Showing all 38 listings and 7 guides.
Groups and networks
Apple City Amateur Radio Club
Wenatchee-based amateur radio club with monthly member meetings that welcome visitors and guests.
Bainbridge Emergency Auxiliary Radio Service (BEARS)
Radio team of the nonprofit Bainbridge Prepares. It plans backup communications for Bainbridge Island, trains residents on ham radio and other systems, and runs them when phones and internet fail.
Bainbridge Prepares Disaster Hubs
Community nonprofit Bainbridge Prepares runs a Disaster Hubs program: meeting points within walking distance of island neighborhoods that offer limited, gap-filling help such as first aid and information after a disaster.
CascadiaMesh
Community MeshCore network of mostly solar-powered repeaters across the coastal Pacific Northwest. The group says it currently covers British Columbia, Western Washington and Western Oregon.
Clallam County ARES
Volunteer amateur radio operators who provide backup emergency radio service to Clallam County government and other response agencies on the North Olympic Peninsula, and support community events.
Clallam County CERT
Community Emergency Response Team training listed by Clallam County. Residents learn disaster preparedness, fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster first aid.
Clark County CERT (CRESA)
Community Emergency Response Team training run by Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency (CRESA). A multi-week course combines classroom work with hands-on practice so residents can help family and neighbors before responders arrive.
Eastern WA Meshtastic Network
Community of Meshtastic users coordinating node placement for a mesh radio network across Eastern Washington, from the Palouse and Yakima Valley to the Columbia Basin and north toward Canada.
Grays Harbor County emergency management volunteers
Grays Harbor County Emergency Management lists volunteer programs including CERT and an emergency communications team for licensed amateur radio operators and others interested in comms.
Inland Empire VHF Radio Amateurs
Spokane-area amateur radio club, active for over 50 years, with monthly meetings, a weekly on-air net and a repeater serving Spokane County and the surrounding area.
Inland NW Mesh
Volunteer group building a MeshCore network across the Inland Northwest. It started in Spokane County and says it now reaches the Coeur d'Alene corridor, the Palouse, the Lewiston-Clarkston valley and rural Eastern Washington.
Island County Auxiliary Communication Service
Island County emergency management page that helps residents and neighborhood teams plan radio communications for when phones fail. It covers choosing and using FRS and GMRS radios and links to the county's amateur radio club.
Island County CERT
Island County Department of Emergency Management's Community Emergency Response Team program. It trains residents in preparedness, fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations.
Island County Map Your Neighborhood
Island County Department of Emergency Management runs Map Your Neighborhood, which guides neighbors through simple steps to prepare together and rely on each other before responders arrive.
Island County RACES
Amateur radio operators who volunteer to provide radio communications for Island County's Department of Emergency Management, including links between the county EOC, the state EOC, shelters and neighborhood and CERT teams.
Jefferson County Library emergency preparedness talks
Monthly disaster and emergency preparedness presentations at Jefferson County Library in Port Hadlock, including a session on communicating during a disaster with county emergency management and volunteer radio communicators.
Kitsap Auxiliary Radio Service (KARS)
Volunteer radio program that works with Kitsap County's Department of Emergency Management to provide communications support during emergencies, using equipment staged around the county.
Kitsap County CERT
Free Community Emergency Response Team training from Kitsap County's Department of Emergency Management for residents 18 and over, with several course sessions a year.
Kittitas County Amateur Radio Club
Ellensburg-area ham radio club with regular meetings, license exam sessions, weather spotter information, nets and an auxiliary communications page.
Lewis County CERT
Free, all-volunteer Community Emergency Response Team run by Lewis County Emergency Management for county residents, with three pathways: team volunteer, team leader and section chief.
LINC (Lincoln County Mesh Messaging)
Builds and maintains free off-grid mesh messaging across Lincoln County, running parallel Meshtastic and MeshCore networks, and helps residents get set up.
Marysville Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS)
Registered amateur radio volunteers who can help the City of Marysville with emergency communications during a disaster or planned event. They train, meet monthly and hold a weekly net with the Tulalip ACS team.
Mason County CERT
Mason County Emergency Management's Community Emergency Response Team. Members learn to size up their surroundings, reduce immediate dangers, treat people nearby and keep in touch with responders after a disaster.
Mount Baker Amateur Radio Club
Whatcom County amateur radio club based in Bellingham. It offers learning, build parties, guest speakers, community events and analog and digital operating.
Pierce County ARES
Pierce County Amateur Radio Emergency Service: volunteers who train and qualify to provide emergency communications for local agencies during windstorms, floods, earthquakes and other outages.
Puget Mesh
Volunteer-led community building off-grid LoRa and ham data networks around Puget Sound. MeshCore is its main network, with AREDN for licensed operators and an older Meshtastic network kept for compatibility.
San Juan County Amateur Radio Society
Amateur radio club for San Juan County that shares knowledge, promotes operating skills and holds monthly meetings in person and online. Guests are welcome.
Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS)
Licensed amateur radio volunteers overseen by Seattle's Office of Emergency Management. They support city operations and neighborhoods, including the Community Emergency Hubs, when normal communications fail.
Seattle Community Emergency Hubs
Volunteer-run gathering places across Seattle where neighbors meet after a disaster to share information and help each other. The city's emergency management office supports the program; volunteers run the hubs.
Snohomish County Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS)
Volunteer emergency communications team listed by Snohomish County's Department of Emergency Management. Its operators staffed the county EOC radio room and a command vehicle during the 2014 Oso landslide.
Snohomish County CERT
Snohomish County's Department of Emergency Management lists CERT basic training run by cities and fire districts across the county. About 20 hours of instruction cover disaster medical operations, fire safety and light search and rescue.
Spokane Mesh Network
Volunteer-driven initiative to build a community-owned MeshCore network for text messages and GPS locations across the Inland Northwest, from the Palouse to the Selkirks.
Vashon Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS)
Emergency communications committee of the Vashon-Maury Island radio club. It trains volunteers, keeps radio caches, runs net control and relays for island response groups such as CERT, and can send email by radio.
VashonBePrepared NERO neighborhood groups
VashonBePrepared's Neighborhood Emergency Response Organization (NERO) program helps groups of five to fifteen households on Vashon-Maury prepare together and check on each other in storms, outages and earthquakes.
VashonMesh
Informal Vashon and Maury Island group that helps islanders get on MeshCore and links to the wider Puget Sound mesh. Publishes a step-by-step setup guide, device catalog and emergency comms notes.
Walla Walla Valley CERT
Community Emergency Response Team hosted by Walla Walla University's Center for Humanitarian Engagement. It runs free annual CERT courses and monthly team meetings for training and mock disaster response.
WSU Amateur Radio Club
Washington State University's student amateur radio club in Pullman, founded in 1911. It runs licensing classes and general meetings, including one on a Pullman ham radio mesh network.
Yakima County ARES/RACES
Amateur radio emergency group listed by Yakima County. It supports the Yakima Valley Office of Emergency Management and the Yakima County Sheriff's Office.
Guides
- Plan
Make a family emergency comms plan
A one-page plan your whole household can follow when phones are unreliable. It covers an out-of-area contact, meeting places, texting first, set check-in times, and the next channel to try when the last one fails.
- Plan
Your first 30 minutes after the power goes out
A calm checklist for the first half hour of an outage. Stay safe, save phone battery, text instead of calling, check your alerts, and avoid the mistakes that hurt people.
- Learn
FRS vs GMRS: do you need the license?
FRS radios need no license. GMRS needs one FCC license per family, with no exam. Here is what each allows, what the license costs, who it covers, how repeaters fit in, and why GMRS bars coded messages.
- Learn
Getting your ham license in Washington and joining ARES or ACS
How to earn an amateur (ham) Technician license, what the FCC charges, and how licensed volunteers join ARES or a county or city Auxiliary Communications Service. Includes what ham radio does not do, and why you shouldn't self-deploy.
- Learn
Join your local mesh: Meshtastic or MeshCore depends on your county
LoRa mesh radios only work if you match what your neighbors run. This guide covers how to pick the protocol and settings for your county, why a new node often hears nothing, what the FCC Part 15 500 kHz rule says, and what a mesh cannot do.
- Learn
NOAA Weather Radio and emergency alerts in Washington
Three alert layers to set up today. Turn on Wireless Emergency Alerts on every phone, sign up for your county's opt-in alerts, and program a NOAA Weather Radio with your county's SAME code. What each one does, and what it misses.
- Learn
Satellite texting on your phone
Some phones can now text through satellites when there is no cell signal. As of November 2026, this covers which phones and services offer it, what it costs, what it can do, and what it can't.