Most people’s “emergency communications plan” is a radio in a drawer and a hope that it’ll work when it matters. A real plan needs structure, and the framework the military and professional emcomm world uses for exactly this problem is called PACE.
This post walks through building a PACE plan for a family or small group, and how GMRS, amateur radio, and non-radio options each earn a place in it.
What PACE Means
PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency: four communication methods ranked by preference, each one a fallback for the one before it. The idea isn’t “pick the best radio.” It’s “have four different ways to reach the people who matter, so that no single point of failure (a dead cell tower, a damaged repeater, a radio with a flat battery) takes you to zero.”
A good PACE plan has one property people often miss: each layer should fail independently of the others. If your Primary and Alternate both depend on the same cell tower or the same repeater, you don’t actually have two layers; you have one layer with a backup radio.
Applying PACE to a Family or Small Group
Here’s a realistic structure for a household or small group, in order of everyday convenience, not necessarily the order you’d use them in an actual grid-down event, since Primary is “easiest to reach for,” not “hardest to knock out.”
Primary: Cell phones / text. For 95% of situations, this is what everyone already uses, and there’s no reason to abandon it just because you’re prepping. It’s Primary because it’s the lowest-friction option, not because it’s the most resilient.
Alternate: GMRS. Family-wide, license-covers-everyone, no test required, and it works when cell service is degraded or overloaded (common during regional emergencies even when towers are physically fine). This is the layer most families should stand up first, since kids and non-radio-hobbyist relatives can use it immediately. See the GMRS guide on this site for licensing and gear.
Contingency: Amateur (ham) radio. This is where range and independence from commercial infrastructure really show up: VHF/UHF for local/regional traffic, HF for genuine long distance without towers or the internet at all. It requires at least one licensed operator in the household, which is why our licensing guide treats getting a Technician license as a real preparedness step, not just a hobby milestone.
Emergency: Non-radio backups. Satellite messengers (two-way text via satellite, no cell or repeater needed), a pre-arranged physical rally point, or even old-fashioned written notes at a known location. This layer exists for the scenario where radio infrastructure (repeaters, propagation, everything) simply isn’t cooperating, or no licensed operator is present.
The point of laying it out this way is that each layer has a genuinely different failure mode. Cell towers fail differently than GMRS repeaters, which fail differently than HF propagation, which fails differently than “nobody’s home to answer a satellite message.”
Where ARES and RACES Fit
If you want your ham radio skills to plug into something bigger than your own household, ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) and RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) are the two main formal structures in the U.S.
- ARES is organized through ARRL at the local/county level and coordinates volunteer hams to support served agencies (Red Cross, local emergency management, hospitals) during actual events and drills.
- RACES is activated by a local, county, or state government specifically for civil-defense-related communications, and typically requires registration with that government body in advance.
You don’t need to join either to have a solid personal PACE plan; plenty of capable emcomm-minded hams operate independently. But if you want structured training, real drill experience, and a role during an actual regional event, your local ARES group is usually the easiest on-ramp: most welcome newly licensed Technicians and pair them with experienced operators for training nets.
Your PACE Worksheet
Fill this out for your own household and keep a printed copy in each go-bag; don’t rely on it only existing on a phone.
| Layer | Method | Who has it | Frequency / Contact | Check-in schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Cell / text | Everyone | N/A | As needed |
| Alternate | GMRS | Family (one license covers all) | Assigned repeater + tone, or agreed simplex channel | Daily check-in time |
| Contingency | Ham radio (VHF/UHF, HF) | Licensed operator(s) | Local repeater, plus a pre-agreed HF frequency/net | Scheduled net time |
| Emergency | Satellite messenger / rally point | Designated carrier | Device ID or physical location | Fallback trigger condition |
A few notes on filling this in:
- Call signs matter more than you’d think: write down every household member’s call sign (GMRS unit number or ham call sign) somewhere physical, not just in your head.
- Pick a real check-in schedule, even if it’s just “everyone keys up on the family GMRS channel at 8pm.” An untested plan isn’t a plan.
- Write down the actual frequencies and tones, not “the usual channel.” Under stress, “the usual channel” stops being obvious.
- Practice the failure, not just the success. Once a quarter, try running Alternate as if Primary is down, and Contingency as if Alternate is down. This is the single highest-value habit in this entire post.
Putting It Together
A PACE plan isn’t a purchase: it’s four things that already mostly exist (a phone, a GMRS radio, a ham radio, a backup plan) wired together with a shared schedule and a shared understanding of who does what. If you’re starting from zero, the order to build in is usually: get GMRS licensed and distributed across the household first, get at least one household member a Technician license second, then formalize the worksheet above once both pieces exist.
For more on where ARES and RACES fit, see ARES vs RACES. Want a simpler starting framework? The 3-3-3 Radio Plan is a good complement to this one.
The Complete Family Comms Plan Series
Planning by Scenario
- Your Comms Plan for Every Disaster Scenario, covering wildfire, monsoon/flash flood, winter storm, hurricane, earthquake, tornado, house fire, grid cyberattack, pandemic, hazmat, and civil disturbances in one reference.
- What “Grid Down” Actually Means: Realistic Timelines
- A Comms Plan for Family Spread Across Different Cities
- A Comms Plan for RV and Travel Trailer Families Who Are Seasonally Mobile
- What Changes in Your Comms Plan When You Add a Newborn or Young Child
- A Comms Plan for a Small Church or Community Group, Not Just Your Family
- A Comms Plan for Apartment or Multi-Family Housing Renters
- Channel Congestion After a Disaster: What Actually Happens on GMRS and FRS
- A Comms Plan Your Non-Ham Family Members Can Actually Use
Roles, Training, and Drills
- Teaching Young Kids Radio Basics Without Overwhelming Them
- A Check-In System for Elderly Parents Living Alone
- Assigning Radio Roles in a Multi-Generational Household
- School Pickup and Lockdown Communication Planning for Families
- Cross-Training So More Than One Person Can Run Your Primary Radio
- After-Action Reviews: What to Actually Learn From a Real Comms Event
- Running a Family Comms Drill: A Step-by-Step Script for Your First One
- Coordinating With Neighbors Who Don’t Own a Radio at All
- Comms Planning Beyond Your Family: Organizing a Neighborhood Net
Gear, Kit, and Backup Systems
- What Frequencies Actually Belong on Your Family Comms Card
- The Frequencies Every Ham Radio Should Have Programmed for SHTF, the fuller list covering NOAA, HF, and aviation SAR alongside the family-card basics.
- How Long Will Your Comms Kit Actually Run When the Grid Is Down
- Why Two Is One and One Is None: Building Redundancy Into a Family Radio Kit
- Storing and Rotating Batteries So Emergency Radios Actually Work When Needed
- Building a Comms Binder: Manuals, Serial Numbers, and Frequencies in One Place
- When Radios Fail: Whistle Codes, Mirror Signals, and Other Non-Verbal Backups
- Cross-Band Repeat: Extending Your Family Network’s Range With a Mobile Radio
- Simple Visual Panels and Ground Signals for a Family Bug-Out Plan
- Building a Faraday Cage for Your Backup Radios
- Waterproofing and Weatherproofing a Go-Bag Radio
- NOAA Weather Radio: The Cheapest, Most Overlooked Piece of a Comms Plan
- Choosing a Scanner for Situational Awareness During an Emergency
- Setting Up a Bug-Out Vehicle for Radio