About Lake COunty R.a.c.e.s
Lake County R.A.C.E.S/ARES® is affiliated with the ARRL and the Lake County Emergency Management Agency. Our group concentrates on emergency and civil communications to support the safety of Lake County Illinois residents. We provide a communication team for public service for approximately a dozen events annually (parades, running races, triathlons, canoe races, etc.). We activate communication nets during periods of severe weather (with trained weather spotters and communicators) to assist the Lake County Emergency Management Agency and The National Weather Service. We provide other supplementary communications as needed by the Emergency Management Agency, as well as other government agencies and Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters.
Our membership meetings are held on the 1st Monday of the month (September through June, 2nd Monday in September) at the Lake County EOC at 7:00 PM. These meetings are typically a business session followed by training in some related topic. Everyone is welcome to attend, including non-hams that are interested in becoming active in amateur radio.
We also provide Google Meets links for the meetings for remote attendance.
History
The Lake County Illinois RACES/ARES group is one of the nation’s oldest RACES organizations. The group began as a local public service club in 1947 working closely with the sheriff’s office and soon became affiliated with RACES at its inception over sixty years ago. Our formal incorporation papers were filed with the state of Illinois on June 18th, 1956.
Today the group is a 100% combined RACES/ARES ARRL affiliated organization that consists of approximately 50 members. Our RACES charter is through the Lake County Emergency Management Agency. This is our primary responsibility, along with supporting other public safety agencies within the county. Our Emergency Operating Center (EOC) in Libertyville, Illinois hosts our monthly general membership meetings, board meetings and VE testing. We conduct a scheduled weekly net on our 147.180 MHz repeater. At the EOC we maintain an RMS and APRS station in addition to other local and regional amateur and public safety communications equipment.
Our main activities include providing supplemental communications for public safety, SKYWARN, monthly VE testing, public service training and exercises. We participate in Field Day and the Simulated Emergency Test (SET) each year. Our community service activities include providing communications for many regional biking, canoeing and running events, and the annual scout Jamboree On The Air (JOTA).