During the activation of an Emergency Response Team, you will be notified by phone and/or a general announcement will be made over the 146.700 repeater. The Emergency Courtesy Tone will also be activated.
If the repeater is down, use 146.700 simplex. When other simplex frequencies are needed, for privacy we will use channel numbers to indicate the frequency. These are given in the Bullitt Emergency Response Plan.
If asked to do so, check in with the Net Control Station and notify him/her of your availability to respond, your location, and any equipment you have available (if needed). Monitor the operation as continuously as possible.
Channel 1 - 145.500 Channel 2 - 145.550 Channel 3 - 145.600 Respond only at the direction of the Net Control Station. Do not attempt to enter an emergency situation without specific directions of where and when to appear. If you enter without authorization, you will not be signed in or considered part of the Emergency Response Team.
To be covered by insurance through DES, you must sign in at the DES office before assisting with the emergency or check in with the Net Control Station. Always check out with DES or the Net Control Station before leaving the emergency scene.
ARES members are responsible for their own safety and should take no action that places them in personal jeopardy. In a questionable situation, pull back and report your situation to the Net Control Station.
When calling to be recognized by Net Control, it is not necessary to give the NCS callsign. In a directed net, all stations communicate only with Net Control unless directed to do so otherwise. Therefore, transmitting only your callsign or your "tactical" callsign (i.e. Team 1) means that you are requesting to be recognized by the NCS. If you have traffic, giving your tactical callsign plus the word "traffic" is sufficient to make your needs known. If you traffic carries an emergncy precedence, give your tactical callsign followed by the words "emergency traffic."
When relaying information to the NCS, relay information exactly as given. Do not add or delete. Our purpose is only to communicate the information requested to be relayed. Speak slowly and clearly, giving time for the message to be written.
Prowords, or procedural words, help speed communications and often are able to express complex ideas in a single word. They must be used correctly to be effective.
- Over is used to indicate the end of a transmission and is an invitation for the receiving station to reply.
- Out indicates the end of a transmission and the end of the conversation or series of transmissions. No reply is expected.
- Roger means that a message has been received and understood in its entirety. It does not mean "yes" or signify agreement.
- Affirmative and Negative denote yes and no. They are appropriate because they are distinctive sounding words and their meaning is clear, especially under marginal conditions.
- Q signals are not to be used.
When participating in Damage Assessment, you must be trained or be paired with someone that has been trained.
When called by the National Weather Service in Louisville, Bullitt ARES operators go to the National Weather Service to set up a Net Control Station to gather emergency weather information to pass on to the meterologists at hand. The Net Control Station will be using the callsign WX4NWS.
When the SKYWARN Emergency Net is in operation, contact the Net Control Station only if you have emergency weather conditions to report. Do not check into the SKYWARN Emergency Net with non-emergency traffic, to report non-threatening weather (i.e. to report light rain, moderate winds) or requesting a weather report for your area. Also, do not check in to relay weather information from local broadcast stations or the Weather Channel.
Report weather conditions only of which you are trained and knowledgeable to report. Sending in misinformation to the National Weather Service is detrimental to our purpose. For more information on severe weather spotting, please review the SKYWARN Net Handbook.
During a planned drill, arrive at the EOC or other designated area on time, sign in and follow the directions carefully. You will be assigned to a team and remain with that team throughout the drill.Follow the directions of the Net Control Station. One call sign will be used by the Net Control Station throughout the drill. When checking in, use your tactical callsign (such as Team 3), then your callsign to clear.
Return to EOC to sign out before leaving the area.
Please report any changes in classification, address and/or phone number, equipment owned or any other pertinent information to your Emergency or Assistant Emergency Coordinator. The Bullitt County Emergency Coordinator (EC) is Your assistance is greatly appreciated!