The Almonte Amateur Radio Club (AARC) comprises federally licensed radio communicators, residents of Mississippi Mills and Lanark County community, whose interest in Amateur Radio has two main objectives; firstly, as a hobby, to promote radio knowledge, cooperation between members and the conducting of activities to advance the general interest and welfare of Amateur Radio in the community, and, secondly, the desire to serve the community by making available, on a volunteer basis, their skills, equipment and time for public service events, and in particular when requested by municipal officials and support agencies (i.e Red Cross) during declared emergencies.
At present the AARC owns, operates and maintains digital and analog Radio Repeater systems which cover the Mississippi Mills and Lanark County areas allowing club members to utilize their personal handheld, mobile or home station equipment(s) to reliably provide voice communication with each other within Lanark County.
Through an agreement with the County of Lanark, space, electrical power and access to the adjacent antenna tower at Union Hall is made available to the AARC for the installation of a D-STAR digital repeater. The D-STAR repeater system enables the transmission not only of voice data but also text and data such as the GPS positional data.