Membership

Polk County ARES is looking for licensed operators to work as Shelter Station Operators, EOC Station Operators and Net Control Operators, Skywarn Operators, Deployable Volunteers. When an event occurs in Polk County or elsewhere, our communication skills may be needed to assure communications occur.

Our requirements are simple:

  • Be an FCC licensed Amateur Radio operator,
  • Agree to attend at least four ARES meetings per year (details on website) and participate in at least twelve ARES weekly nets per year,
  • Agree to take the FEMA training courses that are recommended by ARRL, the WCF Section and Polk County Emergency Management (most courses are online and are free – see training tab),
  • Sign up on the ARESDB database at ARESDB.com and select Polk County (only),
  • Fill out a membership application and E-mail it to Staff@polkares.org

Once you have filled out an application and are approved for membership, one of the ARES Staff will add you to the group’s email reflector and alert system.  If you don’t receive a notice within a few days after submitting your application, please check your SPAM/Junk folder for email from polkares.org. Submitting of an application must be done through mail or email.

Polk County ARES is not a social club but a service organization.  We do not charge dues to be a member, we only ask for participation.  All members are asked to select one of the roles that we fulfill – Net Control Operator, EOC Station Operator and Shelter Station Operator, Skywarn Operator, Deployable Volunteer.