The Amateur Radio Emergency Service is a corps of licensed operators who provide backup communications when normal infrastructure fails. Fayette County sits within Iowa's District 2, alongside 17 other counties across north-central and northeast Iowa.
Iowa ARES divides the state into six districts. District 2 covers:
Emergency Coordinator: Eric Grams, N0ZJT — n0zjt@n0zjt.com
Weekly net: Monday, 7:00 PM — 147.345 MHz +0.600 offset (TSQ 103.5 Hz)
Emergency Coordinator: Justin Bonjour, N0JBE
Weekly nets: Wednesday, 7:00 PM Central — 147.570 MHz Simplex (1st Wednesday), 147.150 MHz +0.600 offset TSQ 103.5 Hz (all other Wednesdays)
ARES volunteers register their qualifications and equipment with local leadership, then train and drill so they're ready to provide communications for served agencies — county emergency management, the National Weather Service, the Red Cross, and others — when normal channels are down or overloaded. Service is unpaid, and operators work within FCC amateur radio rules the entire time; ARES members aren't first responders, but they can be the difference between an agency having reliable communications during a disaster and not.
District 2 currently has two active local ARES groups:
| Group | Day | Time | Frequency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayette | Monday | 7:00 PM | 147.345 MHz +0.600 (TSQ 103.5 Hz) | — |
| Cerro Gordo | Wednesday | 7:00 PM Central | 147.570 MHz Simplex | 1st Wednesday only |
| Cerro Gordo | Wednesday | 7:00 PM Central | 147.150 MHz +0.600 (TSQ 103.5 Hz) | All other Wednesdays |