South County ARES Membership Information

How to become a South County ARES (SCARES) member

• For general membership information , use the SCARES Inquiry Form, requesting that you be contacted or leave a message on the SCARES Voice Mail, requesting that you be contacted or contact the president of SCARES.
• Attend the monthly SCARES meeting. This is a requirement as the first step to becoming a SCARES member.
• You are welcome to check in as a visitor to the weekly net to learn more about coming activities.

SCARES has no monetary dues at this time, but members pay membership "dues" by volunteering their time at events, checking in regularly to the weekly Monday night Net, acting as Monday night Net Control (about once a year), attending monthly meetings, and attending training sessions.

SCARES Service to the Community

SCARES members are expected to provide services to the community in the following areas:

• Back-up Emergency communications:
  If normal police/fire/OES communications channels are overloaded or commercial radios not working, amateurs have many frequencies available and can provide communications as required.
• Inter-agency communications:
  Most agencies have dedicated frequencies and radios that operate only on those frequencies. SCARES members often "shadow" key people at different agencies' operations centers to allow inter-agency communication when the agencies not able to communicate through normal channels.
• Health and welfare information:
  SCARES members use voice and packet radio frequencies to get health and welfare messages to the Red Cross and out-of-area family members on behalf of emergency workers and people in the community.
• Community Events:
  SCARES members use voice and packet radio frequencies to provide communications for various local events (parades, races, ...) to practice their skills.