Berkeley CountySouth Carolina

What is ARES©?

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES©) consists of licensed amateurs who havevoluntarily registered theirqualifications and equipment forcommunications duty in the publicservice when disaster strikes.

Who May Join ARES©?

Every licensed amateur,regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization, iseligible for membership inARES©.

The only qualification, other than possession of an Amateur Radio license, is a sincere desire to serve.Because ARES© is an amateurservice, only amateurs are eligiblefor membership.

What Are TheQualifications?

Qualifications (contd.)

The possession of emergency- powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership.

ARES© OrganizationThere are four levels of ARES©

organization• National• Section• District• Local

Local LevelIt is at the local level where mostof the real emergency organizinggets accomplished, because thisis the level at which mostemergencies occur and the levelat which ARES© leaders makedirect contact with the ARES©

member-volunteers and withofficials of the agencies to beserved.

EmergencyCoordinator (EC)

The local EC is the key contact inthe ARES© organization. The ECis in charge of all ARES© activitiesin their area, not just one interestgroup, one agency, etc.

To meet therequirementsof theBerkeleyCountyEmergencyOperationsPlan,

a member run organization wasformed to chart it’s own course intraining, operations and readiness.

ARES© Operation DuringEmergencies and Disasters

Operation in an emergency netrequires preparation and training.This includes training in handlingof written messages--that is, whatis generally known as "traffichandling."

ARES© Operation DuringEmergencies and Disasters

(contd.)Formal written traffic is importantfor:• A record of what has happened• Conciseness - takes less time

passing traffic• Accuracy - results in fewer

errors and repeats

Amateur Radio and theRed Cross

An integral part of Red Crossemergency shelter operations is anetwork of Amateur Radio operatorstationed at most shelters.

These operatorsprovide vitalcommunicationswhen normalmeans fail.

BERKELEY COUNTYSHELTERS

Berkeley County has a total of 23shelters including:

PFive Voluntary Shelters including a SpecialMedical Needs Shelter

PFive Mandatory Shelters

PThirteen Reserve Shelters

RACESRadio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), is a part of the Amateur Radio Service that provides radio communications for civil-preparedness purposes only,during periods of local, regionalor national civil emergencies.

RACES (contd.)

RACES was originally based onpotential use for wartime but, hasevolved to encompass all types ofemergencies.

Amateurs operating as RACESstations may not communicate withamateurs not operating in a RACEScapacity.

ARES© & RACESAlthough RACES and ARES areseparate entities, the ARRL advocatesdual membership and cooperativeefforts between both groups wheneverpossible.

Berkeley County ARES has alsoregistered all ARES members asRACES stations to allow formaximum flexibility.

Public Service RadioNets

Salvation Army TeamEmergency RadioNetwork (SATERN)

NWS SKYWARN Net

Radio Nets (contd.)

National HurricaneCenter Net

Shared ResourcesNet (SHARES)

THANKS FORSTOPPING BY

Please take a minute to operate one ofour stations or to ask questions of theAmateur Operators.

More information on ARES© andAmateur Radio is available on ourinformation table and please take aminute to sign our Guestbook.