Coachella Valley ARES
About ARES
The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) if the field service organization of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), a private, non-profit organization for amateur radio operators. ARES began operations in 1935 and is designed to provide emergency communications support to any agency, public or private.
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 to apply for membership in the ARES. Training may be required or desired to participate fully in ARES. Because ARES is an Amateur Radio service, only licensed radio amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership.
ARES members may also serve their own neighborhoods and communities as needed during a disaster. In the Coachella Valley, ARES is sponsored by the Desert RATS Club. If you would like more information or to join, please reach out to Coachella Valley ARES Emergency Coordinator Don Stouder at N1GAY@arrl.net.
Don Stouder, N1GAY Appointed ARES Emergency Coordinator
I thought this would be a good time to introduce myself and share some resources. My name is Don Stouder, N1GAY, and I have agreed to take on the role of ARES Emergency Coordinator for the Coachella Valley. I am recently retired from a 48-year career in health care, primarily as an EMT-Paramedic for the first 15 years and then as a Trauma and Hospice Chaplain. Both roles included emergency management duties, and I also served the American Red Cross very early in my career as a disaster coordinator. I am very familiar with the ICS system, having used it in situations which included hurricanes, wildfires, and school shootings. I grew up in New Jersey, moved to San Diego in 1985, and out here to the desert in 2017.
ARES News
Winter Field Day is fast approaching, and hams around the country often use the event to conduct ARES drills based on winter weather. Well, us Desert RATS will do likewise!
We will be conducting an ARES Drill on Saturday, January 25 between 10am and 11am. Our scenario will be a giant Haboob that moves through the valley with high winds that knock out Edom Hill, takes down all your external/outdoor antennas, and cuts your power and cable. So be ready to use a backup antenna and battery power only. THERE WILL BE A PRIZE DRAWING and the more you participate, the more drawing opportunities you will have! (hint: practice your HF Winlink!). More to follow…..
During November, I had the opportunity to spend 3 Saturdays with the Cathedral City Fire Department and many of my neighbors taking a CERT class. The material is very familiar to me as a former First Responder, but I thought it would be a great refresher, and I wanted to take the pulse of emergency preparedness in my own community. Cathedral City let the ball drop on its adoption of the CERT model, but they hope to offer more trainings in the near future, and have appointed a Captain and a Firefighter to oversee this task. I should note here that most of the other desert communities have very well organized and prepared CERT Teams.
CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Teams, and is a nationwide program sponsored by FEMA that is designed to educate volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may occur where they live. The idea is to offer a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks.
These are exactly the kind of groups that might look to Emergency Communicators (which is all of you) to assist with communications during a disaster or other significant event. I know that many of you are involved with your local CERT team for this very reason.
For more information about CERT, you can click here. There are regular trainings given by Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and LaQuinta. You should reach out to City Hall in these communities for more information.
ARES Net
Coachella Valley ARES NET meets the 1st and 3rd Monday Nights of each month on 146.760 (-) PL 107.2 at 7:30 PM. This net will be run by a different ARES member. Visitors will always be welcome.
If you wish to be a NET CONTROL OPERATOR please check out this example PREAMBLE for your use by clicking on this sentence. Please keep track of check-ins on your own.
Master list of Check-ins is updated once a month and will be e-mailed out to everyone that runs the NET. All check-ins need to be reported to the NET Manager Steve KM6HWX at stevemc5123@gmail.com so that the master list can be updated.
ARES Training and Resource Links
Incident Command System for On The Air Video
ARES Riverside County Emergency Operations Plan
RIVCO Riverside County Emergency Operations Plan (2024 Update)
