Coordinating with CERT and ARES

GMRS operators don't have to work alone during emergencies. Two well-established programs - CERT and ARES - provide frameworks for organized emergency communication, and GMRS fits alongside both of them.

CERT: Community Emergency Response Team

CERT is a FEMA program that trains ordinary citizens in basic disaster response: fire safety, light search and rescue, medical triage, and team organization. CERT teams are organized at the local level, often through your city or county emergency management office.

Many CERT teams use GMRS for internal communication during training exercises and deployments. GMRS is a natural fit because:

• Team members can get licensed quickly and affordably
• Inexpensive handheld radios work well for neighborhood-level operations
• No technical exam required (unlike amateur radio)
• Family license coverage means team members' households can monitor too

ARES: Amateur Radio Emergency Service

ARES is a volunteer organization under the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) that provides emergency communication using amateur (ham) radio. ARES operators are trained in message handling, interoperability with public safety agencies, and deployed communication systems.

ARES is specifically a ham radio organization - you need an amateur radio license to be a full ARES member. However, GMRS operators can work alongside ARES in several ways:

• Neighborhood-level relay: GMRS operators can gather information from their communities and relay it to ARES operators who pass it up the chain
• Supplemental communication: During large-scale events, ARES may welcome GMRS operators to handle local traffic while ham operators manage long-distance links
• Cross-training: Participating in ARES exercises teaches communication discipline and procedures you can apply on GMRS

RACES vs. ARES

RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) is often confused with ARES, but they serve different roles. RACES is a formal government-activated program - it only operates when a civil emergency is officially declared and operators must be registered with a local government agency. ARES is a volunteer organization that can activate any time, including for training and non-declared events. In practice, many operators are members of both, and ARES handles far more day-to-day emergency communication activity than RACES.

GMRS and the Incident Command System

Most organized emergency responses in the U.S. operate under ICS (Incident Command System), a standardized management structure. ICS defines communication roles including a Communications Unit Leader (COML) who assigns frequencies and manages radio traffic. GMRS operators working within an ICS structure should expect to:

• Use assigned channels, not self-selected ones
• Follow net discipline - brief, clear transmissions with proper identifiers
• Coordinate with the communications unit, not freelance on their own frequencies
• Log significant traffic when requested by the communications unit

Taking FEMA's free online ICS-100 and ICS-700 courses before an emergency makes you a more effective radio operator and a more valuable volunteer.

Practical skills GMRS operators bring to exercises

Well-prepared GMRS operators aren't just radio carriers - they bring specific capabilities that exercises test and refine:

• Repeater operation: Knowing how to access a local repeater, including CTCSS/DCS tones, ensures you're not stuck simplex when range matters
• Message relay: Accurately passing information without interpretation or paraphrase is a trainable skill - practice it before you need it
• Radio check discipline: Confirming coverage holes in your neighborhood before an emergency lets planners know where GMRS is and isn't viable
• Battery and power management: Knowing your radio's runtime and carrying spare batteries or a charging solution is overlooked until it isn't
• Scan and monitor: Many GMRS radios can scan multiple channels - useful for tracking activity across a neighborhood operation

Radio interoperability challenges

GMRS and ham radio don't share frequencies, so direct communication between a GMRS radio and a ham radio isn't possible without a cross-band repeater or a dual-band radio licensed for both services. In mixed GMRS/ARES deployments, operators typically solve this by:

• Designating a liaison operator who holds both licenses and carries two radios
• Using a gateway or cross-band repeater to bridge the two systems
• Assigning GMRS to neighborhood/local tasks and ham to inter-agency or long-distance links, so they complement rather than compete

Understanding these limitations in advance - rather than discovering them during an activation - is exactly what training exercises are for.

Finding local programs

• CERT: FEMA's CERT directory lists programs by zip code. Training is free and typically runs 20–24 hours over several weeks.
• ARES: The ARRL ARES page links to section and local group contacts. Meetings are usually open to observers even without a ham license.
• RACES: Contact your county or city emergency management office - they maintain the local RACES registration list.
• Local emergency management: Search "[your county] emergency management" to find exercises, volunteer opportunities, and communication plans that may already include GMRS.