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The Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) are voluntary organizations in the United States and Canada, of licensed radio amateur operators who register and volunteer their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service during a disaster. Any licensed amateur may join ARES; membership in the American Radio Relay League or the Radio Amateurs of Canada is not required.

The ARES hierarchy is

1. National (deals with federal government, sets national policy)

2. Section (A state or province, or a part of a large state or province), led by a Section Emergency Cordinator.

3. District (a subdivision of sections; not all states and provinces have districts), led by the District Emergency Coordinator

4. Local (city, county or township level) led by the Emergency Coordinator.

Note that all Section through Local appointments are made by the elected ARRL Section Manager. All leadership positions require membership in ARRL.

Local ARES routine operations, where most activity occurs, will usually take the form of regularly scheduled practice and testing radio nets— voice nets on HF nets, VHF, UHF and often using repeaters for the latter two. Data nets may use RTTY, packet radio or other special-mode digital systems, depending on needs and available resources. Many ARES units also provide communication support for marathons, relay races and other pubic events, where commercial communications are either not available or cost-prohibitive.

Emergency operations often involve multiple ARES units providing ad hoc communications for public service agencies (e.g., search and rescue, fire marshals, fire departments, Community_Emergency_Response_Teams) and for [volunteer] relief agencies such as the American Red Cross and Canadian Red Cross, with whom ARES has a Memorandum of understanding. ARES units in emergencies often become RACES units, and may have the same leadership and membership.

Some equipment in the US is procured under public service agency grants with a local ARES unit assisting and in the selection, installation and maintenance, or by or fund raising campaigns led by the local ARES unit, but most equipment is the personal property of a club or individual operator.

• Information from ARRL
• ARES Canada
• MOU between ARES Canada and the Canadian Red Cross