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Frequently asked questions

Do I have to be licensed to volunteer?

Most assignments on this website are for licensed amateur radio operators. Note, however, that some events do need non-operating support related directly to our amateur radio operations. If the assignment type is a non-operating assignment it will be shown.

Dates and times

All dates and times listed on the site, unless otherwise stipulated, refer to the dates and times of the volunteering opportunity or assignment. They are not the times of the actual event. For instance, a marathon may indicate 2AM to 6PM. That time span would be the volunteering period versus the time of the actual marathon.

Opportunity vs. Assignment

The ‘opportunity’ is the overall even or need. It might be a marathon, or it might be club event. It’s the whole event.

The ‘assignment’ is the individual assignment to which you will be ‘assigned’.

Can I apply to more than one assignment in one opportunity?

Unless otherwise stipulated, you should not. What might happen is that the event organizer will, by discussing it with you first, assign you to more than one assignment. This might be because they do not overlap time-wise, or because they are functions that one person can carry out simultaneously. However, you should not be the one applying for it. Just apply for the assignment you prefer.

Can I pick my own assignment?

Yes and no. You can request an assignment, but ultimately the organizer decides who is assigned to what. As you will see when you do apply for an opportunity, you can either ‘request’ a specific preferred assignment or you can leave it up to the organizer though, in the end, the organizer will make the choice.

Can I withdraw from an assignment?

Yes and no. Of course you can, in that life happens and we fully expect you to possibly have to cancel. The ‘no’ is that you cannot actually remove yourself from the roster, the organizer does that from the admin side of the site. What you need to do if you need to either withdraw or change some aspect of your assignment is to use the contact form that will send an email directly to that opportunity’s organizer. You will find the link with your assignment.

Ham Community

Ham Volunteers is a Ham Community site, but it is entirely separately run. Your login is unique to Ham Volunteers and signing up for Ham Volunteers does not sign you up for Ham Community. Of course, if you’d like to join Ham Community, we’d love to have you.