Winnipeg Amateur Radio Emergency Service

About Winnipeg ARES...

The Winnipeg Amateur Radio Emergency Service (WARES) is a volunteer organization comprised of dedicated amateur radio operators (also known as "Hams") with an interest in emergency communications... more

Next Meeting

The next regular Winnipeg ARES meeting will be held on - Tuesday October 20, 2026 - at 7pm local time. This meeting will be at at the at Sir William Stephenson Library at 765 Keewatin Avenue in Winnipeg.
(Click here for Google map of WARES meeting location)

The October meeting will be in-person ONLY and attendance will be limited to registered ARES members.

Our presentation will be from the City of Winnipeg Office of Emergency Management.

Mark your calendars - Future meetings

- Tuesday November 17, 2026 - Winnipeg ARES Annual General Meeting (Business Meeting)

- Tuesday December 15, 2026 - Manitoba Emergency Social Services

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Current (2025/26) Executive

President - Kurt Sargent VE4GIS

Treasurer - Garth Blumm VE4GWB

Secretary - Steve Harrison VE4FTS

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Emergency Coordinator - Jeff Dovyak VE4MBQ

Please visit the Contact Us page if you would like to speak to one of our Executive members.

Updates

Have you checked out the Manitoba EMO "MB Ready" website and mobile device app that was recently released.
The MB Ready initiative provides you with the ability to have a direct source of information on emergency situations occuring in Manitoba.

MB Ready is available for Android devices from Google Play - MB Ready
and for iOS devices from Apple app store - MB Ready

Help wanted

Winnipeg ARES is looking for skilled technical help who could be available periodically during weekdays (Monday to Friday) to assist with maintenance with some of the ARES repeater sites.
Pleasae contact VE4MBQ for further details.

Scouts Canada Wilderness Challenge

Winnipeg ARES is still looking for about 5 more amateur radio volunteers to assist with the Scouts Canada Wilderness Challenge which takes place on Saturday 03 OCT 2026 - time approx. 0800-1630h.

The event is held at Scouts Canada Camp Amisk, located at 4349 Waverley Street, Winnipeg which is 3 km south of the Perimeter Highway - located right across from La Barriere Park.
Camp Amisk is a "wilderness camp", and as such, the restroom facilities are outhouses and there are no ammenities such as running water on the site, so be prepared to bring in any supplies that may be required for the day.
A list of recommended equipment will be distributed prior to the event.

The Wilderness Challenge event is a skills challenge and teamwork event - teams of youth proceed through a course of stations (towns) and participate in various activities that are planned at each site.
The role of amateur radio is to provide communications between the sites and the scouts on-site HQ for logistics and organizational matters, to coordinate movements of missing site supplies, track locations of teams, forward first aid requests etc.

As with all Manitoba scouting events, amateur radio volunteers will also be required to review and sign a Scouts Canada Code of Conduct form prior to the start of the event.

If you are an amateur radio operator and are interested in helping out at this event, please contact our event coordinator: Dick VE4HK.

Manitoba Marathon 2026 - wrap-up

A big thank you to all of the amateur radio volunteers and local clubs who helped make the 2026 Marathon a success.

As part of our end-of-event process, we have collected written feedback from the volunteers who assisted with the marathon as well the comments made by those volunteers who attended the debrief session on Thursday June 25.

These findings are now part of the 2026 MB Marathon Final Report which is available in PDF format via the link below.