ACES Course

Why is this course highly regarded as important to the individual and to the emergency support community?

The ACES training program development began in 2009, driven by a group of amateur radio emergency communicators and emergency managers. Developers met to address the lack of standardized training, as many were teaching various programs to their responding groups, there was no consistent program in place. Quality training was taking place in many locations without a structured program. The development team set out to determine a minimum training requirement for emergency communicators.

After reviewing Police, Fire, EMS, CERT, SAR and other programs, it became clear that Amateur Radio was one of the few without training standards and certification. A structure providing for NIMS-compliant training and certification was developed. Similar to the ICS communications levels, ACES has defined Basic, Advanced and Technician levels of certification.

The Basic course outline was developed and shared with operators and emergency managers for comment. The outline was revised based on input from amateurs and professionals, and a 24 hour course was developed. Understanding that any skills-based training should require demonstration of those skills, the team defined competencies that must be demonstrated by the students in order to complete the program. Students must successfully complete a 40 question multiple choice test, and then demonstrate their mastery of the competencies. ACES Basic training materials were updated in 2022 and finalized in 2023 to synchronize with the latest version of the AUXCOMM program, fit into a 16 hour weekend and include more activities.