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- Msgid : $RACESBUL.235
-
- TO: ALL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES/OFFICES VIA THE ARS
- INFO: ALL RACES OPERATORS IN CA (ALLCA: OFFICIAL)
- ALL AMATEURS U.S. (@ USA: INFORMATION)
- FROM: CA STATE OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES (W6HIR @ WA6NWE.CA)
- 2800 Meadowview Rd., Sacramento, CA 95832 (916)427-4281
- RACESBUL.235 DATE: Aug. 17, 1992
- SUBJECT: MGT - FCC Rules Part 97 RACES
-
- QUESTION: Where does it say in the FCC Rules that the
- RACES is a governmental organization?
-
- REPLY: It doesn't. What the FCC Rules do say is that a
- group of Radio Amateurs can only function as a RACES unit under
- the control of a properly constituted Civil Defense agency.
- (Reference: FCC 97.163a, 97.169b, 97.175, and 197.177.) The
- RACES unit remains an Amateur Radio group performing a unique
- communications service for a particular civil defense agency. By
- its nature as a service to local government under local
- government supervision, activation, and authority it becomes, in
- effect, a quasi-governmental function.
- There are many Radio Services. There is Amateur Radio,
- Local Government, Fire, Police, Business, Special Emergency,
- Personal, Land Transportation, Aviation, Citizens and many more.
- They all have several things in common. They define eligibility,
- technical parameters, permissible communications, frequencies of
- operation and other points. Let's take the Police Radio
- Service for example. It tells a local government how to apply
- for authorization for and the use of the Police Radio Service
- frequencies, but it does not tell a local government how to run
- it's police department and the use of its personnel. Exactly the
- same applies to the RACES subpart of the Amateur Radio Service
- rules. The rules do not presume to tell a government how to
- organize and administer Amateur Radio operators in a RACES unit
- any more than it tells any jurisdiction how to run its police
- department, fire department, emergency management agency and so
- forth. The Rules do require that a RACES organization be a part
- of the local government's civil defense structure.
- The FCC Rules do require that an Amateur Radio operator
- have a copy of the latest Rules. The FCC rules do not require
- any local government, however, to use the RACES or any Amateur
- Radio operators. Those who serve consider it an honor and a
- privilege. --- Stan Harter, CA State ARS Coordinator, KH6GBX
-
- EOM
-
-