Emergency Communications

Build practical amateur radio skills for outages and emergencies. Learn to pass messages, practice on a net, and prepare a station that can run on backup power.

Browse preparedness articles ↓

Prepare and Practice

Winlink tutorials
Practice sending radio email, checking in, and using standard message forms.
ARRL ARES training task book
Work through operator skills such as net participation, message handling, and station readiness.
ARRL ARES Letter
Find operating practices and training ideas from amateur radio emergency communications groups.

Get Involved Locally

Diamond Valley ARES
Find local nets and training information for the Hemet and San Jacinto area.
Riverside County RACES
Learn how the county uses amateur radio volunteers and how to get involved.

Preparedness Articles

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsOH8STN Off Grid Ham Radio

VARA or Open-Source XARA: What do you think?

Many of you have asked my take on the XARA implementation of VARA HF and VARA FM. It has taken…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsWinlink

For Developers…

The advent of vibe-coding and AI programming tools has had a marvelous effect on the interest and productivity of third-party…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsWinlink

MacWinlink–A Native macOS Client for Winlink

September 21, 2026--The Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc. (ARSFI) and the Winlink Development Team are pleased to announce the public…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsOH8STN Off Grid Ham Radio

Why the Icom IC-7300 Mk2 Makes Sense for a Portable Grid-Down EMCOMM

Hello Operators. Recently, I published a video detailing how to wire our solar and battery power system for a 100W…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsOH8STN Off Grid Ham Radio

How to Power a 100W Ham Radio with Portable Solar Panels

Hello Operators. This tutorial shows how to power a 100W ham radio off-grid using portable solar panels, a LiFePO4 battery,…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsOH8STN Off Grid Ham Radio

SIGINT: Relying on CW Capture with your SDR

In a thread from Wyoming Survival, he posted about trying to learn Morse code. I replied that if you’re not…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsOH8STN Off Grid Ham Radio

Lab599 TX-500MP Wireless Data Setup | LiNK500MP Mk2 Bluetooth CAT Control | Ham Radio FT8 JS8Call Winlink

In this video I demonstrate how to set up the Lab599 TX-500MP with the LiNK500MP Mk2 using Bluetooth wireless audio…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsOH8STN Off Grid Ham Radio

Radio Antenna Handbook for SHTF: OH8STN

Hello Operators Radio Antenna Handbook for SHTF is now available on Amazon Kindle. This handbook brings together the antenna systems…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsOH8STN Off Grid Ham Radio

The New LiNK500MP Mk2 for the Lab599 TX-500MP

Portable operators have wanted a radio that can survive real field conditions for years. Not park activations. Not picnic-table deployments.…

Nov 11

Emergency CommunicationsOH8STN Off Grid Ham Radio

Icom IC-705 – If I Were Icom

When the Icom IC-705 launched in 2020, it did not just enter the market. It changed the conversation around portable…