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CQ Emergency Communications Editor Stan Broadway, N8BHL, reports that the ARRL’s new Director of Emergency Management, Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW, announced via email that the League’s “ARES Connect” activity database was being discontinued as of June, 2021.
The use of the volunteer management database was adopted in 2018 by the League, but its introduction was ambivalent. Some states adopted the program, others panned it. The League would not commit to mandating its use, which led many states to ignore it.
In the email, Gilbert indicated that “recent discussions between ARRL and the ARES Connect software vendor have made it clear that the League’s evolving needs for an EmComm / Public Service reporting package are not aligned with the vendor’s future plans for the product.”
ARRL sections that have been using Connect should plan to transition to the ARES Form 4 (a paper-based monthly report) until a replacement system is identified. There is no indication the League has any prospects currently underway for such a system.