Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)

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The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), however ARES volunteers do not have to be members of the ARRL.   

Members of the ARES are amateur radio operators who have agreed to volunteer their time and utilize their amateur radio equipment and expertise to assist during emergencies, disaster response, and public service.   

Simply, when everything else goes down, there’s still amateur radio.   Amateur radio operators can utilize radio equipment with emergency/battery power and an antenna deployed on a portable mast or in a tree in order to get messages in and out of a disaster stricken area.   

In addition to offering emergency and public service communications assistance to local agencies, ARES has memorandums of understanding (MOU) with the following organizations:  American Red Cross, National Weather Service,

Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, Citizen

Corps, Association of Public Safety

Communications Officials (APCO), National

Communications System, and more. 

• Hurricane Michael
• Hurricane Katrina 
• 2003 North American Blackout affecting Detroit, Cleveland, and New York 
• September 11, 2001

The Federal Communications Commission recognizes the capability of Amateur Radio by stating its “recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications..”

The ARRL sponsors the ARES, which provides emergency communications in time of need. Granted, most amateurs can provide some type of communications during a disaster, but ARES organizes our response.

You need not be a member of ARRL to belong to ARES. You don’t have to spend any money. You don’t have to spend every other weekend training for a disaster. You only have to dedicate as much spare time as you want to public service.

Help Amateur Radio “pay its way.” 

Also, there are currently no dues to be a member of the Daleville Area Amateur Radio Service.

If you’re interested in volunteering with ARES, please reach out to Kevin Turley, K9ADE, who is the ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Dale County, Alabama.   He is on QRZ and can also be reached on the contact form on this website.