We function as a volunteer communications service supporting the citizens of Newport County, Rhode Island through public and private agencies. We are the public service arm of the Newport County Radio Club, Inc which was founded in 1949, incorporated in 1955, and granted IRS 501(c)(3) status in 2004. We've adopted the ACS identity to reflect our vision of involvement beyond just the Amateur Radio Service and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service which involves solely the use of amateur radio. For example, we also use the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS), Family Radio Service, General Mobile Radio Service, and the Multi-Use Radio Service.
Amateur radio operators ("hams") have long been associated with emergency communications because of their ability to communicate without external infrastructure. Newport County hams enjoy strong support from local officials and are given opportunities to participate in town-level disaster management planning.
We take our phone, cable, and cell services for granted. They work incredibly well most of the time delivering high levels of
performance. The phone, data, and radio systems used by Newport County’s police, fire, and rescue services work effectively 99.9% of the
time. 
There’s just one rub: our modern communication systems rely on the presence of increasingly sophisticated “infrastructure.” The smarter electric grid, the cable lines, the complex phone network, the Internet, and radio towers all represent “infrastructure.” If a September hurricane, a January ice storm, an April electrical blackout, or a June cyber denial of service attack cripples infrastructure, then our county’s first responders will face monumental challenges. That’s when backup systems -- especially those not reliant on infrastructure -- can play an important role. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate recently said “we get so sophisticated and we have gotten so used to the reliability and resilience in our wireless and wired and our broadcast industry and all of our public safety communications, that we can never fathom that they’ll fail. They do. They have. They will. I think a strong Amateur Radio community [needs to be] plugged into these plans."
Jacinta Quesada/FEMA photo
Help by becoming “radio-active.“ Join a group of
dedicated reserve communicators who currently provide backup communication
services to the America Red Cross - RI Chapter and Newport County emergency
managers. No prior experience is needed, just a commitment to train and an
ability to serve. You may be asked to provide vital communications support at
an evacuation shelter, at a
town/city emergency operations center passing important messages to
other response agencies or responding to pleas for assistance and information around your own town. Your communications “toolkit” may use include radios
from a variety of FCC radio services: public safety, military, amateur, business, marine, family,
multi-use and general mobile. While voice is the primary
means of communicating, increasingly, digital modes are being used to communicate faster and with more precision.
Bob McMillan/FEMA photo