The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®), a program of the ARRL, consists of licensed Amateur Radio operators across the United States who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment, with their local ARES leadership, for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.

ARES Service in the East Bay Section

In an emergency or disaster, ARES goes into action to support agencies with which it has written agreements and which request its assistance. ARES has many served agencies at the national level, and those relationships extend to each section, including ours. Existing national served agencies include the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the National Weather Service.

ARES is open to serving other agencies, including government and non-government entities, but only under written agreements that are approved by the ARRL and signed by the agency and the Section Manager. Agreements involving ARRL East Bay Section ARES are documented on our Agreements page.

Though an individual ARES registrant can always choose not to accept an available assignment, every ARES unit and its leaders will support all their ARES served agencies to the best of their abilities. The ARES program in any ARRL section, any district, or any community cannot be co-opted by one or more served agencies to the exclusion of other served agencies.

ARES Leadership in the East Bay Section

This is how ARES is organized and managed within the East Bay Section:

Each community (or group of smaller communities) is represented by an Emergency Coordinator (“EC”). ARES is a bottom-up program; the EC is the primary organizer and driver of ARES activities.

Each EC has discretion to appoint any number of assistants. Each such Assistant Emergency Coordinator (“AEC”) must have a stated specialty. The EC may choose to appoint an AEC to manage relations with each community served agency, and others to support nets, exercises, etc.

Official Emergency Stations (OESs) may be appointed. It is anticipated that an OES will include a fixed (base station) installation with capabilities that may contribute significantly to an emergency or disaster response. During an activation, an OES operator available for duty may be asked to operate from that station rather than travel to an incident scene.

Coordination of ARES activity within each of the East Bay Section’s four counties is managed by a single District Emergency Coordinator (“DEC”).

One or more Assistant District Emergency Coordinators (“ADECs”) may be appointed. Any ADECs would assist the DEC in managing one or more countywide issues, such as relations with a county-level served agency.

These East Bay Section ARES leaders are supervised by the appointed Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC), who reports to the Section Manager. One or more Assistant Section Emergency Coordinators (“ASECs”) may be appointed.

Except for OES appointments, these are management positions. Each ARES leader from the ECs upwards should plan on managing the entire ARES response within his or her jurisdiction, remaining available to all ARES served agencies, rather than becoming deeply involved in the specifics of any one operation. If a leader cannot do this, he or she should delegate that responsibility to another previously-appointed ARES leader.

Except for AECs, each ARES leader must be a full member of the ARRL and have an active Technician-level Amateur Radio license or higher.

ARES is an ARRL program; except for AECs, ARES leaders are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the ARRL Section Manager.

ARES Membership in the East Bay Section

Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization, is eligible to apply for membership in ARES. Because ARES is an Amateur Radio program, only licensed radio amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership.

ARES is not limited to the memberships of one or more local clubs or other ham radio groups. ARES coexists and cooperates with other Amateur Radio EmComm programs and organizations, and members of each are encouraged to join the others and meet their requirements. Such programs and organizations include those that serve only one agency, including the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army (under its “SATERN” program), and government-agency-organized groups often called RACES or ACS.

Member Course Training

East Bay Section ARES members who have met specific training requirements are designated Full Members. Full Members are required to complete the following courses successfully:

• IS-100 Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS)
• IS-200 ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
• IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction
• EC-001 Introduction to Emergency Communication

The “IS” courses listed above are offered on line at no charge in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) component of the FEMA Emergency Management Institute’s Independent Study Program (http://training NULL.fema NULL.gov/IS/NIMS NULL.asp). EC-001 is offered by the ARRL on an online platform, in local classroom sessions, and by means of self study of a printed course transcript.

Full Members are also expected to complete any training that is required by ARES served agencies.

East Bay Section ARES members who have not yet met the specified training requirements are designated Associate Members.

The Section’s appointed SEC, ASECs, DECs, ADECs, and ECs are expected to complete the courses listed above and additional, more advanced course work as well.

Membership Application/Registration

East Bay Section ARES is developing an online application and registration system. Until that system goes on line, a licensed Amateur Radio operator who wishes to apply for membership in East Bay Section ARES should print out and complete the ARRL’s ARES® Registration Form (http://www NULL.arrl NULL.org/files/file/Public%20Service/fsd98 NULL.pdf) (Adobe file), then give the completed form to the ARES Emergency Coordinator or District Emergency Coordinator serving his or her community.