Welcome:

This is a very exciting time for Hall ARES, amateur radio, and emcomm in general. Change is in the air and the role of the emergency communicator is becoming more than just relaying short voice messages from one station to another. While this time honored method of communication will never cease to be a useful tool, new techniques are really adding to the capabilities of the emcomm community.

Digital modes have been used for HF communications for quite some time. CW, PSK 31, AMTOR, PACTOR and others have become common modes for the HF operator. New computer soundcard modes such as OLIVIA are proving to be more robust than even the venerable CW for weak signal work.

As these techniques have evolved, they are quickly filtering down into VHF and UHF communications. DOMINO and MT-63 are allowing amateur radio operators to send text messages, word documents, spreadsheets and even photos through repeaters and simplex. This means we can provide our served agencies with a reasonable approximation of the type of communications they have grown accustomed to in today’s fast pace information highway

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Hall County ARES is moving quickly to adopt these new techniques to better serve our community in the event of a disaster. Being able to send documents such as lists of supplies, pharmaceuticals, refugees and similar important data without having to break it down into voice communications and phonetic spellings means the information gets where it needs to go faster and with better reliability than ever before in emergency communications.

We have multiple levels of participation for anyone that would like to join the exciting field of emcomm. As you navigate our site you will find many documents that will aid in your emcomm knowledge, online sign ups pages for membership and even to volunteer as net control or to participate in emergency drills. This site is still new but we will be adding content on a regular basis to keep the amateur community and the general public apprised of the happenings in Hall County ARES work to serve the community.