Boone County Amateur Radio Emergency Service
(BCARES-Boone County, MO WXØBC)
Welcome!
We are Central Missouri’s organization of licensed amateur radio operators assisting service organizations in their communication needs.
Boone County Ready Festival September 12, 2024
On Thursday, September 12, 2024, BCARES participated in the annual community-wide Boone County Ready Festival held at Cosmo Park in Columbia.
The goal of this festival was to highlight the local organizations and government departments that work to enhance community preparedness, foster collaboration and build resilience by engaging the community in actively preparing for emergencies and disasters.
Sixty-eight organizations participated in this year’s festival with an estimated 500-600 individuals from the community attending.
BCARES manned a kiosk and provided informational brochures highlighting ham radio in emergency and disaster situations. We also demonstrated the application of amateur (ham) radio in emergency situations that might exist in the mid-Missouri area. Voice and digital radio communications were exhibited to the local citizenry who attended the festival.
Our thanks goes out to the Boone County Ready campaign, Boone County Office of Emergency Management, Boone County Amateur Radio Emergency Service members, Central Missouri Radio Association members, and the citizens of Boone County for making this a successful festival.
Field Day 2024 June 22-23, 2024
Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933.
BCARES, in conjunction with the Central Missouri Radio Association (CMRA), participated in this year’s Field Day held at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park just south of Columbia, Missouri.
To learn more about our part in the 2024 Field Day exercise click here (link coming soon).
Click on any of the Field Day event images below for a larger view.
Simulated Emergency Test (SET) November 4, 2023
BCARES participated in the yearly SET exercise conducting simulated emergency radio operations in Boone County, Missouri involving simulated damage from a series of tornadoes.
The exercise employed twenty-five operators deployed to nine sites in the county. Among the operators eighteen were Winlink capable and thirteen were APRS enabled.
A Net Control station located in the Boone County Joint Communications (BCJC) center was established at the start of the exercise and was responsible for passing radio messages to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in the same building and the BCJC.
Working in conjunction with six Red Cross sites and a site at the MU Health Center, the Boone Health Center, and the Boone Humane Society, BCARES operators passed numerous voice messages as well as Winlink messages to Net Control. In total, thirty-six Winlink ICS 213 messages were transmitted and received in 1 hour 46 minutes. Of these, nine were by Winlink Peer-Peer sessions, two were by voice. One picture was received and two ICS 213s were sent after the net was closed. Two ICS 213s were sent to Red Cross HQ in St. Louis, and two replies were received, all on the Winlink system.
To read the full SET 2023 Report click here.
To learn more about ARRL’s SET exercise click here.
Ongoing Winlink Exercises
Winlink Global Radio Email is a network of amateur radio and authorized government stations that provide worldwide radio email using radio pathways where the internet is not present. It supports email with attachments, position reporting, weather and information bulletins, and is well-known for its role in interoperable emergency and disaster relief communications. Winlink is capable of operating completely without the internet–automatically–using smart-network radio relays.
Winlink Thursdays is sponsored by EmComm-Training.org which consists of a group of roughly 1500 Amateur Radio Operators (“Hams”) working together to demonstrate, exercise and improve knowledge and proficiency sending emergency communications with Winlink.
They attempt to accomplish this by conducting weekly and/or monthly practice drills, sending various ICS and Winlink form messages.
Numerous BCARES members participate weekly in Winlink Thursday exercises and periodically during the year a set of Winlink exercises outside of Winlink Thursday exercises is offered for any interested BCARES members.
Regular practice in the use of Winlink is heartily encouraged, in all of its various modes currently available to the end user, as well as any modes that may be developed by the Winlink Development Team (WDT) or acquired by the amateur in the future. These include, but are not limited to, Packet, VARA HF, VARA FM and PACTOR.
Learn more about Winlink here.
Learn More About ARES
Current Weather Radar, Forecast & Public Alerts
Zoom in to see your city/town of choice then click on the city/town name to view the forecast. To exit the forecast click on the ‘Weather radar’ in upper right.
For a larger image click here.
Be a Part of Something Important!
Are you a licensed amateur radio operator with the desire to apply the skills you've learn in the hobby to better serve your community? Now is the time to be a part of the Boone County Amateur Radio Emergency Service!