State Emergency Capability Using Radio Effectively (Operation SECURE)

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Your communications toolkit should include the capabilities to listen to HF communications. Many of the government communications contingency capabilities include HF because communications over long distances are possible without infrastructure, like satellites. There are a number of different "programs" including the SHARES program administered under the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), formerly the Office of Emergency Communications. Under Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 90.264 states that entities are authorized to utilize a set of HF frequencies for ‘disaster communications.’ The program has the unofficial name of State Emergency Capability Using Radio Effectively (Operation SECURE). Each state is allocated several HF frequencies in different bands, with some overlap between adjoining states and some frequencies specifically designated for inter-state communications. States can create a memorandum of understanding with a state that is not in their list of approved frequencies to establish additional frequency and net capabilities. The eligibility to operate on these frequencies is contained in Title 47 CFR Part 90.20 and is limited to the ‘fifty individual States, the District of Columbia, and the insular areas of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the unincorporated territories of American...