Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

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.

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 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, technological disasters, nuclear accidents, nuclear attack, terrorist incidents, and bomb threats.

In the past, actual RACES station licenses were also issued to civil defense 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 American Radio Relay League. ARES provides emergency communications in the conventional Amateur Radio Service without the need for an emergency declaration from the government or from direction from the emergency management official.

• Amateur Radio Emergency Service
• Emergency management
• Military Auxiliary Radio System
• NetHope
• RAYNET in the United Kingdom.
• Skywarn

• Current State/Local Guidance from FEMA. RACES is mentioned in the plan (issued after the CPG 1-15 document)
• An interpretation of FEMA document CPG 1-15. This document is referenced by the SLG document from FEMA.