NOTICE

Who are We?

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization, is eligible for membership in the ARES. The only qualification, other than possession of an Amateur Radio license, is a sincere desire to serve. Because ARES is an amateur service, only amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership.

Any licensed amateur radio operator living or working in Summit County may become a member of Summit County ARES (SUMCO-ARES). We may have the title of "Amateur" Radio Operators but there is certainly nothing "amateur" about the quality of the services that we provide and we are constantly striving to improve on those services. With this in mind, on an increasing basis ARES organizations are following national standards necessary for a volunteer to be useful in an emergency situation. In order to meet these requirements and to be eligible to be issued an ARES ID the Summit County ARES organization requires the following:

• That the member participates in at least one ARES sanctioned Public Service event per year
• That the member attends at least 2 ARES meetings per year
• That the member keeps their NWS Skywarn Spotter training current (every 2 years)
• That the member has completed the following training:
  • 1) FEMA IS-0100 FEMA IS0100.c
  • 2) FEMA IS-0200 FEMA IS0200.c
  • 3) FEMA IS-0700 FEMA IS0700.b
  • 4) FEMA IS-0800 FEMA IS0800.d

You can take the classes for the FEMA certifications on-line through the FEMA training web site
https://www.firstrespondertraining.gov/frts/npccatalog , and search for IS0100, IS0200, IS0700 and IS0800

Click here to open the SUMCO ARES registration form.

Where are We?

We meet on the third Wednesday of each month (no meetings in December) from 6PM to 8PM at the Summit County American Red Cross Chapter, 501 West Market Street, Akron when space is available. We also meet at the Green EOC and Stow Safety Center when the ARC is full. Please use the "Meetings" menu option to find more information about any of these locations.

Digital Nets are held on Monday Nights at 7:00 PM local time
using MT63-2000L with a 1500 passband

Followed by a Phone Net at 7:30 PM local time

All nets are held on the Summit County ARES repeater system on 444.550+
Akron (PL131.8), Norton (PL 88.5), Green (PL 225.7), Twinsburg (PL 114.8)
Echolink W8ODJ-R and AllStar node #63467

All licensed amateur radio operators are welcome to "check-in". If you have a programmable scanner capable of receiving the 400MHz public service bands you can "listen in" by programming your scanner to receive on a frequency of 444.55 MHz.

What do we do?

ARES makes available radio communications for various community events as well as emergency situations. Throughout the year we may participate in Emergency Preparedness drills, public service events and special events all which require temporary mobile communications for the transfer of information.

Why participate in non-emergencies?

The non-emergency events we participate in are quite important. Since true emergencies rarely happen we use participation in these events to constantly hone our skills. As well as providing community support, this also helps advertise Amateur Radio to the general public. It also demonstrates to agencies, that we normally serve, that we are active and prepared to provide a high level of professional communication support if the need should arise.