He's not in Indiana.
Back to the issue at hand:
If you want a ham license, then take the advice in this thread. Go get a license book, study it and take the technician exam. If you want to participate in the Rock County ARES group, go to their next meeting and tell them who you are and what you want to accomplish. They will either help you out or tell you no thanks, but you won't know until you get there.
It sounds like you have been a scanner listener and now you want to make the leap to being one of the people you've been listening to. If you want to stop being a scanner listener and start being an active member of the amateur radio hobby, then go do it. There is no exclusivity unless you create it for yourself. If you want it, go get it.
If your only interest is storm spotting with the local group, then you can use amateur radio for just that and nothing else. However, there are so mnay other things you can do in amateur radio that I doubt you'd stop there.
Bottom line for you is that you need a amateur radio license to use the frequency in question, and if you get a license you need to be part of the Rock County group before you just start transmitting on their net during a weather event. Nobody likes a rouge operator without the proper training.
