Public Emergency Radio of the United States

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The Public Emergency Radio of the United States was a communications system conceived during the cold war era in the 1970s for use in case of a national emergency. The system included radio stations and a transmission network, to be activated when a nuclear attack was expected. The radio system was to broadcast on 167, 179 and 191 kHz in the long wave radio band.

Two transmission towers were built as a radio backbone:

  • Cambridge Public Emergency Radio Tower was a 1260 ft. (384m) guyed radio tower at Cambridge, Kansas
  • Ault Public Emergency Radio Tower was a 1260 ft. (384m) guyed radio tower at Ault, Colorado


The system was determined to be impractical and never implemented. The fate of the towers built for this system is unknown.

The 160-190 kHz range is currently used for LowFER unlicensed, low power services.

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