About WCAR - Waupaca County ARES-RACES

Waupaca County ARES - RACES is an organization of ham radio operators who volunteer their expertise, time and resources to provide primary and supplemental communications to government agencies, private disaster response organizations and other nonprofit organizations of Waupaca County, Wisconsin as well as providing support to ARES - RACES groups, government agencies, private disaster response organizations and other nonprofit organizations in surrounding counties.

Mission:
Waupaca County ARES - RACES has a multi-level mission of radio communication support. Our primary mission is to provide emergency communications for Waupaca County in the event of any natural or man-made disaster or severe weather. This can include being called upon at any time by the Waupaca County government, Wisconsin state government, the National Weather Service, or the Wisconsin ARES/RACES section of the Amateur Radio Relay League.

Additionally, we provide mutual support to ARES/RACES groups in surrounding counties as needed to the extent of our abilities.

We also provide non-emergency communication support to organizers of large annual public activities in our area such as the Waupaca Area Triathlon and the Iola Old Car Show and Swap Meet.

ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) and RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services) are nationally two separate organizations, however, in the State of Wisconsin, they operate together transparently under the direction of Wisconsin ARES/RACES group. SkyWarn operates as a direct reporting agency of real-time live observation of severe weather activity or severe weather potential through direct radio communications with the local office of the National Weather Service. In Wisconsin, the majority of ARES members are trained SkyWarn storm spotters. Often times, an ARES Skywarn net will transform into a damage assessment and relief coordination network for the emergency government immediately after damaging severe weather passes through. You do not have to be a trained spotter to join the Waupaca County group but you will have to obtain free training and be an active member of our group to participate in our SkyWarn nets.

Become a Support Member

Our meetings:
Second Thursday of the month at 6 pm.
Lower Level of Waupaca County Courthouse
811 Harding Street
Waupaca, WI
Map

Sunday night training net:
8:15 pm every Sunday
146.925 PL118.8
In event of repeater failure, the net will be conducted on the back-up repeater:
147.390 PL 118.8

County Simplex:
146.490

More information about:
Wisconsin ARES/RACES http://www.wi-aresraces.org/
Wisconsin Emergency Management http://emergencymanagement.wi.gov/
Amateur Radio Relay League http://www.arrl.org/
ARES National Home Page http://www.ares.org/
RACES National Home Page http://www.usraces.org/
SkyWarn National Home Page http://www.skywarn.org/