Dale County Amateur Radio Emergency Services

About Dale County ARES

The Dale County Amateur Radio Emergency Services is an organization which operates under the approval and guidance of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) which is the National Association of Amateur Radio in the United States.

The organization Is comprised of licensed amateur radio operators who volunteer their time and equipment to assist during emergency and public welfare situations. These individuals obtain training above and beyond the licensure requirements in an effort to provide the best possible service to their partner organizations.

The Dale County Amateur Radio Emergency Services has partnered with the Dale EMS and Rescue Squad and the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee.

The Dale County Amateur Radio Emergency Services is led by the Dale County Emergency Coordinator, Kevin Turley (K9ADE).

ARRL Affiliated Club

The Dale County Amateur Radio Emergency Service is an ARRL Affiliated club.

To join, reach out to us via the contact form on this website or via K9ADE utilizing the information on QRZ.

Dale County ARES Repeater

Thanks to a partnership with the Dale EMS and Rescue Squad, the Dale County ARES operates a 2 meter repeater (KR4FUB) on 147.345(+) 123.0 tone with EchoLink (478859 KR4FUB-R).

There is an ARES net on KR4FUB on Sunday at 3 pm Central and there is also a SkyWarn net when needed. There is also an ARES net on K2DAL on Sunday at 3:30 pm Central. Thanks to the Daleville Amateur Radio Club for allowing use of their repeater for the second net. All licensed amateur radio operators are welcome and encouraged to check in to both nets.

How to Join ARES

If you are interested in becoming an active part of ARES, please contact Kevin Turley (K9ADE) via the contact form on this website or via the contact information on QRZ.

There are no membership fees to join ARES or the Dale County Amateur Radio Emergency Service club.

Why Amateur Radio?

Simply, when everything else goes down, there’s still amateur radio. Amateur radio operators can utilize radio equipment with emergency/battery power and an antenna deployed on a portable mast or in a tree in order to get messages in and out of a disaster stricken area.

Mutual Assistance

In addition to offering emergency and public service communications assistance to local agencies, ARES has memorandums of understanding (MOU) with the following organizations: American Red Cross, National Weather Service,

Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, Citizen

Corps, Association of Public Safety

Communications Officials (APCO), National

Communications System, and more.

Recent Large Events Involving ARES

Hurricane Michael
Hurricane Katrina
2003 North American Blackout affecting Detroit, Cleveland, and New York
September 11, 2001

Simulated Emergency Exercise on October 25, 2025

Details

The Alabama Section Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) conducted a Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on Saturday, October 25, 2025 between 0900 and 1400 Central.

The Dale County ARES is within Alabama ARES District B which encompasses Dale, Houston, Henry, Barbour, Pike, Coffee, Geneva, Covington, Crenshaw, and Butler County. Our district alone scored over 400 points.

According to our Section Emergency Coordinator, Mike Watkins (WX4AL), we are poised to take home first place across the nation again for the Sinulated Emergency Test.

Alabama has held first place in the nation for the Simulated Emergency Test nine out of the last fourteen years.

Thank you to the many amateur radio operators and agencies that make this a success.

The Simulated Emergency Test also started the conversation for many to begin their journey in amateur radio and planted the seed for agencies to utilize the valuable services amateur radio has to offer.