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The Amateur Radio Emergency Service
(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 for membership
in the ARES. The only qualification, other than possession of an Amateur
Radio license, is a sincere desire to serve. Because ARES is an amateur
service, only amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of
emergency-powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for
membership.
There are four levels of ARES
organization--national, section, district and local. National emergency
coordination at ARRL Headquarters is under the supervision of the ARRL Field
and Educational Services Manager, who is responsible for advising all ARES
officials regarding their problems, maintaining contact with federal
government and other national officials concerned with amateur emergency
communications potential, and in general with carrying out the League's
policies regarding emergency communications.
At the section level, the Section
Emergency Coordinator (SEC) is appointed by the Section Manager (SM) (who is
elected by the ARRL members in his or her section) and works under his/her
supervision. In most sections, the SM delegates to the SEC the
administration of the section emergency plan and the authority to appoint
District Emergency Coordinators (DECs) and local Emergency Coordinators (ECs).
Some of the ARRL sections with capable SECs are well-organized. A few have
scarcely any organization at all. It depends almost entirely on who the
section members have put into office as SM and whom he/she has appointed as
SEC.
It is at the local level where most
of the real emergency organizing gets accomplished, because this is the
level at which most emergencies occur and the level at which ARES leaders
make direct contact with the ARES member-volunteers and with officials of
the agencies to be served. The local EC is therefore the key contact in the
ARES. The EC is appointed by the SEC, usually on the recommendation of the
DEC. Depending on how the SEC has set up the section for administrative
purposes, the EC may have jurisdiction over a small community or a large
city, an entire county or even a group of counties. Whatever jurisdiction is
assigned, the EC is in charge of all ARES activities in his area, not just
one interest group, one agency, one club or one band.
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