GERC (pronounced "Gerk") is a coalition of volunteer emergency radio communication service organizations around the globe.

Participating Organizations Include:

• VOIPWX
• REACT
• NWS
• MMSN
• INTERCON
• SOUTHBEARS

During the Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita events in 2005, many volunteer emergency communications organizations responded. Due to a lack of co-ordination, many efforts and message traffic was often duplicated. This uncoordinated effort wasted precious resources, and redundant message traffic frequently confused recipients.

Obvious to governmental and non-governmental entities alike, emergency communication coordination needed improvement. Emergency communication entity managers began to discuss the idea of bringing organizations together to learn how to better inter-operate. A coalition could be built to improve cross-utilization of resources and to streamline essential message traffic.

The Global Radio Emergency Coalition was founded as a result of these round-table discussions. GERC now conducts monthly teleconferences and an annual ”in-person“ conference to share ideas on how member organizations can best operate together in support of natural or man-made disasters.

Founding Members

VOIPWX

SKYWARN's purpose, and our primary objective, is to help save lives and property thru the identification and cautious field evaluation of threatening or dangerous weather and hazardous conditions and facilitating the timely gathering and dissemination of this information.  Whenever tropical weather is imposing a threat to the U.S. mainland and certain other areas of interest, the VoIP WX-NET will be fully operational.  This net provides a single point of contact for people in the field submitting reports as well as for the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service to be able to easily stay in contact with one another.

National Weather Service (NWS)

We are the National Weather Service (NWS)  - an agency of the federal government whose primary mission is the protection of life and property. The NWS, formerly known as the Weather Bureau until January 1971, is one of the agencies in the Department of Commerce; we are also one of the six major programmatic components of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

REACT International

REACT International, Inc. and its chartered teams use two-way radio to provide public service communications to benefit federal, state and local government agencies, community organizations and private citizens for the purpose of saving lives and property, preventing injury, and giving assistance wherever and whenever needed.

REACT Teams utilizes a network of trained volunteer citizen-based communicators using the radio frequencies as set forth in the Part 90 (Industrial/Business), Part 95 (Personal) and Part 97 (Amateur) radio services to deliver the message and accomplish our mission.

Maritime Mobile Service Net (MMSN)

The Maritime Mobile Service Net is operational every day from 12:00pm until 9:00pm Eastern Standard Time, and from 12:00pm until 10:00pm Eastern Daylight Time, on a frequency of 14.300 MHz., in the 20-meter amateur band.  The MMSN is composed of a dedicated group of radio amateurs who unselfishly volunteer their time, equipment and efforts to serve and assist those in need of communications from foreign countries and on the high seas.

INTERCON Net

The Intercon Net is short for the Intercontinental Amateur Traffic Net which was founded September 8, 1960 under the Naval Reserve Amateur Radio Station call sign K4NAA, of Arlington, Virginia. The first chief operator of K4NAA and Net Manager Dave, K5OFH said, "Each station may take great pride in his contribution toward making this Net a place where the elite meet to pass the time of day and handle traffic."  The Intercon Net extended its operation to 7 days a week on 1 frequency in 1973 and has been operating on 14.300.00 MHz; from 07:00 a.m. Eastern Time until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on a daily basis for the expressed purpose of being a  means of emergency communications to any location where the normal means are disrupted by local disaster of any kind, (such as fire, earthquake, storms, floods and terrorist activity); and also to handle third party traffic and information between individuals in any country where such traffic handling is permitted by treaty or mutual agreement; and to promote goodwill and friendly relations among radio operators everywhere. Our Net Control Operators are dedicated to this mission and seek to help anyone, in any situation, irregardless of where or what it might be.

This message is approved by the current Intercon Net Manager, Marty Wilson, W5PES