case a last minute change was caused by circumstances beyond our control. The December meeting is always our Christmas dinner, which is usually in conjunction with the Zilker Trail of Lights Anyone interested in emergency communications is welcome to attend any of our meetings whether you are already a radio operator or not. Why should I become a Member? Some of the benefits our members gain by being in REACT are: Receive The REACTer magazine from our International headquarters in Suitland, MD, which has news and articles from other Teams around the country, Canada, and around the world, Authorized to wear REACT apparel and use REACT I.D. materials, Discounts on car rentals, hotel rooms, etc., Discounts from K-40 Electronics and others, Training materials on Emergency Communications, Radio Operations, Planning Safe Public Event, Traffic and Parking Control Methods, and more, Liability Insurance coverage to protect you while volunteering as REACT, Regional, National, and International activities, and because we have fun helping other people! For further information on our services, please e-mail us at tcreact.info2 @ yahoo.com or one of the members listed under Contacts, call the phone number listed at the bottom of this page, or send snailmail to the PO Box address shown below.

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Travis Co. REACT Team #3022 P. O. Box 180922 Austin, TX 78718-0922 512-453-2193 Toll Free 1-866-REACT-TX Team E-mail Created October 26, 1996 by James Coker (picture at right). Last update: January 19, 2010 by William Bothager (more to come) The FINE print: Web site © 2007 by Travis County REACT. All rights reserved. All logos are trade- marked by their respective owners, and are used here with their permission.