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.
Where + how
The 2026 GA ARES State Meeting ran Saturday, March 14 at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC) in Forsyth, Monroe County. As required under GEMA rules, attendance was by pre-registration through the GEMA Training, Exercise & Response Management System under course code ARES Annual Training / ARES100, with on-site registration also available.
Training program
GPSTC’s multi-room layout let GA ARES run several tracks in parallel covering the section’s core skill areas. Highlights from the day:
Digital modes track
- Winlink Basics — Russell Prevost (AB4QQ)
- Winlink Peer-to-Peer Operations — David Blubaugh (ND1J)
- VarAC keyboard-to-keyboard digital ops — David Blubaugh (ND1J) — covering “Emcomm mode,” beaconing, VMail, relay, and the on-air BBS
- D-STAR Class A and Class B, plus DRATS digital data — John Davis (WB4QDX), with AG4ZR co-instructing DRATS
Pre-event preparation guidance for the Winlink Basic Operations forum (Room 219C) was distributed in advance to attendees.
Traffic handling, net control, and EC track
- ARRL Traffic Handling and Net Control Station Operational Procedures — Frank Hobbs (KN4QJ)
- EC 101: ARES support to the EOC and public-safety expectations — Jim Millsap (K9APD)
Deployment and power track
- Deployment, Portable Operations, and Emergency Power for shelters, EOCs, parking-lot and parade ops, plus battery, generator, and solar power — Frank Dean (K4SJR) and Felton Floyd (AF4DN)
- GA ARES Effective and Efficient Communications using Google Workspace — Lee Stone (KT4LS)
- NWS Flood Inundation Mapping — presented remotely
Hospital operations track
Mandatory for ARES operators staffing hospital stations:
- Introduction to Hospital Operations
- Annual HIPAA Training for Hospital Operators
Both taught by Luis Morales (KK4ZFT).
Other
A member raffle was held during the day’s activities.
Resources made available afterward
On March 17 — three days after the meeting — GA ARES posted a Training Resources update on gaares.org making the Hospital Operations and HIPAA Training presentations available to members, alongside reference material for the GA ARES Weekly Winlink Net. Members who couldn’t attend the live sessions or who staff hospital stations should pull these down for reference.
Why members went
For DeKalb ARES, the State Meeting is the once-a-year opportunity to get face time with section leadership, sync with neighboring county ARES groups, and pick up training material directly applicable to local activations — particularly in the Winlink and VarAC tracks (directly relevant to our standing WD5EMA-10 RMS gateways) and the Hospital Operations track (which sets the procedural baseline for our member-staffed station capability at the metro-Atlanta hospitals listed on What We Do).