Utah County Amateur Radio Emergency Service
A.R.E.S. is a national organization of Amateur Radio Operators trained in Emergency Communications under the direction of the American Radio Relay League.
“The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment, with their local ARES leadership, for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.” (http://www.arrl.org/ares)
UCARES is the A.R.E.S. group for Utah County and we coordinate directly with, and are supported by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. We also have both official and un-official liaisons with numerous other public service agencies, emergency, health, and transportation entities throughout the County. Our members are all volunteers and hundreds if not thousands of volunteer hours each year are donated by our volunteers to our community. For more information on the groups we work with, take a look at our Liaisons page.
EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS
We are using Google Groups to stay connected off of the air. To sign up, please send an email to the organization leadership at the address “leadership@ucares.org”
ARES CONNECT
For the ARRL ARES program, we are logging all ARES Volunteer and participation hours through ARES Connect. It can be found at https://arrl.volunteerhub.com/lp/ut/ Please use your amateur radio call sign for your Username.
Meetings
Current meeting and EOC agency schedules can be found here!
Certification
UCARES Certification requirements can be found in the Resource Pages. Though not required to join ARES, Certification Levels demonstrate the level of proficiency and equipment you have, and are considered by UCARES leadership when making assignments for public service events and callouts.
Interested in participating?
- Start with reading through the Field Guide in the Resources section.
- Fill out the membership application form here.
- Check in with the training nets, Tuesday Nights at 9:00 PM MST on the 147.34 repeater (details in the field guide)
- Join us for the first Tuesday of the month face to face meeting. Click here to see meeting location and maps.
- Follow the group on Facebook and keep an eye on your email for event announcements and callouts.
Election Day November 3rd
There will be no Interface Meeting and no ARES Net. Please join us for the ARES Simplex net on Tuesday November 10th at 2100 hours on 147.34 W7MJP
”ReadARES/RACES Auxcom Conference
The Auxcom Conference will be Saturday November 7th. It will be virtual. Please check back for more information. W7MJP
”ReadUCARES Certification Levels
We just updated the UCARES Certification Levels. If you are currently working on your certifications levels, they will be accepted. Otherwise going forward, you will need to use the current levels. There are a few minor changes in levels 1 through 4. The major change is packet radio has been replaced with digital modes of communication. W7MJP
”ReadEmergency Operation Centers During Covid
There are currently 2 EOCs open for UCARES members to visit during the Covid response, but they are still on a limited by appointment only basis. For Spanish Fork, please contact Michael Preuss at w7mjp@ucares.org. For the Provo EOC, please contact Caryn Alarcon at kg7uur@gmail.com. Normal operations will return once the pandemic has cleared.
”ReadUCARES Interface Meetings
The December 1st Interface Meeting will be a virtual meeting starting at 1900 hours. We will be doing a SET (simulated emergency test)
Join with Google Meetmeet.google.com/vre-vbbm-ozq
Join by phone(US) +1 301-969-4255 PIN: 980 925 889#
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”ReadCoronavirus (Covid 19)
Or the lack of events due to the coronavirus (covid 19). ARES is about Emergency Communications! We rely on community events to practice and prepare for emergency communications. As of right now, everything has been canceled through June with the exception of the Squaw Peak 50 Ultra Marathon. I want to encourage you to sign up for a position on this event. We will need to follow the recommendations on keeping a distance from each other and wear a face mask to protect our self as well as others. The Provo Freedom Grand Parade on July 4th has been canceled. I will keep you informed of any updates.
Thanks for all you do with UCARES, W7MJP, Emergency Coordinator
Click on this link to read a training item that was presented on March 31st. on Coronavirus
”Read
“Communication is an essential part of society – effective communication is a priority in an emergency” Being able to administer a net effectively takes practice. Perfection is not our goal – being able to conduct effective communication is. In order to reach this goal, we need ALL ham radio operators to practice. UCARES gives you that opportunity at least NINE times each month each Tuesday at 9:00 PM (2100) to perform communication as a Net Control Operator, Assistant Net Control Operator, or as a Training Item Instructor. We NEED YOUR HELP in helping others.