Amateur radio is a treasure trove of emergency and disaster frequencies. The upside is that, just like all frequencies, a license isn’t necessary to listen on ham radio frequencies. The downside is that a license is necessary to transmit on ham radio frequencies (there is an exception to this no transmit rule, but we’ll get to that later).
Disaster communication on ham radio VHF/UHF frequencies varies from location to location, county to county, even city to city. Many of the frequencies can be found in the RadioReference.com frequency database. More accurate frequency information can be found through an amateur radio service in your area. A Google search for ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) or RACES (Radio Amateur Emergency Service) or AUXCOMM or Skwyarn “near me” should reveal a webpage with frequency and contact information for a group in your area. Here’s the link for the local ARES group in Clay County, FL where I live. Most groups will list their frequency information on the homepage just like we do on the left of our page.
Keep in mind that these are volunteers, so the information isn’t always “official” communication, but monitoring what they’re saying can provide information as to conditions in your area. Whenever our county shelters activate for a hurricane Clay County ARES deploys amateur radio operators to the shelters and to the county Emergency Operations Center. The messages relayed between those locations range from shelter conditions, weather reports, road conditions, power outages, etc. All of that can be valuable.
On a personal note, I strongly encourage you to earn an amateur radio license. No, I implore you…I urge you. I’ve witnessed far too many people think that they can buy an inexpensive Chinese walkie-talkie and use it in a really “bad-day scenario.” Amateur radio takes practice. What worked yesterday, might not work today, and there’s a lesser chance that it will work that way tomorrow. Yes, I offer a course. Yes, I know that this seems like a shameless plug. But I hope that we’ve built up enough trust for you to know that I don’t care how you get your license, just get it. Your chances of success with communicating in a disaster increase ten-fold with the experience that a license provides.
Yes, it’s true that after a wide scale disaster the FCC isn’t going to worry about who has a license and who doesn’t. But ham radio isn’t “plug-and-play.” If it was that easy it wouldn’t be such a popular and fulfilling hobby. It takes practice. Buying a radio, preprogramming the frequencies, and then leaving it on the shelf, then pulling it out after SHTF just isn’t going to work for myriad of reasons that I’ll cover in another blog post.
In the meantime, when you find that information for the local ARES, RACES, etc. group, get in touch with them. Join them. You don’t need a license to join them. In fact, they’ll help you get your license. Participate with them. That’s your best chance at success with two-way radio after a disaster.
146.520 MHz is called the ham radio 2 meter national calling frequency. It’s not a dedicated emergency or distress frequency, but this is a widely-monitored frequency.
