Greetings to all District Emergency Coordinators (DEC) in the Illinois Section of the ARRL, and a special welcome to your DEC Page.

    Your leadership is essential as a DEC in recruiting and helping to develop local ARES Emergency Coordinators in the assigned counties and local jurisdictions of your district in the Illinois Section of the ARRL.  Your personal leadership and responsiveness to assigned EC is critical to helping not only local jurisdictions, but your entire District with mutual aid in ARES®. Your good judgement, your special knowledge, your personal recommendations, and your special insight will help provide the cadre of EC that ARES® needs in your district of the Illinois Section.  As a DEC, you serve in the ARRL Illinois Section cabinet with your Section EC and you are also a staff advisor to the Section EC in our Emergency Communications organization.

    As a District EC, you will help bring the ARRL hard-earned corporate knowledge gained over decades of emergency response to your local EC, and thus to their ARES® registered members, and to our ARRL served agencies in your district. 

    Your understanding and application of this special knowledge from the furnished  ARRL publications, and other ARRL material available to you, is key to your success as a District Emergency Coordinator. This is also critical to the ECs you will recruit, lead and evaluate in your district.  Always remember that an EC candidate must apply on the ARRL DEC/EC application, and also register other amateur radio operators in ARES® to lead. You, as DEC, will also maintain ARES® registrations from counties withn your district as the DEC, until there is an appointed EC in the local jurisdiction to turn them over to their special custody and trust.

    Your DEC reports and information furnished promptly to the ARRL, and the Illinois Section, are essential to help develop our EC and their local ARES® into a viable multilevel organization furnishing emergency communications via amateur radio across your district in the State of Illinois.

    As an DEC, you observe the ARRL Official Guidelines for a District Emergency Coordinator, and use the guidance of the Public Service Communications Manual  (PSCM ) in organizing your assigned district. Your continuing appointment as a DEC in the Illinois Section of the ARRL is contingent on that premise. To be first appointed, then continued as an District EC, you must remember those ARRL DEC Guidelines, and the following special requirements for DEC:

•     Maintains ARES® Registration ARRL form FSD-98 for each assigned EC, and any District staff members, and holds other completed ARES® Registrations for local jurisdictions until a responsible local EC is appointed, and then promptly sends them to the local EC.
•     Recruits ARES® Responders continuously, using the ARES® Registration on the ARRL form FSD-98, and provides any other completed ARES® registrations received to the responsible local EC, who shall then maintain these formal ARES® Registration forms.
•     Establishes and participates in ARES District and local nets, and reports on all regular ARES® radio nets in the assigned District. Ensures ARES® Net listings are submitted to the ARRL Net Directory for local jurisdictions in the assigned district. 
•     Regularly participates in District amateur radio emergency planning and preparation activities, and with local Emergency Coordinators, constructs any necessary District Emergency Communications plan for and with any multiple jurisdiction served agencies within the assigned district.
•     Conducts periodic EC meetings or visits to review local EC efforts and their ARES organization to maintain an effective and responsive ARES® team in each jurisdiction of the assigned district.
•     Encourages district and wide area public service events (PSE) to exercise, with local EC, amateur radio communications skills and equipment across multiple jurisdictions within the district.   
•     Recruits and maintains regular contact with district served agencies, and ensures response to their emergency communications needs for amateur radio, our primary ARES® goal in the assigned district.
•     Sends regular district reports and summaries to the ARRL, Section and other District EC if needed, and keeps ARES® district record files of those reports and logs. Answers extraordinary calls for information as needed by the ARRL.

    As a supervising District EC, and in accordance with the PSCM, you will use specific standards in evaluating a local EC listed on the EC Page , along with your own standards for a DEC. Each EC assigned is responsible to these tasks:

•         Maintains ARES® Registrations on the FSD-98 form, and all are current, with none in the active ARES file over 3 years old.        
•         Reviews local Emergency Communication Plans kept by the local EC, and offers advice and perspective on the District and Section goals, such as ARES® Mutual Aid Teams and the district ARESMAT response needs.
•         Regularly conducts or participates in ARES Nets, and makes information available to district net members and local EC or their OES on ARESV Section and District news, and recruits new ARES® members in their district from these radio nets.  
•         Conducts or participates in ARES® district meetings as required for EC training, district drill planning and local EC and drill critiques.
•        Reports regularly to ARRL and IL Section Leadership, especially via the following DEC Reports, as required:

            a.  Monthly EC/DEC Report,  using ARRL form FSD-212, by the 2nd day of the month following, to the Section EC and District EC.
            b.  Appointment Monthly Report,  using ARRL form FSD-210, by the 2nd day of the month following, to the Section Manager and Section Traffic Manager.
            c.  Emergency Reference Information, using ARRL form FSD-255, for each local jurisdiction in your district, and sends to the Section EC when local or district changes are made, for inclusion in the Section Emergency Communications Plan.
            d. Incident Reports on district Emergency ARES® Operations, and sends to Section EC promptly, and maintains a record of these and participating EC.       
            e. Maintains copies of the Annual EC Report sent by local EC to the ARRL and Section EC/DEC.
            f.  Maintains copies of the Annual SET Reports sent by local EC by January 31st, to the ARRL and Section EC/DEC.
            g. Maintains ARES® District supplemental files and report copies for review by the Section EC.

    Your active participation as a District Emergency Coordinator is essential as our ARES® organization grows in the Illinois Section. Your perspective as a DEC is essential to ensure wide area ARES® response across multiple jurisdictions led by local EC.  A DEC is responsible to ensure emergency communications by amateur radio can be provided to multiple jurisdiction of served agencies in ARES® by our EC.  You serve an important role as a staff advisor to the Section EC, and via this SEC to the Section Manager, on all amateur radio emergency communications matters in your assigned district. Always remember that you represent the ARRL in your District EC ARRL Field Service Appointment in the Illinois Section.

    For a list of other Illinois District EC, and all local Emergency Coordinators:  Go Here