RAYNET was formed nationally in 1953 following the severe East coast flooding, to provide a way of organising the valuable resource that Amateur Radio is able to provide to the community. Since then, it has grown into a very active organisation with around 5000 members, providing communication assistance on hundreds of events each year. In the past RAYNET has been the hidden backbone of communications at the events and emergencies listed below
Local Events:
 Fun runs  (Daventry (Ford’s) 10K run, Weedon run, Lutterworth Triathlon)
 Horse trials  (Cherwell Valley Horse Trials)
 Long distance walks  (Waendle Walk, Danetre Dawdle)
 Scout Night Hikes
National Events:
 London Marathon.
 Isle of Man TT Races.
 Long Distance Cycle Rides.
 Yorkshire Dales 100 mile run.

These events are all used to improve our skills for our key purpose, which is communications in the event of a local
or national emergency.
Raynet nationally has operated at the following:
 Zeebrugge Ferry Sinking
 Lockerbie air crash
 Severn Tunnel incident
 Towyn flooding, North Wales
 Portland WWII bomb evacuation
 Sea Empress oil pollution disaster
 Princess of Wales Funeral. (Daventry Raynet controlled this joint operation)

Our Abilities
Our operators are very well trained and have access to various types of radio equipment for long and short range communications.
As we have our own radio channels to use, just like the Fire, Police and Ambulance, we never get busy signals from the other end and we always have a way of getting a message through. Regardless of the amount and length of the messages they are all free and there is no limit on the amount of messages you can send. Unlike mobile phones if we get a ‘dead spot’ we are allowed to set up extra transmitters and aerials on hilltops and tall buildings to increase our coverage. This can be done at a moment’s notice and need no permissions other than that of the owner of the property we are going onto. To aid us in responding immediately to an incident we already have a set of permanent Transmitters and Aerials set up to give us countywide and national radio coverage.
These local transmitters are named ‘XX’ in Daventry (on the old electricity board mast), ‘NH’ in Northampton (on the fire station mast) and ‘CI’ in Corby. We also have access to Borough Hill if more transmission range is required and the windmill on Newnam Hill to cover the west of the county.

Our Organisation
RAYNET comprises a national network of local groups. The local group is normally the first contact for a local council. If the event or emergency is expected to be countywide then the county controller is contacted and he calls out the other groups within the county. The county controller can also contact neighbouring counties to get their support and to warn them in case the emergency goes over into their areas. Being a national organisation we are not limited to working in our own local are. We have no lines of jurisdiction we operate anywhere.