ARES: Amateur Radio Emergency Service
ARES is sponsored by the ARRL. Members volunteer to assist public service agencies during emergencies and public service events. Any licensed Amateur Radio operator is eligible, membership in the ARRL is not required.
Harford County ARES actively participates in Simulated Emergency Tests and other training exercises. In addition we support non-profit agencies with their activities such as walk-a-thons, etc. See our history page for information regarding past events!
From the ARRL website: "The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization, is eligible for membership in the ARES. The only qualification, other than possession of an Amateur Radio license, is a sincere desire to serve. Because ARES is an amateur service, only amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership."
Click here for more information regarding the ARRL ARES organization.
Important Notice Per Harford County's Emergency Manager, Doug Richmond:
"I have attached a document from DHS/FEMA that spells out the level of compliance on NIMS that must be in place by September 30th of this year." (download PDF file here)
Effective immediately, all ARES and RACES members are required to complete the FEMA IS-700 course. Deadline for completion is September 30, 2006. "NIMS provides a consistent nationwide template to enable all government, private-sector, and nongovernmental organizations to work together during domestic incidents." Many of our members have already taken this FREE online course. Click here to take the IS-700 course!
In addition to the IS-700 course above, members need to complete the ARRL EC-001 Emergency Communications course and become practiced with Radiogram formal message handling.