A Brief History of the National Capitol ARES Council
By Jeanne Rexroad


In 1988, the National Capitol ARES Council was formed in an effort to coordinate emergency and public service communications on a regional level so that appointed officials could become familiar with each other and more easily support each other with volunteers and other resources when the need for large-scale or long-term service overtaxed local resources.

Early NCAC members passed the hat to cover administrative costs.  There was also community support.  The late Harry Brock, WA4IST, founder of Metrocall, donated the cost of pagers and service for the organization.  A clever numeric system made it possible to utilize a single access number that served Maryland, DC and Virginia ARES and RACES officials for many years.

NCAC coordinated designated repeaters and simplex frequencies to be used in emergencies to avoid interference and practiced regional communications during annual Simulated Emergency Tests (SET).

The first ARES Institute offered to the general public was held on May 4, 1996 at the National Headquarters of the American Red Cross in Falls Church, Virginia.  Anyone interested in emergency communications was encouraged to attend.

Funding for the ARES Institute was provided by a grant from The Foundation for Amateur Radio.

Topics at the first ARES Institute were presented in three tracks to offer a variety of information for both new- and veteran amateurs.  Topics included:

… Intro to SkyWarn
… Intro to ARES-RACES
… Incident Command System
… Directed Net Procedures followed by Directed Net Exercise
… National Traffic System followed by NTS Exercise
… Construction Project
… Packet Workshop
… Science Fair

The Science Fair offered an opportunity to "show and tell" home-built equipment, design go-kits for emergency response, or a chance to pick up a free gel-cell battery.

ARES Institutes were offered twice a year.  Locations alternated between Maryland and Virginia.

The six one-hour sessions included course materials and a gourmet pizza and cookie lunch was provided.  A $10.00 fee covered everything.  Presenters were chosen by NCAC from appointees, other amateurs or from members of the Public Safety or Emergency Management communities.

The Institutes offered a chance for diverse groups to get acquainted--networking other hams, REACT members, aspiring communications experts, and emergency management personnel.

Local appointees were encouraged to invite their local served agencies, such as local government officials and Red Cross volunteers to the Institutes.  The Council also experimented with offering a weekday Institute designed specifically for served agency representatives.

Through these Council training activities, public and private "served agencies" got to better know the capabilities of amateur radio communications.  Conversely, served agencies could also bring their needs to the attention of amateur radio.

To encourage a uniform appearance at public service events, orange tee shirts and ball caps with the ARES logo were offered for sale.  Proceeds from sales became seed money for future Institutes.

For several years, NCAC coordinated recruitment and amateur radio communications support for Navy Medical Personnel and ambulance crews from various regional fire departments during the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM). Earlier support called for amateurs to ride with ambulance crews who had no common means of communications. The regional migration of public safety agencies to an interoperable 800 MHz radio system freed amateurs to become organizer’s “eyes” on the course—alerting them to potential problems and medical emergencies. 

NCAC acted as a regional hub for information and recruitment for a regional Council of Governments (COG) exercise in preparation for Y2K.
 

Visit NCAC’s website at: www.NCACDC.com

 [Jeanne Rexroad, N4ZGI, has been a licensed amateur since 1990 and active in the National Capitol ARES Council since shortly after it was founded.  Ms. Rexroad has worked in Emergency Communications for the City of Alexandria, Virginia, for 25 years and is a member of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, Inc.]