Hudson County
RACES Unit

Goals

1. To maintain emergency communications between Hudson County and its municipalities and between Hudson County and the New Jersey State Office of Emergency Management.

2. To develop a rapid response team of RACES operators, who can deploy on short notice to provide emergency communications.

3. To support other emergency organizations, such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), and the Civil Air Patrol, with available emergency communication resources.

4. To provide communications for other non-emergency public service events such as races, parades, township days, etc. These public service events provide valuable training for RACES operators.

5. To promote amateur radio in general. Amateur radio is a primary source for emergency radio operators, including RACES operators. This is expressly noted in the Federal Communication Commission's regulations establishing the amateur radio service at Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 97:

The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles:

(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.

(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.

(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art.

(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.

(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.