Kingston Area Amateur Radio Emergency Service

VE3KTO

What is ARES?

Members  are equipped with mobile and hand held radio transceivers capable of providing local communications, and  province-wide, country-wide and world wide communications as the need arises. 

ARES operates whenever traditional telephone systems fail due to overload. Recent disasters (natural and man-made) have seen a loss of cellular and overload of twisted pair communications in a short time after the event.

ARES traditionally supports humanitarian aid world wide as well as local municipal and provincial emergency services.

What does the Kingston Amateur Radio Emergency Service do?

The Kingston Area ARES works to support our municipality in the event of a communications failure. We also work to support other ARES groups within St. Lawrence District as well as others in nearby Districts (Trent and Ottawa). RAC ARES ONTARIO site. Click on maps in the top toolbar.

We practice deploying portable VHF voice and packet stations, formal net control, and working with other amateur groups to ensure that the best methods for information transfer are available in the event that telephone systems become overloaded or fail. 

Frequencies and methods can range from 9600 baud packet on 440 MHz to CW on 80 meters. For local operations it's voice on simplex VHF channels, with 1200 baud packet for longer messages.  Other methods currently being looked at are Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS) on 40 and 80m,  Airmail, and HF packet on 14.105 MHz. 

Packet nodes in Eastern Ontario and Northern New York can be used locally and over some distances. A telpac node VE3VY is available in Westport on 145.050 MHz, and through that internet e-mails can be sent and received. Connections between nodes are being firmed up for more reliable connections. A linked voice repeater system is also under development serving Westport, Lavant and Tweed, with expected expansion to Kingston and Ottawa.

We support certain community events in order to accomplish our training needs and support groups that would otherwise have little communications access. This applies mostly to areas of our district that have inconsistent cellular telephone coverage or incomplete business band radio coverage.

How do I help if there is emergency? 

This link (Local Ares Operations) will take you to a two page summary of the basics of the Kingston ARES operating procedures. It was developed as information for amateur radio operators who might want to help in an emergency. It helps if we all start on the same page. 

In the event of an emergency situation, local amateurs are requested to monitor 146.94 MHz FM for instructions and updates. This will work whether the repeater is operating or not. 

The repeater on this frequency (VE3KBR) doesn't have a courtesy beep and doesn't have much of a tail, making it difficult to recognize if you aren't used to it. Try 146.94 (-600, CTCSS 151.5 HZ) first and if others don't hear you, try simplex. 

A series of training presentations have been placed on the VE3EMO ARES site. They are located here . These documents contain pretty much all the information you will need to be an effective ARES member.

The Province of Ontario have prepared and published their standard for assisting with emergencies. The Incident Management System is the process selected throughout Ontario for emergency personnel and assisting them. The IMS 100 course is intended to provide a minimum awareness for assisting in an emergency.

The Radio Amateurs of Canada have published an Emergency Coordinators manual and administers a qualification test. This is more detail than you need to start helping, however it is very useful if you want to get involved with the field services organization.

A very good resource for training materials is the Kentucky Amateur Radio ARES site.Well worth a look. 

When does the Kingston Area ARES Meet?

Who to Contact