Story County Amateur Radio Emergency Service receives service award – Ames Tribune

At the forefront of parades, bike-a-thons, family events and natural disasters, Story County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is always prepared with a slew of complex digital equipment and backup systems in hand.

It is ARES’ members’ dedication and hard work in public service that have earned the program the 2018 Governor’s Volunteer Service award this summer. The award program is coordinated by Volunteer Iowa and is currently in its 35th year. It honors individuals and groups that are dedicated to volunteerism.

ARES was nominated by Story County Emergency Management Coordinator Keith Morgan.

“I was glad to show off their capabilities…they’re probably one of the top in the nation when it comes to a team of their size,” Morgan said. “They represent what we call the whole community coming together to be better prepared for disasters.”

The group is comprised of licensed amateur radio operators who are all required to maintain and supply their own radio equipment at their own expense. This becomes somewhat of a challenge as the group receives limited government funding, said Story County ARES Emergency Coordinator Clint Miller.

“Almost everything we have for equipment is purchased by our members,” he said. “There are no paid staff.”

ARES is able to communicate across most frequencies currently used by ham radio operators. Members must be able to quickly and efficiently assemble supplies in case a large-scale event arises.

Throughout its existence, Story County ARES has cooperated with Mary Greeley Medical Center to simulate communications efforts in the case of an influx of patients from natural disasters, helped in communications during the Dam-to-Dam race, RAGBRAI, participated in Operation Stable Mercury at Camp Dodge (training for military communications) and become the first amateur radio group to pass high-speed digital messages to the military, Miller said.

“Other groups had talked over the air in the past but they had never done high-speed data transfer. We were able to do that over the spring,” he added.

ARES has also given substantial aid to Story County Emergency Management, including providing radio equipment, connecting the Story County administration building to an antenna system to more effectively receive cable signals in the case of disaster, and being involved in the I-35 closure plan.

“On their own time, many times on their vacation time, they took a class on how to use specialized radio equipment that I have that will take radios that work on one frequency and connect them to radios that work on another frequency,” Morgan said.

To join ARES, members must obtain a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license. In an effort to recruit new members, Story County ARES held events such as HAM CRAM and one-day FCC exam and study sessions.

“We have an over 95 percent success rate in doing that. We’ve done it four or five times,” Miller said.

After getting licensed, interested parties can undergo introductory courses and participate in hands-on training at various events.

“We treat all of our events as training exercises,” Miller said. “Communicating during a marathon is just as intense as communicating during a disaster, it’s just different information.”

Current ARES volunteer Ben Montour became interested in the organization after attending an FCC license training event organized by Miller several years ago.

“From there we all kind of became friends,” Montour said. “I really like giving back to the community and I really enjoy helping out with communications needs.”

Members like Miller have even taken courses through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Iowa Homeland Security, allowing them to serve on the public safety emergency response team.

While radio technology has evolved immensely, ARES members are always able to go back to the roots, according to Miller.

“We still have people

Read the full article at http://www.amestrib.com/news/20180803/story-county-amateur-radio-emergency-service-receives-service-award. STRAY SIGNALS does not claim ownership of the article.

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