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Franklin County, Missouri
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
Qualifications for Membership in ARES
From the ARES Plan: All participants shall have a valid Amateur Radio license issued by the Federal Communications Commission. All participants must have a serious interest in providing volunteer radio communications support in an emergency. All participants shall have an interest in self-improvement and maintaining standards for excellent community service.
Previously, participation in ARES was open to all interested Amateur Radio operators. The only requirements were a valid FCC license and an interest in serving. There were no requirements for ARES participants to be trained and no skill sets were specified. In contrast, many of the partner agencies that ARES serves have mandated and structured training programs where all participants receive the same training and, when activated, or assigned to serve an agency in the field would be qualified to assume any position to which they were assigned. The national plan establishes the following membership levels:
Level 1
This is the primary level for those who choose a non-leadership role as well as those new to Amateur Radio or emergency communications. This introductory training is conducted by the local ARES group to meet their needs and those of their served agency or partners. This training could be formal or informal, and would introduce the ARES participant to the fundamentals of emergency communications and provide instruction on how participants are to conduct themselves while serving in the field or otherwise activated. Participants may elect to remain at this level, or any level, based upon the extent of their desired ARES involvement.
Level 2
To qualify for this level, participants shall have completed the following courses: ARRL’s EC-001 Introduction to Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (a no-cost program) and FEMA IS-100, IS-200, IS 700, and IS-800. Participants are also encouraged to take advantage of training opportunities available through partners to enhance their knowledge and skill set.
Level 3
This level of training prepares ARES participants to take on leadership positions such as EC, ADEC, DEC, ASEC, and SEC, and other designated positions in the ARES program. Participants are required to complete ARRL’s EC-016, Emergency Communications for Management, when available along with FEMA IS-120, IS-230, IS-240, IS-241, IS-242, IS-244, and IS-288. Participants also are encouraged to complete the FEMA courses IS-300, and IS-400 should they be available locally.
The above information is directly from the national ARES plan. Membership levels and requirements (locally) are currently under review pending consultation with served angencies.
We have an email group for ARES members only. This replaces the old yahoo group.
You may visit the group at: https://groups.io/g/franklincountyares
and request membership if you have not already been invited. You will be able to access files such
as net scripts, emergency plans, and other documents as well as post emails to the group.
If you wish to join, you can download the application.