Although the main purpose of Amateur Radio, otherwise known as 
Ham Radio, is fun, it is called the "Amateur Radio Service" 
because it also has a serious face. The FCC created this 
"Service" to fill the need for a pool of experts who could 
provide backup communication services in times of disasters and 
emergencies. Countless lives have been saved where skilled ham 
radio operators act as emergency communicators to render aid, 
whether it's an earthquake in Italy, a flood in India or a 
hurricane in the U.S.

In times of crisis and natural disasters, ham radio sometimes 
is the only surviving means of communication. They can relay 
messages through their radios over long distances when telephones 
and power lines fail or are overloaded. Sometimes they are the 
only way government officials can get messages to disaster 
ravaged parts of a remote area.

Ham radio operators have been and still are a very important 
factor in providing disaster communications. In the United 
States, they are supported by the American Red Cross, and nearly 
every police agency across the nation.

In the United States, two organizations of amateur radio 
operators exist nationally for disaster communications. 
They are the:

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)
http://www.ares.org
and the
Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
http://www.races.net/
 
RACES is a special part of the amateur operation sponsored by 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). RACES provides 
emergency communications for civil preparedness purposes only. 
RACES is conducted by ham radio amateurs using their primary ham 
radio station licenses or by existing RACES stations. In the 
event that the President invokes the War Emergency powers, 
ham radio amateurs officially enrolled in the local civil 
preparedness group would become limited to certain frequencies, 
while all other amateur operations would be silenced.

Any United States citizen, who possesses a valid FCC Ham Radio 
Operator License, technician class or higher, is eligible to 
become a member of RACES. The services of ham radio operators 
who have a Novice Class license may be used, but this is not 
recommended due to the privilege limitations.

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is a corps of trained 
ham radio operator volunteers organized to assist in public 
service and emergency communications; it is sponsored by the 
American Radio Relay League at http://www.arrl.org . Usually, the 
ARES is organized by city and county and will be affiliated with 
the local municipality or county government. Every licensed ham 
radio operator amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any 
other local or national organization, is eligible for membership 
in the ARES. Frequently, local chapters combine with RACES, 
although the functions of ARES and RACES are somewhat different. 
To operate during a declared emergency, you would normally be 
part of RACES.

Ham radio operators play a vital role in saving lives through the 
use of their ham radios and they are not allowed to receive any 
compensation. Ham Radio's purpose is to spread goodwill around 
the world through wireless communication, provide volunteer 
emergency communications in disasters, and maintain a pool of 
experienced and knowledgable radio operators and electronics 
enthusiasts. 

Elizabeth Sinclair - The Ham Radio Site - 
Do you want to learn more about ham radio? Go to 
http://www.hamradiosite.com and you will find 
everything you've ever wanted to know about 
ham radio.