Public Service

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment with their local ARES® leadership for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.

Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in the ARRL or any other organization is eligible to apply for membership in ARES®. Training may be required to fully participate in ARES®. Because ARES® is an Amateur Radio program, only licensed radio amateur operators are eligible for membership.

Click here for more information on ARES®.

The Maury Amateur Radio Club is responsible for maintaining and operating the Columbia MTEARS repeater (hub 60B) for use during severe weather.

Anytime there is an emergency situation or severe weather event (a National Weather Service Warning issued impacting the county), the VHF repeater will be used exclusively for an Emergency Net and will be under a Net Control Operator (NCO). All local observations are to be reported to this local VHF net. The Maury County MTEARS net liaison monitors this net during activation and relays information to the statewide MTEARS network. 

For more information on MTEARS, click here.