Amateur Radio Emergency Service

Last updated
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
AbbreviationARES
Type Non-profit organization
PurposeEmergency response
Region served
Canada, United States
Affiliations Radio Amateurs of Canada, American Radio Relay League
Website (via ARRL)

In the United States and Canada, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is a corps of trained amateur radio operator volunteers organized to assist in public service and emergency communications. It is organized and sponsored by the American Radio Relay League and the Radio Amateurs of Canada.

Contents

Communication failures have been a defining part of natural disasters and even some human-generated events. Amateur radio provides a means of communication "when all else fails".

Historical operations

Amateur radio operators belonging to ARES (and its predecessor, the Amateur Radio Emergency Corps) have responded to local and regional disasters since the 1930s, including the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the category 5 storms Hurricane Katrina [1] and Hurricane Michael. [2] During the Katrina event, more than one thousand ARES volunteers assisted in the aftermath and provided communications for the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and other individuals related to the relief effort. [1] After Katrina Hancock County, Mississippi, had lost all contact with the outside world, except through ARES operators who served as 911 dispatchers and message relayers. [3]

ARES has deployed for a variety of other emergencies and disasters, including the 2003 North America blackout. [4] The blackout covered a wide geographical area of North America. In the United States its scope included Cleveland, Detroit, and New York City. Landline telephones and cell phone systems were overloaded and amateur ability to operate off the grid was put to the test. On Long Island in New York many pieces of health and welfare traffic were passed on VHF and HF nets. Because some television and radio stations had gone off the air amateurs helped fill the lack of information. [4] This was not the first time that amateur radio operators assisted during a blackout in New York City. On a warm evening of July 13, 1977, lightning caused a power outage across the city and most of its suburbs. Radio operators started communication nets on simplex and on a repeater located in the Chrysler Building. [5]

Organizational structure

ARES groups are volunteer amateur radio operators who come together for the common purpose of providing emergency and/or auxiliary communications service to public safety and public service organizations. Most individual ARES units are autonomous and operate locally. Although the Amateur Radio Emergency Service is a program (and trademark) of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) in the U.S., the structure is more supportive than directive in nature, providing mostly for mutual aid in the event of large-scale emergencies. As long as local units are operating in the best interests of Amateur Radio in general and the ARRL in particular, intervention from the national organization is minimal. The government expresses little governance of ARES (other than the FCC regulations - 47 CFR Part 97 - which regulate all of Amateur Radio) and local authorities only passively regulate ARES groups by way of formal understandings. [6]

ARES groups are generally organized by city or county and are made up of volunteers from the local area. The only requirements to join ARES are a willingness to serve and a valid amateur radio license. [6]

Groups are organized locally by the person holding the position of Emergency Coordinator (EC). The EC maintains full responsibility for organizing the local groups and serving as their leader during operations. The EC is an ARRL or RAC member, and is generally the point of contact for those wishing to perform Emergency Communications in their local area. They may appoint one or several AECs (Assistant Emergency Coordinator) to oversee certain geographical areas, or they may appoint by function such as the SKYWARN severe weather spotting network, Net Managing, Training Direction, or Public Information, or maybe a mix of the above (i.e. whatever works locally). Some members may be appointed as Official Emergency Stations and are trained to serve specific duties such as being a net controller during emergencies.

The next higher level of coordination is the optional District Emergency Coordinator (DEC). This person coordinates the operation of several local county or city ARES groups and reports to the Section Emergency Coordinator in those sections where the span of control would otherwise be too large. A DEC may have one or more Assistant District Emergency Coordinators serving them.

Leading the structure is the Section Emergency Coordinator, or SEC. This person is appointed by the elected Section Manager and is responsible for emergency communications in their section. An SEC may have one or more Assistant SECs serving to assist them. In the U.S., a Section is one of 71 geographic administrative areas of the ARRL. It is either a state or in more densely populated areas of the U.S., a portion of a state.

In Canada, the ARES is coordinated overall by the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) Field Services Organization which has eight (8) Sections: Alberta, British Columbia/Yukon, Manitoba, Maritimes (consisting of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick), Newfoundland/Labrador, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. As is the case in the U.S., each Section is managed by an elected Section Manager.

In Canada, the ARES logo is a registered trademark of the Radio Amateurs of Canada Inc.(RAC).

Mutual assistance

ARES in the U.S. has Memorandums of Understanding with organizations including the American Red Cross, National Weather Service, Department of Homeland Security, Citizen Corps, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International, National Communications System, National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers Inc., Salvation Army, Society of Broadcast Engineers, Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc. and REACT International Inc.

Often these memorandums illustrate a common and united sense of purpose between ARES and another organization. However, Memorandums of Understanding with the American Red Cross, the National Weather Service, the Salvation Army and others lay out the general guidelines for organization and coordination between agencies in times of emergency.

ARES of the Radio Amateurs of Canada have MOUs with the Canadian Red Cross Society and PERCS, the British Columbia Provincial Emergency Radio Communication Service.

Alternative groups

Frequently, members of local ARES groups in the U.S. are registered with local government Emergency Management agencies to permit operations under the RACES rules, if ever needed. This allows continuation of operation during times of declared emergency when normal amateur operations might be prohibited. Today, ARES has operators and officials at local, county, and state levels, and most potential RACES operations are generally integrated within ARES organizations. [7]

A few U.S. Amateur Radio emergency communications groups have decided, for one reason or another, not to affiliate with the ARRL. Some such groups in Canada have elected not to offer their services under the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) banner. However, their essential purpose remains the same and, in times of need, they often work side-by-side with ARES groups. Radio clubs independent of the ARRL or the RAC and ARES also participate in emergency communications activities in some areas.

Many ARES operators are also part of storm spotter networks, e.g., SKYWARN (a program organized by the U.S. National Weather Service) and CANWARN (coordinated by Environment Canada).

In many cases, the ARES Emergency Coordinator for a county coordinates all local Amateur Radio emergency and disaster communications activity.

See also

Related Research Articles

Automatic Link Establishment, commonly known as ALE, is the worldwide de facto standard for digitally initiating and sustaining HF radio communications. ALE is a feature in an HF communications radio transceiver system that enables the radio station to make contact, or initiate a circuit, between itself and another HF radio station or network of stations. The purpose is to provide a reliable rapid method of calling and connecting during constantly changing HF ionospheric propagation, reception interference, and shared spectrum use of busy or congested HF channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skywarn</span> Program of the National Weather Service in the US

Skywarn is a program of the National Weather Service (NWS). Its mission is to collect reports of localized severe weather in the United States. These reports are used to aid forecasters in issuing and verifying severe weather watches and warnings and to improve the forecasting and warning processes and the tools used to collect meteorological data. Reports are also used by local emergency managers and public safety organizations.

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the United States. ARRL is a non-profit organization, and was co-founded on April 6, 1914, by Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence D. Tuska of Hartford, Connecticut. The ARRL represents the interests of amateur radio operators before federal regulatory bodies, provides technical advice and assistance to amateur radio enthusiasts, supports a number of educational programs and sponsors emergency communications service throughout the country. The ARRL has approximately 161,000 members. In addition to members in the US, the organization claims over 7,000 members in other countries. The ARRL publishes many books and a monthly membership journal called QST.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service</span>

The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) is an emergency radio service authorized in Part 97.407 of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations governing amateur radio in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Amateur Radio Union</span> International confederation of organizations for amateur radio operators

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is an international confederation of national organisations that allows a forum for common matters of concern to amateur radio operators worldwide, and collectively represents matters to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The International Amateur Radio Union was founded in 1925 and, as of July 2021, it is composed of 172 national member societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio Amateurs of Canada</span> National association for Amateur Radio in Canada

Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), known in French as Radio Amateurs du Canada, is the national association for Amateur Radio in Canada. It is a not-for-profit membership association with headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representing the interests of Amateur Radio all across Canada. Speaking on behalf of Canadian Radio Amateurs, RAC provides liaison with government agencies and carries the Amateur voice about regulatory and spectrum issues to the discussion table with government and industry leaders, nationally and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Field Day (amateur radio)</span> Annual amateur radio exercise

Field Day is an annual amateur radio contest, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations, encouraging emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators. In the United States, it is typically the largest single emergency preparedness exercise in the country, with over 30,000 operators participating each year. Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June, beginning at 18:00 UTC Saturday and running through 20:59 UTC Sunday.

REACT is a CB radio Emergency Channel 9 monitoring organizations across the United States, Canada and worldwide, established in 1962. The primary role of REACT volunteers was to stand and watch on CB Emergency Channel 9 to help motorists. Later, duties grew to include radio communications after disasters, and before disasters. REACT safety communications for parades, runs/walks, and other community events also became prominent. REACT Teams have added amateur, FRS, GMRS, Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS), Trunked radio systems, and business band radio (LMR) to their public service capabilities.

The annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is a training exercise involving the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and the National Traffic System (NTS), a message-handling service of amateur radio. The American Radio Relay League is a prime mover in this event, which is organized somewhat like a contest. Its primary purposes are to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in emergency preparedness and communications, and to demonstrate amateur radio to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military Auxiliary Radio System</span> United States civilian auxiliary service for military support

The Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) is a United States Department of Defense sponsored program, established as a separately managed and operated program by the United States Army and the United States Air Force. The United States Navy-Marine Corps program closed in 2015. The program is a civilian auxiliary consisting primarily of licensed amateur radio operators who are interested in assisting the military with communications on a regional and national level when access to traditional forms of communication may no longer be available. The MARS programs also include active duty, reserve, and National Guard units; and Navy, Marine Corps units.

The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) is a network of volunteer amateur radio operators based in North America. It works to provide emergency communications between Salvation Army posts during times of disaster, and to pass messages with health and welfare information between the Salvation Army and the general public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hurricane Katrina disaster relief</span>

The disaster recovery response to Hurricane Katrina in late 2005 included U.S. federal government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), state and local-level agencies, federal and National Guard soldiers, non-governmental organizations, charities, and private individuals. Tens of thousands of volunteers and troops responded or were deployed to the disaster; most in the affected area but also throughout the U.S. at shelters set up in at least 19 states.

<i>QST</i> Amateur radio magazine

QST is a magazine for amateur radio enthusiasts, published by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). It is a membership journal that is included with membership in the ARRL. The publisher claims that circulation of QST in the United States is higher than all other amateur radio-related publications in the United States combined. Although an exact number for circulation is not published by the American Radio Relay League, the organization claimed 158,238 members at the end of 2021, almost all of whom receive the magazine monthly, in addition to issues delivered to libraries and newsstands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amateur radio emergency communications</span> Fallback service

In times of crisis and natural disasters, amateur radio is often used as a means of emergency communication when wireline, cell phones and other conventional means of communications fail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Traffic System</span>

The National Traffic System (NTS) is an organized network of amateur radio operators sponsored by the American Radio Relay League for the purpose of relaying messages throughout the U.S. and Canada.


**Citizen Corps: Enhancing Community Preparedness and Response**

An amateur radio net, or simply ham net, is an "on-the-air" gathering of amateur radio operators. Most nets convene on a regular schedule and specific frequency, and are organized for a particular purpose, such as relaying messages, discussing a common topic of interest, in severe weather, emergencies, or simply as a regular gathering of friends for conversation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amateur radio</span> Use of radio frequency spectra for non-commercial purposes

Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communications. The term "amateur" is used to specify "a duly authorized person interested in radioelectric practice with a purely personal aim and without pecuniary interest"; and to differentiate it from commercial broadcasting, public safety, or professional two-way radio services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur Radio Club</span>

Although there is anecdotal evidence of an amateur radio club in Omaha prior to World War II, The Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur Radio Club (AARC), as it exists today, was started in 1945 and has been affiliated with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) since that time. The club is not affiliated with The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fldigi</span> Software that allows a sound card to be used as a data modem

Fldigi is a free and open-source program which allows an ordinary computer's sound card to be used as a simple two-way data modem. The software is mostly used by amateur radio operators who connect the microphone and headphone connections of an amateur radio SSB or FM transceiver to the computer's headphone and microphone connections, respectively.

References

  1. 1 2 "ARRL president submits congressional testimony on hams' Katrina response", The ARRL Letter, ARRL, September 2005, retrieved 2010-06-05
  2. ↑ "ARRL activities with Hurricane Michael", The ARRL ARES E-Letter, ARRL, November 2018, retrieved 2019-05-14
  3. ↑ Rick Palm. "ARES E-Letter for September 22, 2005." The American Radio Relay League. September 22, 2005. Retrieved on 2010-04-14.
  4. 1 2 Rick Lindquist, N1RL (October 2003), Hams a Bright Spot during Power Blackout, QST, pp. 79–80{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ John Edwards, WB2IBE (October 1977), Amateurs Respond To NYC Blackout, QST, p. 95{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. 1 2 Wilkosz 2004 , p. 156
  7. ↑ Wilkosz 2004 , p. 157

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.