Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

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The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) logo

The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) is a standby FCC radio service provided for in Part 97.407 [1] of the FCC rules and regulations governing amateur radio in the United States.

The concept of a standby Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service service to replace the FCC's Amateur Radio Service during wartime was developed in 1952 as result of input from the American Radio Relay League and the Department of the Army's Office of Civil Defense. During World War II, the Amateur Radio Service had been silenced and a new War Emergency Radio Service (WERS) had to be created from scratch. The resulting standby RACES service was designed to provide a smoother transition in the event the President ever needed to silence the regular Amateur Radio Service when invoking the War Powers Act. Ironically, despite four wars involving the United States since 1952, this has never happened.

When so activated, the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service will consist of those amateur radio operators who have previously registered with State and local governments to provide emergency radio communications for them in times of emergency. Other Amateur Radio operations would be silenced and RACES operations might be restricted to certain frequencies within the Amateur bands.

Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service operations 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 weren't 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 RACES operations would now use licensed amateur radio operators as control operators.

In daily practice, most Amateurs enrolled with their local government for possible RACES operations are also members of the ARRL's Amateur Radio Emergency Service, providing emergency communications on regular Amateur frequencies without the need for an emergency declaration.