St. Louis Metro ARES

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.

Emergency Communicator's Notebook

Documents bag

You have a go bag for your radio equipment, but do you have one for your documents? You should have a copy of your team's Emergency Operations Plan, a list of frequencies you're likely to use, maps, addresses of served agencies, the names of contacts, and various other docments. Many of these can be stored in a 3-ring binder. You will also need log sheets, message forms, and a blank pad of paper. All of these may be kept in a waterproof bag or attache case and should be part of your deployment kit.

More hints, tips, and other tidbits about emergency communications
compiled by St. Louis Metro ARES^® Registered Volunteers

St. Louis Metro ARES
Spring Exercises!

April 16th and 19th:
"Frequency switching" exercise to be held during the Wednesday evening net at 7:30 PM on April 16, 2014 (as part of the regular net), and again on Saturday morning at 10:00 AM, April 19, 2014. This exercise is to make sure that you can program your transceiver on the fly. A frequency change will be announced some time during each net. Read your radio's manual and be prepared.

May 4th, 8th and 11th
"In-zone simplex" exercises to be held indpendently in each of the three zones of the St. Louis metropolitan area (Zone 1 = north of I-70, Zone 2 = south of I-70 and north of I-44, Zone 3 = south of I-44).

Zone 3 (south) = Sunday May 4th, 3:00 PM local time
Frequency = 146.535 MHz
Zone 2 (central) = Thursday May 8th, 7:30 PM local time
Frequency = 147.435 MHz
Zone 1 (north) = Sunday May 11th, 3:30 PM local time
Frequency = 146.415 MHz

Bumpy Weather Ahead !

St. Louis SKYWARN
needs additional operators
to run the severe weather net

Severe weather season is here! St. Louis SKYWARN is still in need of amateur radio operators to run the net when it happens. See the St. Louis SKYWARN Web site for additional information, or contact Steve Wooten, KC0QMU at kc0qmu@yahoo.com.

* * Event at the Arch * *
Volunteers Needed

Get Outdoors Under the Arch
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
St. Louis, MO

What: A one-day event that promotes outdoor activities, healthy lifestyles and healthy food to encourage people to connect with nature and active lifestyles and to embrace our parks, forests, and other public lands and waters.

When: Saturday, June 14, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on the grounds of the Gateway Arch.

Details: Participants from federal, state and local agencies along with nonprofit organizations are teaming up to host Get Outdoors Under the Arch, a National Get Outdoors Day event. In hopes of encouraging healthy, active outdoor fun, participants will host activities such as bicycle safety, bicycle tours, walking tours, a climbing wall, fishing, exercise classes and learning about wildlife. Information booths regarding healthy lifestyles, healthy foods and public lands will also be part of the event.

ARES volunteers needed: We will need 4 to 6 volunteers to help at this event. Each will need to bring a hand-held transceiver. A mobile radio and antenna will be set up to demonstrate amateur radio to visitors.

To volunteer, please contact:
Steve Wooten, KC0QMU
Emergency Coordinator for St. Louis Metro ARES/RACES & HARN
kc0qmu@yahoo.com

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

Net Controllers needed!

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

Interested in joining ARES^®?

Please fill out an application and mail it to the Emergency Coordinator (see contacts page). The forms do not get sent to us electronically. You will need to print out the physical form, fill it in, and mail it to us.

ARES^® application in "Word" document format¹
ARES^® application in Adobe Acrobat "PDF" format¹
You can make entries directly on this PDF form before printing it. (** Not all versions of Adobe Acrobat can display this form **)
ARES^® application in Adobe Acrobat "PDF" format¹
Older PDF form that does not allow you to make direct entries

1 - Please see the Software section of the Resources page if you do not have software necessary to read these files.
Or, if you prefer, write or email us and request a physical application form.

Check In St. Louis County ARES^® holds a 2 meter net every week (see date and time listed below). All amateur radio operators are welcome to participate.	Yes, We QSL Do you monitor St. Louis County ARES^® activities? Write to us and we'll send you a QSL card. Click here for more information.	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.	Emergency Communications Information Not sure where to begin? Contact us and we will help you get started.
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.	ARES^® Wallpaper Would you like St. Louis County ARES^® as your wallpaper? Click here to display our 1280 x 1024 poster then save it to your computer.
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 County 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.

St. Louis Metro ARES^® regular nets

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, April 23, 2014, 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. Please go to our Packet Radio page for information and instructions. If you have packet radio capabilities you are enouraged to sign in on a weekly basis.
All amateur radio operators are welcome to participate.

Weekly 2 meter NBEMS digital net:
The weekly ARES^® 2 meter NBEMS digital net operates on Sunday afternoons at 2:00 PM Central Time. The digital portion of the net is on HVTac14 147.585 Mhz simplex. The initial mode for check-ins is MT63-1KL. At 2:30pm, the net will move to MT63-2KL. All amateur operators are invited to participate. Voice coordination takes place on the 146.970 (-) No Tones needed. Just announce your call and a monitoring station will acknowledge. Net Control is located in Zone 3. So if you are unable to hear them directly, contact us on voice and we will arrange for a relay if possible.

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

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