Seventy-five years ago this month, the June 1943 issue of Radio Craft carried a cover feature on the Wartime Emergency Radio Service (WERS). Within a day of Pearl Harbor, hams were off the air, but there was still a need for communications during civil emergencies, and WERS was devised to fill the need.

A New York mobile WERS installation.

Local governments were granted licenses for use of the 2-1/2 and 1-1/4 meter bands, and it was primarily hams who were called upon to serve as operators.  In most cases, it was also the hams who built the equipment, such as this 1944 WERS transceiver.