Brown County ARESŽ/RACES

Welcome to the Brown County ARES/RACES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services/Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services) home page.

Why We Are Needed and Why We Practice

This article shows why even today with all the technology at our disposal, hams are still needed and utilized. Thanks to W9JES for the referenced article on ARRL's website.

News

January 18th ARES meeting canceled due to Airport exercise that Wednesday morning.

January 18th Airport Exercise

We are being asked to participate in a full scale exercise.
This will take place on Wednesday, January 18th. We will need operators to ride on two buses and communicate location and number of passengers to the Hospitals and EOC.These operators will start early.
As you see, we will also need operators at three of the hospitals. This will be the shorter of t he time required. Once t he buses leave the hospital area, the operators will be able to close down.
We also need operators at the "family Center" and at the EOC.
If you can help at this, (should only be 1/2 a day) please let me know so I can plan on dispatching. As of January 3rd we are still short of volunteers.
If you changed your phone number, let me know also...

Thank you and Happy New Year..
Dave N8KQS

February 25th District Hospital Exercise

On February Saturday 25th we will be participating in a District wide Hospital exercise. The details are forthcoming, but basically we will deploying operators to each of the hospitals in the county and passing traffic between them and the Incident Commander and also to other counties in the district.

Training

Net Control Stations:
If your interested in becoming a Net Control Operator for the Sunday night ARES/RACES net contact kc9ois@arrl.net and I'll work you into the schedule. You can download the net preamble from the NCS SCRIPTS tab. Follow the preamble during the net and log everyone checking in (callsign, name , location, low pwr/portable/mobile, fixed and simplex) check them off as they go for there second round. Track time the net starts and ends and report the number of check ins to KC9OIS.

Severe Weather

The NWS has posted the 2012 Storm Spotter training class for Green Bay. March 20th, 2012 De Pere/Green Bay, WI 7:00pm CDT at St. Norbert College, Boyle Hall 211

More information can be found at NWS Green Bay
If you are unable to attend one of the classes, there are other opportunities for training. The NWS will host several spotter training web seminars ("webinars"). The web seminar schedule will also be posted here as the webinars are scheduled.

In addition, on-line self-study spotter training courses are available. They are free and provides for a certificate and can be used in place of or in conjunction with the classroom training. For more information about these official NWS spotter courses, visit their Storm Spotter web page: at www.weather.gov/grb/skywarn

The Brown County ARES Weather Spotter Power Point Presentation from 2010

Events

January 18th, 8:00am - Airport Exercise
Febuary 25th 8:00am - Hospital Exercise
March 20th 7:00pm - NWS Storm Spotter Training

What is ARESŽ/RACES?

Emergency service is one of the basics of the Amateur Radio and there is sometimes confusion about ARESŽ (pronounced air-ease), the ARRL arm of emergency services and RACES (pronounced race-ease), the government arm of amateur emergency services. The Amateur Radio Emergency ServiceŽ (ARESŽ) and the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) both have very similar goals: to protect life and property during an emergency. Membership in the ARRL or any other organization is not required for either, just a valid Amateur Radio license (Technician or higher for RACES).

In Brown County, the ARES and RACES are organized as essentially one group of people. There are technical and legal differences between the two services, outlined below, but, by and large, it is the same group of Amateurs. Following is a brief description of ARES and RACES. For more detailed information, see the ARRL Public Service Communications Manual (PSCM).

ARESŽ - The Amateur Radio Emergency Service

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) administers ARES (although you do not have to be a League member to participate). ARES provides emergency radio communications to a number of client groups, including local government, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and others.

While operating under ARES we also may provide communication support to public service events.

RACES - The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

RACES is a local or state government service -- there is no Federal RACES. Only the RACES Radio Officer of a local government civil preparedness agency can activate RACES in times of emergency. In our case, the local government agency is the City of Brown County and the County of Brown.

During all times that Amateur stations are operating under RACES rules, they may only communicate with other RACES stations, and only for the purpose of conveying official civil-preparedness emergency communications.

RACES is primarily used for non-wartime emergencies which can include natural or technological disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes, chemical spills, and terrorist events. During times of war (when the President invokes War Emergency Powers), normal Amateur Radio Service operation is silenced and RACES stations are limited to a pre-defined set of operating frequencies that are within the normal Amateur bands [See Section 4.2 of the PSCM].

Participation in ARES and RACES is voluntary and you may quit at any time. You must be pre-enrolled in RACES in order to participate in RACES activities. While it makes sense to join ARES before you are needed, there is nothing to prevent you from offering your services at any time to aid in an ARES emergency response although without some prior knowledge and training you usefulness may be limited. Joint membership in both ARES and RACES is encouraged.

Stations operating under ARES have much more flexibility because the main purpose of ARES is to serve the emergency communications needs of many agencies, not just the government. RACES is structured and rigid and must be activated by a local civil defense official; ARES can be activated by an ARRL official such as the local ARRL Emergency Coordinator (EC).

Using the same operators and the same frequencies, an ARES group also enrolled as RACES can "switch hats" from ARES to RACES and RACES to ARES to meet the requirements of the situation as it develops. For example, during a "non declared emergency," ARES can operate under ARES, but when an emergency or disaster is officially declared, the operation can become RACES with no change in personnel or frequencies. In general, ARES is organized to serve the public, and RACES is organized to serve the government.

More information can be found at the ARESŽ vs RACES FAQ.

Wisconsin Emergency Management E*Sponder Login

Wisconsin ARES/RACES Website