Amateur (ham) radio gives licensed people a huge range of frequencies and modes, from a handheld that talks across town through a repeater to stations that send email by radio across the country. In emergencies, what counts most is not the gear but trained people who practice together and work with emergency managers. This guide shows how to get licensed and how to join the groups that do that work in Washington.
Step 1: earn the Technician license
- The exam: the Technician exam (Element 2) has 35 questions, and you need 26 correct to pass (47 CFR §97.503).
- Who gives it: teams of volunteer examiners, at in-person and some online sessions. Find one with the ARRL exam session search. Some exam teams charge a small session fee, so ask when you book.
- How to study: the question pool is public. Free study guides and practice tests are easy to find, and many clubs run short license classes.
- FCC fee, as of 2026-11-01: $35 per amateur license application (47 CFR §1.1102). Your exam team will explain how to get an FCC Registration Number and pay the fee. Fees change, so check before you go.
- What you get: a call sign, and privileges on the VHF and UHF bands that local repeaters and most emergency nets use. The General and Amateur Extra licenses add more bands later.
Your call sign appears in public FCC records. We never publish call signs on this site, and you don’t need to post yours anywhere either.
Step 2: learn the basic rules
- No encryption. Hams may not send “messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning” (§97.113(a)(4)). That rules out private family chats over ham radio, and encrypted mesh modes on ham bands.
- Identify: give your call sign at the end of a contact and at least every 10 minutes (§97.119).
- No business traffic, with narrow exceptions (§97.113(a)(3)).
- Emergencies: no rule prevents a ham station from using “any means of radiocommunication at its disposal” for the immediate safety of life and property when normal systems are unavailable (§97.403). This is for immediate danger, not routine use.
Step 3: join a club and practice
Before you think about emergency service, get comfortable on the air.
- Find a local club with the ARRL club search, or see the groups in our directory.
- Check in to a weekly net, a scheduled on-air roll call. It is the easiest way to practice.
- Ask local hams which repeaters cover your area and which handheld settings they use.
Step 4: ARES, ACS and RACES
These are the organized ways licensed hams support emergency response in Washington.
- ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) is ARRL’s program. The ARRL describes it as licensed amateurs who have “voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment” with local ARES leadership. Any licensed amateur can apply, and training may be required. In Washington, ARES is organized under the ARRL Western Washington and Eastern Washington sections.
- ACS (Auxiliary Communications Service) and RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) teams are run by a city or county emergency management office. For example:
- The Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service is a team of amateur operators the City calls on when its communications systems are damaged or overloaded.
- Island County RACES trains to pass voice and digital messages between the county EOC, the state EOC, 911 centers, shelters, and neighborhood and CERT teams.
- Which one? It depends on your county. In some places ARES and ACS work side by side, or are the same people. Look up your county on the counties page and contact its emergency management office or the group listed there.
Do not self-deploy
When disaster strikes, go through the program you’ve joined. Don’t show up at an emergency operations center or an incident scene on your own. Under Washington law, an “emergency worker” is someone registered with a local emergency management organization (or a participating tribe or the state) who holds an identification card for authorized activities (RCW 38.52.010). Register through your county or city program before you are needed.
If you’d rather help without a license, take CERT training. Serve Washington supports CERT statewide, and local programs run the classes.
What ham radio does not do
- It doesn’t work without practice. A handheld in a drawer doesn’t help. Nets and drills do.
- It isn’t private, and encryption is barred.
- It doesn’t let unlicensed family members chat. For the household, see FRS vs GMRS.
- Repeaters aren’t guaranteed. They need power and can be damaged. Learn simplex, meaning radio to radio with no repeater, too.
- It doesn’t replace official channels. Call 911 if you can. Mesh and radio are best-effort backups.
Next steps
- Book an exam session and start studying.
- Find a club and check in to a net.
- Contact your county’s ARES or ACS group, register as an emergency worker, and train.
- Add your license and nets to your family comms plan.