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®. Because ARES® is an Amateur Radio program, only licensed radio amateur operators are eligible for membership. If you would like to register for ARES® please complete an ARES Registration Form and send it to your county ARES® Emergency Coordinator (EC). The Maury County EC is currently George Haun.

The Maury County ARES® group actively serves the Maury County Office of Emergency Management (OEM), the National Weather Service (NWS), and community organizations for special events. In the event of a local emergency, the OEM may contact the County ARES® Emergency Coordinator to activate the trained ARES® community for assistance in emergency communications (for example between medical facilities, shelters, police dispatch, and/or an emergency site). The ARES® group also activates local nets on the W4GGM 147.12 MHz repeater for severe weather events (when a NWS declared severe weather warning is in effect). The net provides up to the minute weather information directly from the NWS, and in return, trained storm spotters report observations meeting the NWS criteria via this net and the county ARES® Emergency Coordinator relays the information in real time to the NWS office in Nashville for input into storm modeling and public advisories. As a community service and as a training activity, Maury County ARES® provides communications for some special events in the county.

• For more information on required training for ARES®, click here.

• For information on ARES® Group Training/Exercises, click here.