On March 22, 2023, ARRL News reported on the inclusion of Amateur Radio in the FEMA Guide for National Emergency Preparedness

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released a final version (March 2023) of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Functional Guidance. The guidance, which provides a framework for communications resources within incident management, officially includes support from amateur radio operators. The expanded Communications Unit (COMU) structure now includes the Auxiliary Communicator (AUXC) role, which covers personnel from services that provide communications support to emergency management, public safety, and other government agencies. THIS INCLUDES AMATEUR RADIO.

NIMS guides government, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to work together to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and other emergencies. “This is a major step in the recognition of the need and usefulness of amateur radio and other communications services in our national preparedness,” said Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, Director of Emergency Management for ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®.

“It also gives official guidance to pave the way for future training and education of volunteers in ARRL’s Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®),” Johnston added.

The NIMS ICT guide (PDF) is available at https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_ict-functional-guidance.pdf. ¹

On February 18, at 0100 UTC (the evening of Thursday, February 17, in North American time zones), the US Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) will host a Zoom call to discuss amateur radio and AUXCOM support to the US Department of Defense.

During this presentation, the NETCOM representative will discuss:

• The authorities for these operations
• Upcoming DOD exercise opportunities for 2022, where outreach to the Amateur radio/AUXCOM community will be a primary training objective
• Use of the five 60-meter channels
• The concept for the types of amateur/AUXCOM outreach

There will be an opportunity for Q&A throughout the presentation.

Use this Zoom link to attend. The meeting ID is 837 8115 4615, and the pass code is 670665. Dial in by location: (346) 248-7799 (Houston); (669) 900-6833 (San Jose); (253) 215-8782 (Tacoma); (929) 205-6099 (New York); (301) 715-8592 (Washington, DC), and (312) 626-6799 (Chicago).

One-tap mobile: +13462487799,,83781154615#,,,,*670665# US (Houston); +16699006833,,83781154615#,,,,*670665# US (San Jose) ¹

RRRA Members who were not able to attend the Jan TRG-AUXCOMM workshop hosted by the club in January 2016, might like to view the Auxcomm … Explained HamRadioNow episode (HRN 330, EmComm Extra #13, June 21 2017) for an introduction to AUXCOMM and read the AUXCOMM—Intense Training for Serious Disasters QST article for a review of an OEC TRG-AUXCOMM course conducted in Orlando, Florida, during February 2016.

About AUXCOMM

AUXCOMM is an umbrella term and acronym for auxiliary communications. It was developed by OEC in 2009 with the assistance of amateur radio subject matter experts. The concept behind the acronym was to educate as many amateur radio entities to work and train with public safety personnel, understand the value of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Incident Command System (ICS) concept and the role of the communications unit leader (COML). AUXCOMM, although not an official national ICS position as of yet, is most often identified as a Technical Specialist (THSP) in the Communications Unit of the NIMS ICS structure. A few states have endorsed AUXCOMM as an official position within their state NIMS/ICS structure. The process on how this can be accomplished is described in the FEMA NIMS: Guidelines for the Credentialing of Personnel, August 2011 and FEMAs Type 3 All-Hazard Incident Management System Qualification Guide, dated September 2010.

OEC subsequently developed the AUXCOMM technical assistance workshop and produced the Auxiliary Field Operators Guide. This guide and other OEC products are available at http://www.publicsafetytools.info/. The TRG-AUXCOMM (again, another Federal acronym for the course designator) is designed to educate amateurs and state officials involved with volunteer groups they could expect in an emergency operations center environment. The AUXFOG is a reference guide for the amateur radio emergency communications community. [As of July 2016] the OEC AUXCOMM course [had] been taught 105 times with over 1,300 amateur radio operators trained. ¹

Why use the term “AUXCOMM” when radio amateurs are historically familiar with the traditional groups/programs such as ARES®, RACES, SATERN, REACT, etc? … While participating amateurs are trained by their home groups, such as ARES, when activated under the ICS, they check their titles and any internal group rivalries at the door. Under ICS, they all become technical specialists/auxiliary communicators, Thus avoiding confusion on who they report to, and the protocols to follow. AUXCOMM is not an organization or program and does not compete with any Amateur Radio program or organization that provides public service, disaster, or emergency communications. ²

September is National Preparedness Month. Every year in September ARRL encourages ARES, RACES, and SKYWARN leaders to plan a Simulated Emergency Test (SET). In their effort to be as prepared as possible to provide auxiliary communications if needed during a disaster, the RRRA ARES group has planned informal nets Sunday, October 2nd , and Monday, October 3rd on VHF and HF bands with relays between these bands handled by the net controllers.

The purpose of this North Dakota (ND) SET is to allow those who are interested a chance to participate and to determine what communication links are possible in the event of a disaster. If this SET is deemed a success future SETs will be planned including additional times, other bands, sending messages and emergency scenarios.

The ND SET will occur between 13:00 and 14:00 CDT on Sunday, October 2nd , and Monday, October 3rd using the following frequencies:

• W0ILO Repeaters
• 146.52 Mhz (2m) simplex FM
• 3.860 Mhz (75m) LSB, the ND net frequency; net control will be W0HSC at NDSU.

Hams interested in auxiliary communications are encouraged to participate in both, or at least one, of the sessions.

Please contact or for more information.