What We Do
Communications support, on demand — from a county 5K to a hurricane
DeKalb ARES provides trained,
volunteer radio operators to public safety, public health, and
community organizations — whenever the request comes in, and regardless of
whether commercial infrastructure is still working.
That support ranges from something as routine as coordinating a local parade
or staffing an aid station, to something as critical as passing urgent
messages out of an evacuation shelter or relaying damage reports to an
Emergency Operations Center when the phones are down.
Real activations
When the call comes in.
DeKalb ARES serves the DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency. When
we're activated, members deploy to the field or the EOC to provide
EmComm support, situational awareness, and damage assessment when
cellular and internet are degraded.
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024
Activation
September 26–27, 2024
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.
Activations aren't common — DeKalb County is fortunate — but when they
happen, the volunteer pool needs to be trained, equipped, and reachable
today. That's what the weekly training net, monthly meetings, and
county-wide drills are for.
Full activation and drill history →
Public health
Ready when public health needs us.
DeKalb ARES has radio equipment installed at several major hospitals in
the county and has worked with the DeKalb Board of Health on
mass-dispensing drills when asked. These aren't ongoing operational
relationships — each site is staffed on request — but in a mass-casualty
event or a communications outage at a health facility, trained amateur
radio operators can be among the fastest ways to coordinate between
sites, and our members are ready to help when called on.
Hospital stations
- Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
- Emory University Hospital
- Emory Midtown Hospital
- Grady Memorial Hospital · antennas out of service
Stations are installed and staffed during activations; no full-time
operator rotation.
Public health drills
We've partnered with the DeKalb Board of Health on mass-dispensing
and other public-health exercises as needed.
Community presence
The visible side of the work.
Not every day is a disaster. Most weekends look like this: members
supporting a road race, staffing an aid station, shadowing the lead runner,
running net control from a parking lot. Public-service work keeps our
skills sharp and keeps ARES visible in the community.
Public Service
March 1, 2026
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.
Recurring community events
- Atlanta Marathon — March
- Peachtree Road Race — July 4
- Polar Opposite run — January
- Alford Memorial Radio Club Field Day — June
Always training
How readiness actually works.
Emergency communications is a skill that perishes without practice. We
exercise ours on a weekly cadence — nets every Sunday, a monthly meeting
with a technical presentation, and several county-wide drills a year. The
result is an activation-ready roster, not a paper one.
Lance Cheung · USDA · Public domain
Drill
October 4, 2025
Annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET)
DeKalb ARES members participated in the annual nationwide SET — exercising deployment, message handling, and served-agency coordination.
Field Day
January 24, 2026
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.
How members train → ·
Weekly net schedule →
Behind the scenes
The infrastructure we run.
DeKalb ARES isn't just operators on handheld radios. The group operates
digital messaging infrastructure that keeps email moving when the internet
is down, and operates on repeaters hosted by the Alford Memorial Radio
Club that stitch together operators across the county.
Repeater network
- Primary W4BOC 146.760 (-) PL 107.2
- Backup W4BOC 145.450 (-) PL 107.2
- EchoLink W4BOC-R · node 330246
Courtesy of the Alford Memorial Radio Club.
Winlink digital stations
- Packet 145.590 MHz — DeKalb Fire/Rescue HQ
- VARA FM 145.530 MHz — Stone Mountain
Callsign WD5EMA-10. Moves email over radio.
APRS digipeater & iGate
- Callsign W4BOC-1
- Stone Mountain summit · permanent install
- 144.390 MHz
Built out after the March 2026 county-wide APRS coverage drill.
Live coverage map →
Training
May 17, 2025
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.
If you're a county partner
We would like to work with you.
For DeKalb County, GEMA, or community-organization leadership interested in
requesting DeKalb ARES support for an event, drill, or exercise:
Contact the Emergency Coordinator →
If you're thinking of joining
You are welcome at any meeting.
No advance registration. No dues. Bring your license — or come without one
and start the path to getting it.
How to join →
