Everything we've been up to

Peachtree Road Race communications

DeKalb ARES members are supporting communications for the 2026 Peachtree Road Race alongside neighboring ARES groups across metro Atlanta.

ARRL ARES Letter - 5/20/2026

ARRL ARES Letter - 5/20/2026 - http://www.arrl.org/aresletterissue?issue=2026-05-20

DeKalb Fire & Rescue Station Scramble exercise

Planning is underway for a potential rapid-deployment drill concept — a 'station scramble' exercise testing portable communications from multiple fire stations across the county, building on the March APRS coverage drill.

Digipi building session and Advanced APRS operations using Objects

Thanks to Scott Sheppard, KJ4ZZB for his excellent demo of a DigiPi build and also to Facundo Fernandez, KK4ODA for his very informative presentation on the use of APRS objects in EmComm for Dekalb ARES.

W4BOC-1 APRS digipeater/iGate goes permanent on Stone Mountain

Building on the results of the March 2026 county-wide APRS coverage drill, DeKalb ARES completed a permanent deployment of W4BOC-1 — the group's APRS digipeater and iGate — at the Stone Mountain summit. Operating on the national APRS frequency 144.390 MHz, it extends reliable automatic position reporting and short-messaging coverage across DeKalb County and beyond. The deployment also brought a substantial power-system upgrade benefiting every service on the Stone Mountain rack.

Lonesome Crow · CC BY-SA 4.0

Graywolf APRS application

Members discussed Graywolf — an open-source modern APRS station (github.com/chrissnell/graywolf) bundling software modem, digipeater, iGate, and web UI in a single binary — as a candidate for portable APRS deployments and as a comparison point to our existing W4BOC-1 setup.

APRS drill recap and emergency alerting presentation

Recap of the March APRS drill, discussion of the new APRS digipeater/iGate W4BOC-1, preview of the upcoming May 2026 drill, and a presentation on emergency alert notification systems (weather radio, cellphone, and multi-channel alerting) by Vicki Karnes, RN, DCES.

Ptolusque · CC BY-SA 4.0

ARRL ARES Letter-4/15/2026

ARRL ARES Letter for 4/15/2026 — https://www.arrl.org/aresletterissue?issue=2026-04-15

APRS county coverage drill

County-wide APRS simplex coverage mapping drill — two member-built iGates on mountaintop sites, field teams retracing routes in cell-connected then RF-only phases, all data captured for a post-exercise coverage map. Designed to answer: where in DeKalb County can a station reach others via simplex if 146.760 fails?

Yo4tnv · CC BY-SA 4.0

Severe weather net activation

DeKalb ARES activated a severe weather net during a significant storm system affecting metro Atlanta — a fast-moving line of storms that produced damaging winds, large hail, and three EF-0 tornadoes across the metro, including one in DeKalb County near three schools.

NWS / Iowa Environmental Mesonet · Public domain

Annual Georgia ARES state meeting

DeKalb ARES members attended the annual Georgia ARES state meeting at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth — a full day of training across digital modes, traffic handling, EC operations, deployment and power, and hospital operations, with section leadership and county-level groups from across the state.

Atlanta Marathon communications

DeKalb ARES members supported situational awareness, net control, runner-shadow roles, SAG vehicles, and aid stations alongside neighboring ARES groups across metro Atlanta. Also the venue for the USATF Half Marathon Championship and a real-world test of cell-based APRS for fleet tracking — covered in the after-action discussion below.

TV twinlead J-pole antenna construction

Members learned to build a J-pole from 300-ohm TV twinlead — one of the most effective and inexpensive 2m antennas for a go-kit or home station, following the published Harford County ARES construction guide. Background on the J-pole's history and why it earns its place in ARES go-kits below.

Chetvorno · Public domain (CC0)

GARS TechFest booth and monthly meeting

DeKalb ARES staffed an information booth at the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society's annual TechFest in Lawrenceville and held its monthly meeting at DeKalb Fire Rescue Headquarters the same day.

Jeff Davis · CC BY 2.0

Tornado drill at NWS Peachtree City

DeKalb ARES members participated in the annual statewide tornado drill run by NWS Peachtree City (WFO FFC) as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week — checking in across the linked-repeater Skywarn net, NWSChat, and the GA ARES Winlink and HF P2P nets, with 44 of the 96 counties in PTC's coverage area represented and 172 total check-ins across all paths.

BusyWikipedian · CC BY-SA 4.0

Georgia Severe Weather Preparedness Week

DeKalb ARES participated in Georgia Severe Weather Preparedness Week — reinforcing storm-spotter procedures, severe weather reporting criteria, and public preparedness awareness across the county. The week is co-hosted by GEMA/HS and the National Weather Service, with a daily theme rotation and the statewide tornado drill on Wednesday.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center · Public domain

Winter storm weather net activation

DeKalb ARES opened a weather net during the second winter storm to hit DeKalb County in eight days — a fast-deepening Nor'easter / bomb cyclone (unofficially "Winter Storm Gianna") that brought extreme cold and snow on top of the previous week's ice. Net Control monitored conditions and relayed storm reports on the primary repeater while a statewide State of Emergency was in effect.

NOAA · Public domain

Winter Field Day as WD5EMA, Briarlake Forest Park

Operating under the club callsign WD5EMA with the '2 O' class exchange at Briarlake Forest Park in Decatur — emergency-power operating practice in genuinely frigid, sub-freezing weather that tested both the gear and the operators. Same weekend as the back-to-back January ice storm and bomb-cyclone winter storm — meaning the cold-weather conditions weren't simulated.

Ice storm weather net activation

DeKalb ARES operated a severe weather net during the leading edge of Winter Storm Fern — a multi-day, multi-state ice and snow event that caused catastrophic damage across the Southeast and would ultimately be among the deadliest US winter storms in decades. Net Control monitored conditions on 146.760 MHz and relayed storm reports while the state was under a Governor-declared State of Emergency.

Liz West · CC BY 2.0

Hams over IP — DeKalb ARES extension

Discussion of Hams over IP — a free VoIP service for the amateur radio community — and the registration of a DeKalb ARES extension on the network. Led by Nathan Smith (NF4L), the discussion also covered the broader landscape of amateur-radio VoIP and where Hams Over IP fits alongside AREDN mesh, Hamshack Hotline, AllStar, EchoLink, and the DMR/D-STAR talkgroup networks.

Roland Brierre · CC BY-SA 3.0

APRS presentation by Scott Sheppard, KJ4ZZB

Scott Sheppard (KJ4ZZB) gave a presentation on APRS — the Automatic Packet Reporting System — at the monthly DeKalb ARES meeting. A primer on what APRS is, where it came from, what it can do beyond position tracking (messaging, telemetry, bulletins, automated bots), and why it remains relevant infrastructure for amateur emergency communications four decades after its creation.

ChrisRuvolo · GPLv2+

Polar Opposite race communications

DeKalb ARES members volunteered with the Atlanta Track Club for the 2026 Polar Opposite Peachtree — the cold-weather, reverse-direction sibling of the Peachtree Road Race, run on Saturday, January 3 from Piedmont Park downhill into Lenox Square.

November drill AAR and Winter Field Day planning

After-action review of the November 15 simplex/APRS/Winlink drill, and planning for DeKalb ARES participation in Winter Field Day in January 2026.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center · Public domain

Simplex, APRS, and Winlink exercise drill

A multi-mode exercise drill testing simplex communications, APRS position reporting, and Winlink digital messaging.

Gerry Ashton · CC BY-SA 3.0

Simulated Emergency Test after-action review

Members reviewed the After Action Report from the annual DeKalb ARES SET held two weeks prior.

FEMA · Public domain

Annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET)

DeKalb ARES members participated in the annual nationwide SET — exercising deployment, message handling, and served-agency coordination.

Lance Cheung · USDA · Public domain

SET planning and digital-mode setup

Discussion of the upcoming October 4 SET, including setup and troubleshooting of the different digital modes to be exercised.

Jeff Davis · CC BY 2.0

VARAC demo, TARPN/SPROING overview, DeKalb ARES app demo

Demo of VARAC by Facundo (KK4ODA), a brief overview of TARPN/SPROING — the new packet radio network in Metro Atlanta and North Georgia — by Tom (KE4QCM), and a demo of new features added to the DeKalb ARES app being built by James (W4JES).

Adamantios · CC BY-SA 3.0

VARAC / VARA HF demo and practice exercise

Demo of VARAC and VARA HF by Facundo (KK4ODA), demo of the DeKalb ARES application in progress by James (W4JES), and a practice exercise using VARAC and VARA FM.

Jeff Davis · CC BY 2.0

Summer Field Day with Alford Memorial Radio Club

DeKalb ARES participated in ARRL Field Day with the Alford Memorial Radio Club (AMRC) at Pleasantdale Park in Atlanta/DeKalb County — setup, radio operations, and teardown over a 24-hour emergency-power event.

Wd4sbx · CC BY-SA 4.0

ICS Form 201 review for Field Day

Members reviewed the ICS 201 incident briefing form as part of Field Day preparation, practicing the same incident-management paperwork used in real deployments.

Greg Heartsfield · CC BY 2.0

DigiPi and new VARA-FM Stone Mountain station

Presentation on DigiPi — what it is and how to set it up — by Pat De Loe (N4MPC). Barry Kanne (W4TGA) demonstrated connecting to the new VARA-FM Winlink VHF station atop Stone Mountain.

Idawriter · CC BY-SA 3.0

Experimental VARA FM Winlink station and dB presentation

Discussion of installing an experimental VARA FM Winlink station for DeKalb ARES. Pat De Loe (N4MPC) gave a presentation on 'dB' and signal strength.

Giacomo Alessandroni · CC BY-SA 4.0

Severe weather briefing

Members viewed a special severe-weather briefing for a forecasted storm; the planned simulation exercise was cancelled due to the forecast.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center · Public domain

Atlanta Marathon communications

DeKalb ARES members supported communications for the Atlanta Marathon.

Simulation exercise planning

Planning for a simulation exercise to be held March 15, 2025 (later cancelled due to severe weather in the forecast).

Stefan Klein · CC BY-SA 4.0

Winter Storm Cora after-action review

After-action review of DeKalb ARES response and communications during Winter Storm Cora.

NOAA / NWS Portland ME · Public domain

EOC visit and Hurricane Helene after-action

Members visited the DeKalb Emergency Operations Center and reviewed the after-action report from the Hurricane Helene activation.

Supportstorm · Public domain · NHC data

Hurricane Helene activation

DeKalb ARES was activated by DeKalb EMA to provide severe-weather and damage reports from the field to the DeKalb EOC during Hurricane Helene — the kind of situational awareness that amateur radio delivers when other infrastructure is stressed. The deployment was modest by Helene's broader standards, but it's the cleanest recent example of DKARES doing what it exists to do, on real EMA tasking.

Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024

Battery project and EOC visit

Presentation on a battery project by Pat DeLoe (N4MPC). Members also visited the DeKalb Emergency Operations Center.

Tntflash · CC BY-SA 3.0

FEMA ICS forms

Review and discussion of FEMA Incident Command System forms — the paperwork that ties amateur radio operators into a unified incident command structure.

Wikideas1 · Public domain (CC0)

Field Day debrief and DMR codeplug programming

Recap of the 2024 Field Day weekend. Barry Kanne (W4TGA) gave a presentation on DMR and walked through how to program codeplugs for DMR radios.

Oliver Gottlob DL1OLI · CC BY-SA 3.0

Peachtree Road Race

DeKalb ARES members supported communications for the Peachtree Road Race — the largest 10K in the United States.

AJC Live360 · CC BY-SA 1.0

Summer Field Day with AMRC, EMA, CERT, Fire-Rescue, and Parks

DeKalb ARES participated in ARRL Field Day jointly with the Alford Memorial Radio Club, DeKalb EMA, DeKalb CERT, DeKalb Fire-Rescue, and DeKalb Parks and Recreation at Pleasantdale Park in Doraville — an unusually strong inter-agency turnout.

Kgbo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Field Day planning

Discussion of DeKalb ARES participation in the June Field Day event.

Peter & Joyce Grace · CC BY 2.0

PL-259 and cable connector installation

Group demonstration of how to install PL-259 and other coaxial cable connectors — a foundational field-repair skill for any deployed station.

User OS · CC BY-SA 4.0

National Traffic System and HF Winlink practice

Presentation on the National Traffic System (NTS) by Jim Penland (N4RAR), followed by hands-on practice of HF Winlink using members' go-kits.

Lou Sander · Public domain

VHF Winlink practice with go-kits

Hands-on practice of VHF Winlink operation using members' go-kits.

Jakez · CC BY-SA 3.0

APRS presentation

Presentation on APRS — the Automatic Packet Reporting System — by Pat De Loe (N4MPC).

M0TCX · CC BY-SA 3.0

Skywarn training recap

Steve Vogel (W4PSV) discussed a recent Skywarn class he took and how members can sign up for future Skywarn classes.

NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory · Public domain

Simulated Emergency Test recap

Recap of the 2023 SET held earlier in October.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center · Public domain

Simulated Emergency Test planning

Planning discussion for the upcoming SET on October 7, 2023.

NWS Mount Holly · Public domain