If you have a personal emergency or life is at stake, call 911 immediately.
If you receive a HyperReach alert, a severe weather warning, or other information about a potential disaster, please monitor the XWARN repeater 147.1650(+) (123.0 Hz tone). It is our official Greene County ARES alerting frequency. If an emergency net is active, listen to the net control station (NCS) for instructions. If the NCS calls for check-ins, do so. If not, monitor until NCS calls for reports or other info. If you have the information requested, then call NCS; otherwise, continue to monitor.
In an actual emergency, NCS may ask you to switch to the GCARES repeater 146.910(-) (no tone) or another repeater. Follow those instructions. If the HyperReach alert contains specific instructions, follow those. Reminder: During an emergency only relevant information should be shared. Only call NCS if you have a dangerous situation or a request for assistance to report; otherwise, monitor until called.
The Bellbrook Amateur Radio Club (BARC) began as a communications support group for the City of Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Township Disaster Plan following the 1974 Xenia tornado and was officially founded July 4, 1976, with 20 charter members. We currently hold Membership Meetings on the third Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm at the clubhouse. This page contains the Emergency Communications (EmComm) information for BARC.
If you are interested in EmComm, your first stop should be the Greene County ARES (GCARES) website. There you can join GCARES and learn what on-line courses you should take to obtain Level II status. Be sure to make yourself familiar with the information in the Document Center, especially the EmComm official procedures and communications plans. Ask the Emergency Coordinator to add you to the HyperReach contact list.
Once you are familiar with the GCARES EmComm procedures, contact the BARC Emergency Coordinator to volunteer for deployment to BARC or local Bellbrook/Sugarcreek Township police or fire departments during an exercise or an actual emergency. BARC supports amateur radio equipment at several police and fire stations to provide backup or auxiliary communications in times of disaster.
It is also a good idea to join our Sunday BARC Net and the various Public Service Events that BARC participates in. These events provide good practice for operating on a controlled net with a net control during times of emergency.