Waupaca County ARES/RACES
We have a wide range of resources,
TRAINED PERSONNEL, equipment, and communication capabilities that enable us to provide emergency communications support to
Waupaca County Emergency Management,
local emergency response entities, and surrounding communities when needed.
Voice Emergency Communications Capability
Through our licensed radio operators, we can provide reliable person-to-person voice communications over the air using amateur radio systems. Depending on conditions, equipment, and frequency bands, these communications can support both local operations and long-distance communications spanning thousands of miles.
We maintain amateur radio equipment at several key locations throughout Waupaca County, including the Waupaca County Courthouse, ThedaCare Waupaca Hospital, and the King Veterans Home. These strategically located radio systems provide additional communications capability and redundancy during emergencies, particularly when conventional telephone, cellular, or internet services are unavailable or disrupted.
Our Mobile Emergency Communications Trailer further expands this capability by providing a deployable communications platform that can be positioned where it is needed most. This level of power independence helps ensure that communications can be maintained even when local electrical infrastructure has been damaged or is unavailable.
Together, our fixed radio locations, licensed operators, and mobile communications trailer provide multiple layers of reliable, redundant, and resilient voice communications. This capability helps support first responders, emergency management personnel, healthcare facilities, and other critical operations while strengthening the community's ability to maintain communications during severe weather, disasters, extended power outages, and other emergencies.
Winlink Emergency Email Communications Capability
Through the Winlink system, we have the ability to send and receive email messages over radio, without relying on the internet or traditional communications infrastructure. This provides an important backup communications capability during emergencies when internet service, cellular networks, or other conventional communication systems may be unavailable or disrupted.
Winlink allows emergency communications to be established throughout Waupaca County, neighboring counties, surrounding states, and, when necessary, to locations outside the United States. This capability provides a flexible and resilient method for transmitting critical information over long distances when normal communications are compromised.
In addition to email, the Winlink system supports additional emergency communications and information-management capabilities, including APRS, mapping, and the transmission of Incident Command System (ICS) forms and other operational documents. These capabilities allow field operators to collect and transmit information directly from affected areas.
Reports submitted by operators throughout the county can provide emergency management personnel with valuable, real-time information about conditions on the ground. During events such as tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, flooding, or winter storms, these reports can help develop a broader picture of the situation, identify affected areas, and support informed decision-making and resource coordination.
The combination of radio-based email, mapping, APRS, and digital document exchange provides emergency management with a reliable communications and information-gathering system that can continue to function when conventional communications are disrupted. This capability strengthens the county's overall emergency communications resilience and provides an additional tool for protecting the community and supporting first responders during critical incidents.
Mobile Emergency Communication trailer:
The Mobile Emergency Communications Trailer is a critical resource for maintaining reliable communications and supporting emergency response operations when normal communication systems are unavailable, overloaded, or compromised. The trailer is designed to provide a self-contained, deployable communications platform that can be used at
emergency scenes, during severe weather events, disasters, search-and-rescue operations, public-safety incidents, and other situations requiring coordinated emergency communications.
The trailer is equipped with a weather station; 2-meter and 70-centimeter radio systems; HF radios; handheld (HT) radios; laptop computers; and multiple antennas capable of supporting a variety of communication modes and frequencies. It also carries operational documentation, PPE and safety equipment, a portable generator, power supplies, batteries, and the tools and equipment necessary to maintain and repair the communications systems in the field.
This equipment provides responders with the ability to establish and maintain communications across multiple platforms and locations, helping emergency personnel share critical information and coordinate their response when conventional communications infrastructure may be damaged, unavailable, or insufficient.
Readiness is a key component of the program. The trailer and all associated equipment are deployed for quarterly readiness exercises. During these exercises, radios, antennas, computers, power systems, weather equipment, and supporting equipment are inspected, operated, and tested. These regular exercises help identify equipment issues before an emergency occurs and ensure personnel are familiar with the systems and prepared to deploy them effectively.
The Mobile Emergency Communications Trailer provides an important layer of redundancy and resiliency for the community. By maintaining an independent communications capability that can be transported wherever it is needed, the trailer helps enhance situational awareness, improve coordination among emergency personnel, and support a more effective and organized response during critical incidents.
Ultimately, the trailer is not simply a collection of communications equipment—it is a ready-to-deploy emergency communications resource designed to help protect lives, support first responders, and strengthen the community's ability to respond when reliable communications are needed most.
SKYWARN Nets and Severe Weather Communications
Our SKYWARN Net provides an organized communications network during severe weather events, allowing trained and licensed radio operators to collect and relay critical weather information to emergency management, NWS Offices, and other appropriate authorities.
During severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, winter storms, flooding, and other hazardous weather events, operators throughout the county can monitor conditions and report significant observations from the field. These reports may include severe wind, hail, tornadoes, flooding, storm damage, road conditions, power outages, and other information that may not be immediately available through traditional weather monitoring systems. The SKYWARN Net provides a structured method for gathering this information and communicating it to emergency management personnel. Reports from multiple locations can help provide a broader understanding of the storm's location, movement, severity, and impact on the community. Because amateur radio communications do not depend entirely on cellular telephone networks or the internet, the SKYWARN Net provides an additional layer of
communications redundancy when severe weather may disrupt conventional communication systems.
The SKYWARN Net is an important component of our emergency communications capabilities. It allows trained volunteers to serve as an additional set of eyes and ears in the field, helping provide timely and reliable information that can assist emergency managers and first responders in making informed decisions and allocating resources where they are needed most.