ARES/LCARES

ARES logo

Welcome to the Lewis and Clark County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (LCARES) hub. The LCARES Emergency Coordinator (EC) is Al Simons, WA1TYB. The Assistant EC is Lynn Wagner, K7WGR.

You do not need to be a member of ARRL or a resident of Lewis and Clark County to participate in LCARES. The only requirement is a willingness to train and support emergency communications in Lewis and Clark and surrounding counties.

Please feel free to contact Al or Lynn if would like to participate with LCARES, have questions that are not covered here, or have suggestions for more information to include on this page.

Frequency Plan, Lewis and Clark County MT:

VHF / UHF Simplex
Primary VHF simplex: 147.50 (Local simplex)
VHF simplex 146.52 (National simplex)
Primary UHF simplex: 446.00 (National simplex)

VHF Repeaters
Primary: 147.22+ (“Belmont”, tone: 100.0). If this repeater is not operating, nets switch to 147.50 simplex.
145.45- (“Hogback”, tone: 100.0) MRLA link
147.32+ (“Townsend”, tone: 100.0) MRLA link
Portable repeater: RX: 145.47, TX: 147.97, tone: 146.2 (NOTE: Non-standard 2.5 mHz split!)

VHF Winlink

Our Winlink gateway is KM7DES-10 on 145.01. It is located at Fort Harrison.

DMR Repeaters

For emergency communications on the nearby DMR repeaters, we will focus on
three talkgroups:
– Primary talk group: 31309, MTARES
– Alternate talk groups: 31301 MPRG1, 3130036 MPRG4

The DMR repeaters near us all use color code 1. Talk group MPRG1 uses time slot 2. All other talk groups use time slot 1.

MacDonald Pass (“MacPass”) 2m: 147.10+
MacPass: 444.10+
North Hill: 448.90-
Boulder: 449.20-

HF
80 m: 3.880 mHz, (Montana ARES Statewide)
40 m: 7.247 mHz, (Montana ARES Statewide)

National “Centers of Activity” for HF
“HF Emergency Nets are encouraged to establish their operations within 20kHz
of these frequencies” (Source: NIFOG):
– 3750 or 3985 kHz, LSB
– 7060, 7240, or 7290, LSB
– 14300 USB
– 18160 USB
– 21360 USB