The Amateur Radio Emergency Service^® (ARES^®) provides emergency communications to "Served Agencies" such as fire and police departments, the American Red Cross, the National Weather Service, hospitals, and others. Many ARES^® teams also provide communications for public service events such as marathons, parades, bike riding events, and boat races. Individual ARES^® teams are organized at the county level in Missouri. This is the Web site of the ARES^® team serving St. Louis City and County, Missouri.

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service^® is a program of the American Radio Relay League. "ARES" and "Amateur Radio Emergency Service" are registered marks of and are used on this Web site by permission of the American Radio Relay League.

Announcements

St. Louis Metro ARES® County-Wide Simplex Exercise Saturday February 23, 2019 9:00 AM All licensed Amateur Radio operators are invited to participate! Monitor the 146.850 (-)(141.3 Hz) at 9:00 AM and check-in when requested. The Exercise Director will figure out which ARES operational zone you are in and instruct you to switch to a repeater in that zone. The net control operator for that zone will take check-ins, and then have participants switch to a simplex frequency. Click here for a printable zone map. Click here for the frequencies and complete instructions. Important! If you plan to participate, Click here for additional information that you will need during the exericse. Print it out and have it handy on the morning of the exercise. Contact Bob Gale, WA4GDX if you have questions. An Opportunity to Help St. Louis Metro ARES needs additional operators to run the weekly nets. We have rotating schedules so that no operator is burdened with being Net Control Operator too often, but our list of available operators changes from time to time, and currently it is a bit thin. Being an NCO is nothing "exotic", it is an experience that every ARES volunteer should try at least once. We are happy to let volunteers run either of our two Wednesday night nets. You can give it a try just one time, on an irregular basis, or as part of the regular rotation of operators. The net scripts and other information about running the nets can be found by clicking on the Operations -> Voice Operations button in the menu on the left side of this screen. If you are interested, curious, or just have questions, please contact Gary Hoffman at [email protected].

Weekly Practice Message Net

It is very important that amateur radio operators working emergency situations understand how to handle written messages. There are standard protocols and message forms. All of the details about handling these written messages, sometimes called "formal traffic", can be found on our Resources page or via the link below. We urge you to examine this material, then try copying messages read during our weekly practice message net.

Messages that have been read on the air

Details on the practice net

Dolores' Message Handling Tips

ARRL FSD-3: List of emergency, welfare, and standard messages (Adobe Acrobat "PDF" format¹)

FEMA ICS-213 form (Adobe Acrobat "PDF" format¹)

ARRL Radiogram (Adobe Acrobat "PDF" format¹)

ARRL FSD-244 Welfare form and instructions (Adobe Acrobat "PDF" format¹)

ARRL comprehensive description of sending Radiograms

Net Controllers needed!

The weekly practice message net has only two net control operators. If you'd like the opportunity to learn more and actually send messages, even just one time, please contact Gary Hoffman, KB0H.

Thank you.

Interested in joining ARES^®?

New online application form now available! Click here to display the form on your browser. Fill in the blanks as best you can, then click the "Submit Form" button. A copy will be emailed to us.

If your prefer, you can download, print, and fill out a paper copy. Just Click here and send us the completed form via postal service. ¹

1 - Please see the Software section of the Resources page if you do not have software necessary to read these files.

What will we do in the event of a disaster? Click here to learn about Emergency Support Functions and the role of St. Louis Metro ARES/RACES in emergency management plans.	Check In St. Louis Metro ARES® holds a 2 meter net every week (see date and time listed below). All amateur radio operators are welcome to participate.	Net Control Run the show! We will teach you what you need to know. We'll give you the opportunity to control a net and help you if you have difficulties. See out Voice Net Operations page.	St. Louis Metro ARES Repeaters We maintain repeaters on - 145.350 MHz (-) CTCSS 123.0 Hz 442.375 MHz (+) CTCSS 141.3 Hz Both use the call sign N0ARS.
Presentations If you haven't been to our monthly meetings you've missed talks and demonstrations on Go-Bags, Message Handling, the Missouri Emergency Packet Network, DC Power and much more.	Help Is Available Do you need help building a go-bag? Are you unsure about what to use for emergency power? Would you like some information about personal preparedness? We can help.	Share Your Expertise Do you have emergency communications experience or knowledge that you'd like to share with others? Do you have some other skill or talent that could benefit the group? We'd be happy to hear from you.	Yes, We QSL Do you monitor St. Louis Metro ARES® activities? Write to us and we'll send you a QSL card. Click here for more information.
Next Meeting The date and location of our next monthly meeting can be found on the Calendar of Events page, along with directions how to get there.	Field Exercises Join us in our field exercises and develop your skills. Find out what things you do well and which areas you could improve. Help us to create a robust response team.	Yahoo Group Click to join STLARES Licensed amateur radio operators are invited to join the St. Louis Metro ARES® Yahoo group.	Donations Yes, we accept donations of stamps, cash, items to sell or raffle, items that we can distribute to our volunteers, and so forth.

• Weekly 2 meter voice nets:
  The weekly ARES^® 2 meter voice net operates on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 PM Central Time. The net is on the W0SRC repeater, frequency 146.850 (-) MHz, tone 141.3 Hz. All amateur operators are invited to participate. Next net is Wednesday, Feburary 20, 2019, 7:30 PM
  Immediately following the regular voice net is the weekly ARES^® practice message / traffic net. A test message is read over the air to give you an opportunity to practice copying down formal traffic.

• 2 meter packet mailbox/BBS:
  St. Louis Metro ARES^® maintains a 2 meter packet mailbox/BBS. This packet system is a training tool and runs 24/7 for your convenience. If you have packet radio capabilities you are enouraged to sign in on a weekly basis.
  All amateur radio operators are welcome to participate.

St. Louis County Police Department
Office of Emergency Management
"Be Prepared" App

Android Users: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quickseries.SaintLouis

Apple IOS Users: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/app/saint-louis-county-mo-prepares/id1039072120?mt=8

Android short Link: http://bit.ly/1Kscjja

Apple IOS short Link: http://apple.co/1or2Cr1

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