The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) is an emergency radio service authorized in Part 97.407 of the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC) rules and regulations governing

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency commu ...

in the United States."Part 97: Amateur Radio Service"
From

American Radio Relay League The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the United States. ARRL is a non-profit organization, and was co-founded on April 6, 1914, by Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence D. Tuska o ...

web site. Retrieved Feb. 15, 2008. The concept of a standby "Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service" to replace the conventional "Amateur Radio Service" during wartime was developed in 1952 as result of input from the

and the Department of the Army's

Office of Civil Defense The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) was an agency of the United States Department of Defense from 1961–64. It replaced the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. The organization was renamed the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency on May 5, 1 ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the Amateur Radio Service had been silenced and a new War Emergency Radio Service (WERS) had to be created from scratch in a process that took six months. The resulting standby RACES service was designed to provide a quicker and smoother transition in the event the President ever needed to silence the regular Amateur Radio Service again when invoking the War Powers Act of 1941. Despite many wars involving the United States since 1952, this has never happened.

Enrollment

FCC licensed amateur radio operators may choose to enroll in RACES in order to provide emergency communications supporting the state, county and local emergency management agencies. The operator registers their amateur radio license and their station with the appropriate emergency management official and may receive credentials according to the emergency management agency's policies.

Activation

RACES stations are only activated by the state, county or local emergency management authority to operate on their behalf. Only amateur radio stations who have previously registered with state and local governments to provide emergency radio communications for them in times of emergency can be activated. Other amateur radio operations might be suspended and operations under the RACES rules might be restricted to certain

frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is e ...

within the amateur radio bands. If amateur radio operators, registered as RACES stations, regularly conduct on air training but not at the request or direction of the emergency management official, then those stations are operating in the amateur radio service and not RACES. In addition to wartime communications, operations under the RACES rules can provide or supplement communications during emergencies where normal communication systems have sustained damage. It may be used in a wide variety of situations, including

natural disasters A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...

, technological disasters, nuclear accidents,

nuclear attack Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear ...

, terrorist incidents, and

bomb threat A bomb threat or bomb scare is a threat, usually verbal or written, to detonate an explosive or incendiary device to cause property damage, death, injuries, and/or incite fear, whether or not such a device actually exists. History Bomb threat ...

Participation

In the past, actual RACES station licenses were also issued to

civil defense Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...

organizations. To prevent abuse of station licenses by officials who were not licensed amateur radio operators, limitations on the duration of non-emergency operation and stations that might be contacted were incorporated into part 97.407. Such RACES station licenses are no longer issued, and any operations under the RACES rules would now use licensed amateur radio operators as control operators. In daily practice, most amateur radio operators enrolled with their local government for possible operations under the RACES rules are also members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service, organized by the

. ARES provides emergency communications in the conventional Amateur Radio Service without the need for an emergency declaration from the government or direction from the emergency management official.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Current State/Local Guidance from FEMA. RACES is mentioned in the plan (issued after the CPG 1-15 document)

* ttp://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARESmanual2015.pdf ARRL ARES manual (2015) See chapter 2. It answers the question, "Is RACES an organization?". Amateur radio emergency communications organizations Disaster preparedness in the United States Emergency communication Organizations established in 1952 United States communications regulation 1952 establishments in the United States

Enrollment

Activation

Participation

See also

References

External links