Polk County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, ARES, provides emergency and public service communications to our served agencies. Getting the message through “when all else fails”.
Our served agencies are Polk County Emergency Management, American Red Cross, Polk County CERT Teams, Polk County Hospitals, and the Municipalities located within Polk County.
If you’re unable to attend our July meeting at the EOC, we will be using Google Meet. Join us during our meeting using Google Meet at the following link: https://meet.google.com/mhb-ukfz-upi
Hurricane Resources:
National Hurricane Center: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
NOAA: https://www.noaa.gov/hurricane-prep
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – https://www.fema.gov/
Florida Dept of Emergency Management – https://floridadisaster.org
Ready.gov – https://www.ready.gov/
*** SARNET Update – 06/15/2024 ***
The Lakeland SARNET repeater on 442.275/+ with a tone of 82.5 is operational, however, the connection to the SARNET system from the Lakeland (FX1 site) is poor. Since some time in April, the repeater is receiving signals from SARNET, albeit weak and noisy. Transmissions from the SARNET Lakeland repeater were being heard on SARNET, but reception of SARNET is noisy. This could just be conditions but we have had times when our transmissions were not being heard on SARNET.
Thanks to Polk County Emergency Management, an alternative radio and antenna to access the SARNET system from the Polk County EOC has been provided. While SARNET in Lakeland is down, our current plan until the link is repaired is to use the Tampa SARNET repeater on 442.850/+ with a tone of 146.2.
One of our served agencies, CERT, as well as other emergency communicators, have a GMRS net on the Polk CERT repeater. (note: This is NOT an ARES net, but welcome to all FCC licensed GMRS operators interested in emergency communications)
The Polk ARES ICS-205 and Polk County ARES Band Plan have been updated. You can find them under the Operations menu option at the top of this page.
Our focus is on preparation and training for wireless communications during disasters and public service events. A Statewide Florida Emergency website has been opened. Come check it out.
Winlink RMS Gateways in Polk County
144.930 WC4PEM-5
144.950 W4PSR-5
The Imperial Polk County ARES Net is held every Wednesday at 7:00pm EST on the following frequencies on the Polk County Emergency Management, WC4PEM, repeater system:
This is a wide area linked repeater system. Pick the repeater located closest to you. You should be able to reach one of our repeaters with a 5 watt HT from anywhere in Polk County. If you are not, please contact Polk ARES through our contact page and we will help you find an antenna solution.
The repeater is Echolink accessible (Echolink node 3363).
Click here for a coverage map of the WC4PEM repeater system.
