gary in ohio said:
I think folks get confused over what ARES is. ARES isnt S&R, ARES isnt a first aid team and ARES isnt a rescue group. ARES is a communications group. yes SAR teams have hams, yes first aid teams have hams and Yes rescue groups have hams and often these are the same people that volunteer for ARES, but ARES itself is a communications group. Providing communications for a served agency.
Now I do agree that a ham SAR group should monitor for WP, but thats not an ARES role. I wouldnt however expect a SAR team to monitor 52 when they are not on an active mission.
I know that ARES is volunteers providing communications for who might need it in an emergency. But my mistake on assuming what they did.
My only real experience with ARES was during my first year as a USFS volunteer MTB patroller. When the Hayman Fire first started, they were helping the sheriff and the S&R crews up west of Deckers when they were clearing the area of backpackers and campers around Stoney Pass and back near Sheep Rock Mt. They were most definitely monitoring 146.520, although they were up there so that they could use their portable repeater. That was when I decided I needed to get into this hobby as a backcountry enthusiast, since no cell phone will work back there, CB was a joke. The only reliable communication besides the USFS repeater at the fire watch on Devil's Head was their portable repeater and simplex.
Living in the west, if you smell campfire after a lightning storm you start to wonder. That was the same year we got caught out at Dead Man's Creek during a club run when the Coal Seam Fire started and we would have been overrun if the winds were not in our favor. We hustled out at first light the next morning... Our only source of information was listening to the radio, very much suboptimal. I got my ticket that winter and have used the WP up skiing, 4 wheeling, occasionally riding. People do listen and respond to calls on 146.520 once in a while. I'm not sure people back easy appreciate the remoteness of places here, so it's nice to hear another ham.