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Ham Radio Served as Main Link to Disaster Area
SonicSpike writes "A University of Central Florida ham radio operator K4VUD (and founder
of their film program) was caught in Port
Blair during the earthquake and following tsunami! He and a team of other ham radio operators arrived in the Andaman
and Nicobar Islands to setup the region's
first ham station 2 weeks prior to the disaster. Once they realized what
happened they immediately began transmitting for 20 straight hours using car batteries as a power source. Most cellular and land-line communication was down. His team became the main link to the rest of the world from the region."
Opportunity knocks on people's door in the most bizarre way. Yesterday they are just some university radio folks, today they are globally recognized.
has been there any wifi atempt so far?
Here's your big chance.
But did they use Morse Code?
Wow what a great article! It was nice to read more about HAM radio operators! This is a good way to bring HAM radio into the limelight again! I'm sure they saved many lives!
(The submitter and I just had three shots of espresso!)
See, if you take out the exclamation points, it doesn't sound so insincere.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Well, I guess this is an "I told you so" from those who opposed BPL for ham-interference reasons. ... being able to read slashdot faster on BroadBand, or the lives of innocent little children? Easy enough question, to those of you who aren't terminally selfish.
What do you care more for
I think the Hams win this one.
Sometimes just making money isn't the best thing.
73 - KL1SA
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Two years ago, I was in Brazil when they had a huge flood. The only communication out was radio. Fortunately, I had my Icom 706 and was able to establish a CW link through an AO satellite.
They are not kosher.
These were students, not telecom employees.
Candle burns its brightest in the dark
You do realize that you're going to the 7th layer of pun hell for that one, right?
To my knowledge, amateur radio provides the only free-as-in-speech global communication network that can operate completely independent of any grid. You can even run computer networks on it, unlike the cell system.
I'm not sure how much power cell sites require, but I would imagine you couldn't operate one for 20 hours on a couple car batteries. Cellular service always seems to be among the first services to go under in emergency situations, anyhow.
They used their car batteries wisely.
Okay... ham radio... wow... we should all be impressed... how about using said car batteries and other forms of power to power the damned cell sites... much more useful... not everyone has a ham radio at their disposal... but I'm sure you'd find a cell phone, even in poverty stricken areas within a 5 kilometre radius...
Let's see, maybe because:
1. They actually *HAD* a ham radio, not a cellphone tower.
2. I doubt if they had found a cellphone tower that they would just happen to have a power converter suitable to running it off of their car batteries. (And if they did, I doubt the batteries would last long supporting that dynamo.)
3. A back up generator would have been much more suitable to running something like a cell tower.
4. Can you say "cellular network"? Powering up one cell tower isn't going to do you diddly squat if the other cell towers and phonelines are down.
Right.... Have you ever seen a backup power supply for a single cell tower? It is a lot more than a couple of car batteries. But assuming you had a powered cell tower, what then? No powered land lines to connect to just yet.
When disaster strikes, ham radio is often the only reliable means of communication into and out of the affected area.
LinuxGeek, KI4CJJ
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
Yeah, that's be a great idea, since cell-sites cover what, a couple of miles or so? And those lame-o HF radios they're using can only go the pathetic distance of 8000-12000 miles?
Gee whiz, what were they thinking?
Ham radio was and is useful when natural disasters happens, this is something the rest of the people knows only when it's too late.
20hrs stright thats nuts let all pitch in and get them some bawls so they can go another few days non-stop.
how about using said car batteries and other forms of power to power the damned cell sites...
And how, my friend, do you expect that cell tower to communicate with the rest of the world when the land lines are out? That said, do you have any idea how much power it would take to run an entire cell tower, off of car batteries? These cell towers don't run off of 12V DC, and even if they did, the power from one battery (or even 5) isn't gonna cut it. HAM radios (or any radio, for that matter) are still a very viable communication method when standard infrastructure goes the way of the shitter.
*snip*
"how about using said car batteries and other forms of power to power the damned cell sites... much more useful..."
Maybe those car batteries would not power a cell station for long. How about the rest of the infrastructure. If you could power a single cell tower, would it do any good?
Don't kick Grandma.
And I'm not just saying that because I'm a HAM. :-)
Well, that's the beauty of ham radio. You can power one site and send messages thousands of miles away with a single tower and a car battery. To power all the cell towers, you'd need significantly more power, with significantly more towers and then you have to figure out how to send the signals off island. Plus you have to actually charge the cell phones. I don't think areas of Aceh had or are going to have electricity for a very, very long time.
A family friend is a member of ARES, a network of ham radio operators who spring into action when the power goes off and cellular is a distant memory. These guys take their (volunteer) positions pretty seriously, and have acted a few times in the past decade to get news around quickly when more conventional methods aren't working.
Also, this is the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Some of these islands are being protected by India because they have stone age cultures untouched by modern culture. I would think electricity is pretty sparse, let alone cell phones.
So yes, Ham radio, Wow. Think of them as the Amish of 21th century communications. When the power grid collapses, they're the ones who will be there to save your ass.
Many of these islands haven't been contacted yet, even one week later. This is an excellent scenario for Ham Radio use. Let's hope that along with new seismic bouys they can dot the Indian Ocean with emergency Ham Radio systems.
Just be thankful the world is reacting at all I say. If this had not have been a natural disaster, but rather another genocide or brutal regime killing people, the world would still be sitting on its collective hands watching the death toll rise. Natural disasters are easy to deal with. No messy issues with who is the "good guy" and who is the "bad guy", just throw money at it to prove how much you care.
Sunday's Washington Post had an article on another Ham Radio operator (link - probably requires registration - sorry). A real life, very public example of why ham radio is important.
Sleep is for the Weak
well this is a feel good story and all, but I always wonder -- how exactly are these amateur radio operators helping in more than an anecdotal way during disasters? I mean, is it like they're ferrying critical rescue and operations traffic? I have a feeling not, because to do that, both they and the operators on the other side would have to be tied in to whatever government or agency is reaching out to help. And to have that be the case, there would have to be serious pre-disaster networks and agreements set up.
I mean, this is similar to the relief organizations in the area now -- they keep telling regular people not to volunteer to fly to the region and help out, because what they really want are people who know what they're doing and part of the organization already, and can be deployed. A single ham radio operator on his/her own is not going to be that useful.
So maybe I'm not really familiar with the true value of ham radio operators in situations like this -- can anyone give a more informed picture? Do they just serve to carry random individual messages of "I'm ok", until the military/relief authorities arrive and set up a real command communications network?
thanks for the info.
It seems to me the response to this disaster by governments has been more about public opinion than the welfare of the people involved
Why does that matter so much? Being a compulsive media watcher, I saw this whole ordeal unfold and it appears to have been meant to add some little sub-plot seeking to get folks to give up some money for a good cause. Since when has encouraging people to help been a bad thing? If stupid marketing sells more donations, then they should keep at it! Lives are saved regardless of the governments "feelings".. Last time I checked, the government was our citizens we elected to represent us. Sounds like they are doing their job here. For once!
Radio travels at the speed of light. Ships and helicopters travel at the speed of bureaucracy.
Next question.
2. Maybe the aussies actually had to load stuff on the ships. You know...stuff that people might need, like medical supplies, water, blankets. Does no good to send empty ships.
3. It takes quite a while for a carrier battle group (the Abraham Lincoln) to steam several thousand miles. Unless you know of another way to get helicopters and 15,000 navy people across a few thousand miles of open ocean.
It seems to me you're bitching just to be bitching.
If they had communications from the disaster, why did it take the international community a week to react.
You think there are cargo ships and helicopters loaded up 24/7 with crews, appropriate supplies and doctors just waiting for a disaster to strike?
You can't take the sky from me...
I wonder if any of these operators were able to contact other costal cities before the wave hit there. I read somewhere that there was somehting like a 2 hour lag between the time the first and last places were hit. Think that would even be enough time to accomplish anything? -Yoweigh
All true. The other thing for people to keep in mind is that international agreements is what makes all of this possible. This is just another demonstration of why societies have laws, even if they cause discomfort for some.
When disaster strikes, ham radio is often the only reliable means of communication into and out of the affected area.
This fact came to mind when I was at school in DC and the Pentagon got hit and they told us not to use the phones unless we absolutely had to, and also when I was in Northern Ohio when that big power failure occurred. I've been meaning to get a ham radio operator's license, and in part it's these emergency situations that have made me decide to at least get licensed for 2 meter. (Not licensed yet, hopefully soon.)
Coincidentally, when I was home for the holidays I saw an article about this in the Orlando Sentinel:
/ or l-asectsunamiham01010105jan01,1,2331864.story
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld
It needs a free reg, or bugmenot.com
It's really amazing what they did. Here's a snippet from the article:
And with most telephone lines down and cell phones scarce, the ham-radio club's efforts proved invaluable as the scope of the disaster increased day after day.
The first messages were to let people on the Indian mainland know that those on the island were safe and unharmed.
A young waiter at Harpole's hotel asked them to get word to his mother in Hyderabad, India, that he was alive and well.
"We found a ham-radio operator on the mainland, gave the mother's telephone number," Harpole said. Within five minutes a ham operator in Hyderabad called the waiter's mother and relayed the message.
"He told us the mother was crying with joy," he said.
Harpole's group cheered and clapped. Word spread quickly across the island, and their work went on for hours and hours.
When Indian government officials learned of the hamradio operators, they relayed messages for official requests for medicines, water and blankets. Several of the radio operators headed south to Nicobar.
I can't speak about Australia, but for the US helicopters, they are based onboard ships. These ships were making port calls in various Pacific cities. IIRC, the ships were originally bound for the Persian Gulf, but the powers that be decied to send them on a huminatarian mission.
/former Seabee
The ships and helicopters are in the US Navy. They were geared up for a military mission. Once the White House decided to change their mission, they likely had to get provisions for the new mission. Tents, portable generators, etc.
Also, ships are not planes. While they can sail 24/7, they can still only go about 30 knots per hour (approx.). This works out to 720 nautical miles per day. Not very far on a global scale.
So, figure a day or two for the government to get it's head out, another day or to for reprovisioning, and a few more days sailing time, you get a week (approx).
I'd like to RTFA, but which one??
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
yay for ham! KB3HLJ :-D
--- Caffeine is directly responsible for some of my greatest ideas, and some of my most embarrassing moments...
There are some very good ham digital modes suited to the high-frequency bands where l;ong distance communication is possible via reflection from the ionosphere. PSK31 works well for keyboard-to-keyboard use. Of particular note here is a system known as winlink (yes it is windows based). It is specifically designed for text email communications to and from remote locations where other communciations infrastructure does not exist or is extremely expensive.
A good reference to winlink is http://www.winlink.org/ . The status of winlink stations in tsunami affected areas is given at http://www.bur.st/~philsuth/tsunami_status.html
"dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope"
"It seems to me the response to this disaster by governments has been more about public opinion than the welfare of the people involved"
You know what? I don't care. This could be one big exercise in penis-waving for all I care. The thing I do care is that people are going to be helped. That's what's important, and no one should ever forget that. So put away your political pitchforks, and focus on all those people out there who need our help. Not on petty bickering.
If they had communications from the disaster, why did it take the international community a week to react. Why did Australia just start sending its ships? Why did the USA helicopters just arrive in Sri Lanka today?
Well do you suppose they just have big old ships full of disaster relief supplies sitting dockside in Australia? Or do you suppose that they have to be fueled, loaded up (once they figure out what types of supplies will be needed) and sent on the way?
Does the United States have helicopters that can make trans-oceanic crossings? Or do you suppose that maybe they have to operate off some sort of vessel? Might that vessel have to travel close enough to where relief supplies are needed so that the helicopters can make round trips to deliver muliple loads of supplies? Or do you expect that just sending the helicopters on a one way trip with a single load of supplies would be sufficient?
Have you stopped to consider that delivering relief supplies to disaster areas actually takes some thought and organization rather than being done in a chaotic, willy-nilly fashion?
Were you aware that even though there has been a huge disaster there are still functioning bureaucracies in the affected areas? Bureaucracies that expect i's to be dotted, t's to be crossed and the proper clearances obtained and the correct forms filled out in triplicate? Were you aware that a licence is required to import medicines into India and that the requirement is not being waved even in light of the huge disaster?
Apparently you haven't really considered these things or else you'd know that relief is actually being provided pretty damn fast on an international scale. If you want to offer any criticism on the tardiness of relief efforts then I suggest you look to the governments a little bit closer to the disaster areas as they are the ones who are properly positioned to provide immediate relief and are therefore the ones who are most responsible for doing so.
That's a terrible comparison. Flashlights have one operation: toggle off/on and are cheap both to buy and maintain. Radios are far more complicated and far more expensive to buy with some maintainence costs.
This post written under Gentoo-linux with an SCO IP license.
"c) How many parts inside a modern radio are actually user-servicable? "
:)
Try building your own. It's not that hard, and with modern components you can build a functional one.*
Yes I'm an EE/ME
my cell phone carrier
Oh well, what the hell
If the "entire world" had BPL, then the noise levels from current technology (BPL) would have made it impossible to get these messages out. Current BPL technology pretty much kills a lot of the HF bands that are used for worldwide communication. I'm all for the advancement of anything that will allow better (cheaper) forms of broadband, but not at the cost of killing a form of communications that helps in time of need. Amateur radio ops are always having "training" sessions where they take everything required to carry out communications without any form power from a utility company. They use batteries, generators, solar power, home made antennas etc, to make sure they can do it, IF called upon.
Have you listened to HAM radio?
Sadly, I think those people are right. These powerful tools are primarily being used to chit-chat.
Fine business old man.
Amateur radio has been used all over the world many many times during disaster. Hurricanes here in the states, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. They usually go unnoticed, despite being the only source of communication at times. Severe storm warnings are usually issued after HAMs report, via radio, that there is in fact a severe storm (after undergoing training of course). Without us even knowing it they can be a huge part of our daily lives.
Its good to see that such a useful, threatened hobby can show one of its many goodsides to the world by helping out.
73 de kg4gytActually, there are, sort of. The US military has pre-positioned equipment in key spots around the world so they just have to fly in personnel rather than spend weeks getting tanks and support equipment to every likely hotspot.
--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu
It's also important to note that just having that equipment on hand isn't enough in itself. You have to know how to use it, and know how to operate in an emergency. It's all about training. ARES is a good resource for this, though in some areas the politics involved can be a real turn-off.
There's just no substitute for training and practice. The strength of ham radio in emergencies comes not from fancy equipment, but from the ability of operators to improvise and adapt.
-N1VG
Here's the story of a dog Saving a life in the disaster
The only reason the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were so familiar to me was because of ham radio. They're well known for being off limits to ham radio operators. I don't know why -- India's had lots of hams for years on the mainland, but they wouldn't let anyone do those islands. So they remained "rare ones" to the main DX award hunters. Hams have been going on "DXpeditions" to rare countries for years, sometimes financed by DXers looking for the contact and QSL card, and it was in the 1960s that I read some travelogues which mentioned trying and failing to get permission to go to "VU4". What's on those islands anyway? (Or what was?)
It's a fortunate coincidence that Charly finally got permission to operate there only a short time before the tsunami!
As others have pointed out, HAMs have helped out in most every major disaster in recent history.
Jerry KB8GIG
http://www.syslog.org/
A: Very likely. Contrary to your belief, it does not require that Joe Ham have a lot of power or a huge antenna on a tower to communicate with the other side of the world. Nor does it require repeaters on the HF frequencies.
I've been an FCC licensed Ham since 1958 at age 12 and operate only with low power (QRP to us hams) as a challenge precisely because making long distance contacts was too easy with even moderate power (say 100 watts) and modest wire antennas. I've communicated directly with Japan and New Zealand from my car in Illinois using a 4 watt transmitter and a 4 foot antenna on the trunk. If you get up to around 100 Watts and a reasonable wire antenna hung up in the trees in the back yard, you can very easily talk anywhere in the world, given reasonable conditions.
What good is it from the other end? I was with Project Hope in Tunisia in 1969 and provided daily "phone-patched" phone call service to the staff of about 150 people so they could stay in touch with their families back home, without having to pay the $13.00 for the first 3 minutes that the landline cost. It made a huge difference to the people on the hospital ship. In disaster situations, it's orders of magnitude more important. Some of my fellow hams here in the states provided similar communications for military and Antarctic bases for years.
To learn more about Amateur Radio, visit the ARRL website. ARRL Oh, and please, please, do not lump us in with CB folks, as nice as some of them are. Hams are tested and licensed to FCC standards prior to being allowed to put their transmitters on the air.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
Here is an example of how completely innadequate car batteries would be. I have a kiln/studio that until recently, had no power. I used a 12v deep cycle battery to power an inverter, light bulb (high efficiency flourescent), and a mini-itx based computer. If I ran only the light, I would get about 12 hours usuage before my charge fell below 50%. - that's when running nothing but a 40 watt bulb! Turn on the computer and I'd be done in 6 hours.
Electricity is like some magical mystical entity that never runs out as long as you are pulling it off a plug. But when you have to make your own, you realize just how precious it is. My battery must weigh about 50 pounds - lugging that home for charging made me very conservative about my power consumption.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
And yes, BPL is bad, and can/will interfere with HAM, but there are better ways to point this out than to completely ignore both the tragedy and what good these students, and other amateur HAM operators have been able to do since the tragedy occured.
So maybe my post is a bit off-topic, but I find it very disturbing that folks will focus on things like this when a tragedy occurs, especially the trolls. Think about what you're saying, and think about what it says about you before you click that submit button. (And yes, I know this is the Internet, and particularly /., but some of the trolls especially have managed to sink to new lows this time.)
One word: Elecraft
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
Though I'm not sure what you mean by `free-as-in-speech' ... not many individuals own a shortwave station. Though I imagine a shortwave station might let people come by and say `hi' on the air. [Freedom of the press belongs to those who own the press.]
AD5RH
Seriously, skimming over the test bank a few times, then taking a practice test, lather rinse repeat until you regularly score over 80% on that test is all it takes.
As you are probably aware, most of that equipment is military, and not that useful for a humanitarian mission. There is some overlap, but the 101st Airborne's TO&E isn't exactly the best fit.
http://www.qrz.com/detail/K4VUD
That's the only thing I don't like about being a HAM, there isn't any privacy with your personal information.
From my experience, it is almost common for public service to ask the help of Ham radio operators in time of crisis. My local county and state OEM requires them for storm spotting. They might not be the first on the scene, but they will endure and are more flexable than any other form of communications. Talk to fire fighters, police, and other public service personel that served during the wildfires in the west, 9/11 in NYC, and various other disasters. Hams put their lives on hold to help others. The take thousands of dollars of their gear to remote location and provide a service free of charge. All they ask is some respect and bandwidth to "play radio." I think its more important than broadband to remote locations.
What ever happened to the Emergency Broadcasting System during the attacks on September 11? Is it reserved for a tsunami (or other natural disaster)? We get bugged in the middle of all of our programs and yet when we need it it doesn't go off. PS. I happen to attend the University of Central Florida. Go Knights!
Actually before Charly came it was delhi housewife Bharati Prasad who landed in the island and established the first conenction. She has been since dubbed "Angel of the seas"
4 18 61-2005Jan2.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A
*SLAP* STFU!
"Electricity is like some magical mystical entity that never runs out as long as you are pulling it off a plug. But when you have to make your own, you realize just how precious it is. My battery must weigh about 50 pounds - lugging that home for charging made me very conservative about my power consumption."
That's not all it proves. It proves that intangiables have value, in a way not even the most hardened could dispute.
Actually - my original submission had linked to that article. The person who edits the submissions apparently decided to link to the ARRL article instead.
Libertas in infinitum
This already exists, more or less. Most countries have their own military, with aircraft and helicopters. What you propose would have to be a fleet every 500 miles or so, all the way around the planet. Helicopters are notoriously shortlegged. And quite often, they are the only thing that can get to the affected area. No runways exist, or are left after the disaster.
In this case, such a fleet would have been more useful for evacuation purposes. Seismographs recorded the earthquakes long before the tsunami hit populated areas.
Radio and telephone are far faster. And efforts were made in this case, to little effect.
No transport systems existed in those areas to get people out, but a first response system may have been able to get some out and deliver warnings to others. Enough that perhaps we'd be seeing death rates a tenth (or less) of those we actually have.
How many people can you evacuate via helicopter? 20 each? How many helicopters to evacuate 100,000 people in an hour?
How many broadcasting stations are geared for two-way traffic?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
"Indianapolis, for example, has MAI Prime Parts (don't be fooled by their website trying to sell you Monster Cable, they actually sell real stuff too, not to mention that the Monster Cable is actually at a reasonable price)."
Damn. I thought they closed that place. They also (last I checked) had a whole bunch of older equipment in the back. Might have to run by sometime.
Gee, because maybe Ham radio is still useful with world-wide range if you only have a few dozen watts available? (Especially with portable DXpedition QRP gear.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
"I am constantly amazed at how stupid "professional" webmasters are."
That's not stupid. How else are people are going to know about all those interesting stories on their site?
http://satern.org/response.html
"They could be kosher if they are turkey hams."
Could a cannibal have one on rye?
There was a very well done [and non-gov't funded] study* done a few years ago that came to the conclusion that NASA - despite falling short of many of its goals - was an enormous boon to progress, abstract and otherwise. In terms of real-world results - improved plastics, ceramics, and other materials; electronics; even medicine - they came to the conclusion that for every dollar that had bent spent on NASA projects, five 'dollars worth' had come back out. That figure included catastrophic loses, failed projects, etc.
Can you imagine a 500% return on your investment in the business world?
*I'd very happily cite the study, but it is somewhere in The Stack(tm) of journals in my closet. I'm about as likely to start going through that mess as I am to spontaneously sprout wings. Sorry.
I for one, bow to our new Ham Radio overlords
Waa-ay!
The Sally-Ann are there too
http://satern.org/response.html/
Donate to them here:
http://www.salvationarmy.org/
Wasn't that an Amiga video mode?
Fishermen in Asia reported seeing a Big cloud of smoke in the Sea. This could be an underground Volcano. Maybe a new Island is forming.
I would like to mention several things:
/.'ers have already posted their sympathy and condolences about this tragic situation. Don't believe me?8 /012024 0&tid=991 /001620 6&tid=99
/. We are about technology and technical things. Discussing communication technology, people who use it, methodology, functionality, and even the human side of it is perfectly within the realm of informative speech.
1) There is no better time to point out the effects of a technology than when it is being used during a crisis! In 5 years (assuming there isn't another crisis of this magnitude) people will largely forget about ham radio and its function especially as an emergency communications network. Now is a GREAT time to launch a PR campaign of awareness and information about the art and hobby of ham radio. (if you notice though I didn't mention BPL in my article because I didn't want it to be the main focus of things). I guarentee you that thousands, if not millions, are exceptionally appreciative of ham radio at the moment.
2) A lot of
Read this:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/2
and this:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/3
3) This is
4) I bet that the doctors and EMTs over in that area are discussing their professional and technical perspectives of the disaster among their collegues. Why? Because they want to learn and exchange information. So are the structual engineers, and the civil engineers, and city planners etc...
No one is saying that this is not a very tragic situation. But with the free exchange of information and objective discussion perhaps better methods of communication or preperation could be devised to help save more lives or maybe to ease the burden next time.
Libertas in infinitum
You just want him to feel sadness.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
I have to wonder if this is a part of the telco astroturfing campaign to hurt BPL by citing tsunami ham radio involvement. The telcos will lose billions in windfall profits if they cannot contain competition.
Sorry, but I cannot advocate anything that might hurt the advent of lower priced broadband. Low priced broadband may be the only thing that can rein in rampant neoliberalism and turn the tide towards left anarchism. I see p2p video as the only way to break the de facto monopoly of the establishment media. Yes, of course Ham can help with relief efforts. Ham radio may have saved hundreds of lives during tsunami relief. But so what? There are billions of people on this planet who are losing years of their lives because of lack of idea-communication. Broadband p2p is likely the only way I see to attain grassroots video distribution. Our future is at stake. For that, I would fuck over ham radio in a New York microsecond.
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Being a ham myself we are always preparing for distaster and emergency operations. Once a year we have a day where we gather all the amateur operators via radio (2 mteters) in the area and ask them what they can contribute in case of an emergency.
:)
We are asked what type of secondary power we have (like car batteries), antenna type,type of radio and if we could be called on if an emergency took place.
Furthermore, once a week we hold a traffic operators training net. Basically, if phones were to die and there was no power or any other form of communications we would relay important messages to other cities,counties or even other states.
Because we have no emergencies, we usually relay non emergency traffic. Like last week, a couple of hams wanted to wish a ham in another state merry christmas, so it was relayed all the way from here in Ohio to Illinois. The person got the message and sent one back...of course it took a while...but it came back. All this happened without computers or the internet.
Some of you people think cell phones are the greatest things in the world, but if there was a national disaster, you could easily lose cell phones,land line phones and everything else high tech. (even your l33t computer)
Long live amateur radio, the daddy of cell phones and everything else wireless!
Damn, that's exactly what I've been saying about the whole East India Company thing. Finally somebody who agrees with me it's a waste of time to compete for resources and real estate.
-- thinkyhead software and media
I'm studying for my Basic licence now. People have completely laughed at me for the attempt. Most people regard HAM stuff as dead technology.
People keep telling me it's a waste of time and money.
I'm glad it's not ture.
Guacamole?
On the topic of Ham radios during disasters, I would like to bring up something that annoys me to no end...
Why in the hell is it that emergency services aren't equipt to handle anything but a normal day? When some idiots have assault weapons and body armor, police are practically helpless (they got lucky, actually). When there is anything larger than a house fire, firefighters don't have the equipment, training, numbers, etc. When there are real emergencies, police, firefigters and ambulance services don't have any working and practical communications equipment at all. It seems the more developed our country becomes, the more emergency services depend on the very infrastructure that will be first to fail when it's really needed...
It's clear that local (city/county, sometimes state) governments are to blame. They cause flood damage by approving roads to be built, but don't account for drainage, and allow homes to be built in the obvious path of flood waters. In the worst areas, they may even build storm-drains, but do nothing to keep they clear, rending them completely useless wastes of money. Emergency services in flood-prone areas never seem to have the equipment that would make it easy to perform the necessary rescues, meaning people die, money is wasted, etc.
They allow homes to be built near wooded areas, prone to major fires, and don't do the slightest bit of maintenance on those areas to prevent major fires. I've heard of only one city in Southern California that spends a small ammount of money to clear brush, why don't the rest? Firefighters are helpless against forrest-fires, and yet, the preventative controlled burns (the method previously used) have even been stopped.
Hospitals are now (finally) required to have a generator, but only required to have enough capacity to stay up for a short time (a couple days IIRC) when blackouts can last far longer. Besides hospitals, emergency services depend greatly on the power grid, and rarely have the generators they need (typically short-term battery power) so they are the least able to handle emergencies, when they are needed THE MOST.
The point of all of this is simple... What the hell is the good of having a local government, if they aren't taking care of the real necessities? Local governments are needed for the very things they are now neglecting to do, so why not get rid of them all-together? The basic things can be handled by the state government anyhow (police, fire, medical, schools, etc) so if we aren't going to be well-served by local governments, why keep them on as a leech, taking our tax dollars and spending them on trivial things few of us want, and most of us feel like we are getting ripped-off by?
Personally, of course I would prefer if local governments would just start doing their jobs, but since that's not happing, I'd like to see them abolished, rather than keeping the status-quo. What good are they, as is?
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
The DXpedition was under the Aegis of National Institute of Amateur Radio (India) and it was lead by Ms. Bharati (VU2RBI), an Indian. I know this, because I saw them off to Nicobar islands a few weeks ago and I have been monitoring their traffic over the last week. They are due back on the mainland today sometime. Read the list of the the operators and the ARRL's version
The purpose of all philosophers was to impress women
-1, No parachute. Jumps to bad conclusions.
I used to listen to ham radio a lot. There is a lot of interesting international information still flowing (the internet goes international too, and a lot more people use it, but that doesn't mean that fewer people use ham radio). Also, radio amatuers have constantly upgraded their systems (morse code can still be heard, but fsk data packet transmissions are becoming more common). Imagine internet without needing an ISP and you get the idea. That they are sending data (voice, video, morse, etc) through all of the problems that have occurred shows the verstatility and reliability of the system. No satellites, no cell towers, no stable local power source, no problem. If the pesky CPU weren't so electrically noisy, I would tune in more often.
I apologize if I misinterpeted your post - we probably mostly agree then. I guess the vibe coming from it was what made me feel the need to respond to it in the way that I did. I simply wanted to make a few points to ensure my ideas were crystal clear behind my reasoning of submission of this story.
;-) Oh well.
I was accused of karma-whoring in another topic tonight too
But seriously - enjoy your break and I hope things work out well with your deppression. I've had some of that myself here lately and it isn't fun. Be sure to seek help if you need it - there is never any reason not to get help. Lots of luck.
Libertas in infinitum
Granted, I haven't done anything with the Red Cross since the mid 90s, but HAM was all that was ever taken for granted then-- everything was assumed to be down.
Well, in fact its not Istanbul quake but known as that.
We lost everything. Well, we have a very very good operator, Turkcell GSM but at one point, they were useless.
TR ham radio guys showed up and practically handled all communications of disaster area.
I think it must be same in USA etc, some major stations are assigned by goverment if some major disaster happens.
For more info: http://www.amatortelsiz.com/english/engindex.html
Yes, I am aware that military pre-positioned caches aren't ideal for humanitarian relief, but certainly, they contain food and transportation, so would be useful without modification.
Governments could recognize the humanitarian potential and create caches designed for relief work, prepositioning medical and engineering support equipment.
--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu
I have a HW101 and a 70's vintage Kenwood that I can repair if needed. They are not as easy as my IC-706 to run but they do work and I do use them. I also have 2 generators to run them if I need to. Most non Amateurs don't have a clue as to what is up as much of the trolling seen in HAM related ./ articles proves.
I know zero people who will by dropping that 10,000 for that rig that do traffic handling or are part of emergency preparedness. I am on 75 meters every night at 7:00 for the net I am part of. We may seldom pass any real traffic but we are ready and cover as far east as Utah and from the mexican border to the Canadian border direct.
Elecraft is a good kit radio. I have 2 friends who built them and they compare very well to comercial products. I like the open source nature of their code as well. After I replace my old IC 706 with a IC 706 MK II D I plan on building one too.
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
Idiot - you have no idea what the extent of damage was or what disaster communications is all about do you? What the fuck are you doing reading slashdot anyway? Crawl right back under your stone.
Yes, a lame high school no one has heard about combined with a lame backwater state college no one has heard about with abosolutely zero prestige in academica.
Yeah, something I sure wanna gloat about... Not.
Yes, your lame backwater state college with abosloutely nothing academically prestigious to speak of gets mentioned on Slashdot for something totally unrealted to academics or research.
Yeah, a great day indeed.
Mmmm HAM.......
Seeking wealth built and sustains civilization. The logic, such as it is, of your kneejerk assertion would have all of us living in a presumed fantasy as hunter-gatherers in a state of ethical perfection. Nothing could be further from the truth. Greed may provoke antisocial behavior today, but do you doubt your distant ancestors did whatever it took to get their share of the latest kill, including stealing or murdering for it?
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
This is one of the more typical uses of ham radio, and their operators.. in time of disaster.. Its always been like this.. Thats why they used to require learning code..
It really wasnt 'news', but its nice to see them get some credit..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yeah, that's pretty fucked up. It's one thing if someone volunteered their info, but that site is categorizing it from (I guess) public records. That's like someone going through and posting the names and addresses of anyone employed by the RIAA/MPAA.
Wow!
That could get some results, you know?
By "free-as-in-speech" I simply meant that access to amateur communication isn't directly controlled by any governments or groups. Certainly there's regulation, but access is relatively open and cheap. For example, the transportation and commercial shipping industries, along with the military, have their own off-grid communication networks, but the barrier to entry is so high as to make those non-free.
Keep in mind that stuff costs a fortune to stockpile. Most of it is perishable (guns, bullets, tanks, and gasoline are less so).
While it is unfortunately, it is unlikely that countries will ever spend significant resournces stockpiling supplies that will only benefit people other than the ones paying for them. People will open their wallets when there is a disaster, but they generally won't do so beforehand.
The US hardly stockpiles stuff like this for internal emergencies - let alone disasters half a world away...
Because it's not sustainable. The manpower and equipment required to handle the really bad emergencies simply can not be maintained onsite everywhere at once. It takes time and people to review and respond to a situation. It takes equipment to mobilize them, to put out fires, to shoot bad guys, to do anything. It takes buildings to house them, people to maintain them, and all of this costs metric fucktons of money.
It's clear that local (city/county, sometimes state) governments are to blame. They cause flood damage by approving roads to be built, but don't account for drainage, and allow homes to be built in the obvious path of flood waters. In the worst areas, they may even build storm-drains, but do nothing to keep they clear, rending them completely useless wastes of money. Emergency services in flood-prone areas never seem to have the equipment that would make it easy to perform the necessary rescues, meaning people die, money is wasted, etc.
So if the local government weren't there, people wouldn't build homes in flood zones? Less pavement would be layed? And maybe I'm reading too deep here, but your approach seems to be "If we can't save everyone, then it's a waste of time. Let's get rid of the only helicopter we can afford, we'll never save everyone with it." This makes sense how?
They allow homes to be built near wooded areas, prone to major fires, and don't do the slightest bit of maintenance on those areas to prevent major fires. I've heard of only one city in Southern California that spends a small ammount of money to clear brush, why don't the rest? Firefighters are helpless against forrest-fires, and yet, the preventative controlled burns (the method previously used) have even been stopped.
Again, people would just not build homes in the path of forest fires? Did it ever occur to you that those areas are meant to catch on fire every now and then? Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, we're not important enough, not strong enough to try and fight these events, but we try to nudge nature back just a little bit to save the lives we can with the pithy resources we have on hand? Have you ever even been in a forest fire situation? Do you have ANY first hand experience with any of the things you're spouting off about? Stopping a forest that's on fire isn't a trivial task, so until you've tried, maybe you should ease off of a little.
Hospitals are now (finally) required to have a generator, but only required to have enough capacity to stay up for a short time (a couple days IIRC) when blackouts can last far longer. Besides hospitals, emergency services depend greatly on the power grid, and rarely have the generators they need (typically short-term battery power) so they are the least able to handle emergencies, when they are needed THE MOST.
A couple of days? Short time??? Do you have ay idea what kind of power it takes to run a hospital? I have no idea. But the building across the street from me is the size of a (large) city block. Running an 11 story air conditioned city block for a few days without a power grid is a pretty serious feat. And again, my ever present question... Would they be prepared for it if the local government wasn't watching over them? Would the federal govt be a better watchdog?
The point of all of this is simple... What the hell is the good of having a local go
An article on blogging, as contained in the Dec. 27th issue of 'Time' magazine, made a reference to ham radio as a "faintly embarassing" hobby.
I wonder if the operators of that station find it so? Especially since they're providing a most valuable service that the (supposedly) much tougher public infrastructure failed to?
The same thing happened with the Nisqually Quake in 2001. Within minutes after the shocks subsided, landline phones and cellphone networks alike were overwhelmed into non-functionality.
Guess what stayed up and working through the whole affair? Yep. Ham radio VHF and UHF repeaters, and HF nets.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
The US hardly stockpiles stuff like this for internal emergencies - let alone disasters half a world away...
During the Cold War, the US had many stockpiles across the country - major cities probably had hundreds. These Civil Defense bomb shelters contained food and medicine to keep people alive in the aftermath of a nuclear war. I imagine the stockpiles were also used during natural disasters.
You can still see signs for these shelters on many civic buildings from this period.
--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu
> I am part of the University of central Florida Amateur Radio Club...
Perhaps you could tell us what you know about Diego Garcia? The military have put up a BS report saying all is well due to a freak geological anomaly that protected the island and there was only a tidal surge of 6ft anyway.
But DG is on average only 4ft above sea level.....so by my calculations they were on average covered in 2ft of water (assuming the BS report bares any resemblance to the truth), which doesn't quite equate with things being "alright".
There was a bit of inconclusive chat on rec.radio.shortwave
If you can't reply to this, I'd understand :)
Me? I'll just sit and wait for the black helicopters to turn up....but somebody has to bear the bad news to the American people that their most important military asset (bar their carrier group - where was that?) in the Indian Ocean has been wiped out.
After all, they have to pay for it to be repaired (or abandoned?). Do the right thing, abandon it and give it back to the Diego Garcians rather than using it to bomb foreigners from. The story of how the Diego Garcians were treated is shameful. (Somebody else can link to that).
The Machine stops.
This should serve as proof that decimating the amateur radio frequencies (as well as others) with broadband over power lines is a very bad idea. Amateur Radio, despite the detractors, is still very much alive and an extremely valuable asset.
"30 knots per hour" is redundant.
Money, lots of it
Personnel, many of them Amateur radio is an unpaid volunteer service. We provide additional trained personnel and the necessary equipment without draining the governments' budgets. It would be financially impractical and politically impossible for government agencies to obtain enough equipment and personnel to handle the extremne demands of disasters. In many places (CA comes to mind), the agencies barely have the budget to meet their normal demands, let alone obtaining, maintaining, and regularly testing a back-up infrastructure. Employing a proven volunteer resource to meet inevitable emergency needs at little or no cost is sound government, not malfeasance. Yes, my town has a volunteer fire department too--a good one!
A tidal surge of 6 feet doesn't mean that the entire ocean rose 6 feet all around the island. This surge is essentially a large swell coming from one direction. It the case of Diego Garcia, it came from the east. Most of the development on DG is on the west side. The tidal surge was essentially deflected/absorbed by the east side of the U shaped land mass (see map) and likely resulted in little more than a slight rise in water height in the central lagoon, and little if any flooding on the west side.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
Opportunity knocks that's right. But we are not aware. We are just pretending to be immortal, hiding behind our importance & self pity. We live in the world where everything spins around the SELF & there's so many IMPORTANT things we worry about: bills, insurance, discounts, global warning, oil change, public opininon, discrimination, slim fast, profit, God's punishment ... & then a wave comes & f.. everything up. Everything exept of anymals, who senced the disaster & ran away. Cause they new they were not immortal & their time was limited & didn't have ridiculous concerns. But nobody even thinks about it, cause who are they, those anymals...they don't even have names!!! they are not as important as us..those green peice pets. & Of cause we didn't descend from a monkey, ape exuse me ! LOL LOL LOL ! WE STILL ARE APES ! Self important, "socialized", intellectual APES, who thinks of the universe they way it comforts them, they will never end or will go to heaven by a default...
A rabbit-buddist is meditating : "I will not f.rt , I will not f.rt....upsss.... this was not me, this was not me"...
A dude is sitting on a tree branch & cutting it off , an old man is passing by the trees, sees him & sais: don't u c that u are cutting off the same branch u are sitting on ??? u gonna fall down this way u fool !!!! but the dude keeps cutting it off, so the branch breaks, he falls down & says : it's all u'r f.. whitchcraft, d..n u !!!! ...BAD NEWS : THERE'S NO HEAVEN let's blame somebody.
the response to this disaster by governments has been more about public opinion than the welfare of the people involved
In the case of the US, true. France, that country we in the US were all expected to despise a couple years ago, was the first with the most aid.
2. I got my license because of a bulletin from SANS in August, 2001 (note date) that warned disasters would likely down both landline and cellular lines and long distance trunks. Tne, 9/11 validated that; disaster workers had lousy comm in Manhattan, except for the pager nets and two-way radio.
3. Memorandums of Understanding are the agreements governments use to prearrange working arrangements with ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) units and other VOADs (Volunteer Orgainizations Active in Disaster). Here's the MOU between FEMA and the ARRL/ARES.
4. As Sherman T. Potter said, Mulefeathers! Here's just one shining example which disproves your arguement.
There is nothing wrong with yr Internet. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission - NSA
I have worked with emergency generating equipment, both directly as a generator tech, and indirectly at facilities that use them. It would not be surprising that many typical standby generators would be able to operate more than a couple of weeks without some type of failure or need downtime for urgent maintenance. The problem isn't really with the engines or generator units themselves. The diesel engines and generator units on typical commercial backup generators are pretty durable, a diesel engine these days can usually go 10,000 hours or more between overhauls with proper maintenance, and the generator's electric ends are at least as durable. Even gasoline powered generators, which are pretty rare these days in the size that a hospital would need are good for 3,000 hours or so before the motors would wear out. Medium sized generators based on gasoline engines are often converted to run on natural gas, and are based on heavy duty truck engines. Running an engine on natural gas will typically double the life expectancy of the motor as well.
The problem with running a typical emergency generator is like owning a car for 10 or 20 years, just driving it to the grocery store once a week, then deciding to take a trip from Florida to Alaska and back. The car might have only 15,000 miles on it, but the belts, hoses, seals, tires and electrical wiring are all 20 years old, unless a lot of time and money has been spent to dilligently replace these types of parts as they deteriorate. 24/7 use after long periods of idleness, or perhaps only brief weekly or monthly excercise sessions will bring out many latent faults in the equipment. Rubber belts and hoses go bad, as do seals. Corrosion takes its toll on electical connections, cooling systems, and batteries as well. A generator in a hospital may run only briefly each week for a half hour, a couple of hours every few months for the typical thunderstorm type power failures, and perhaps a few hours a week in the summer to help with peak shaving, but after 20 years that same generator might suddenly be required to work at near capacity for days or weeks on end in a disaster. At the minimum it will need oil/air/filter changes on at least a biweekly basis. As with a car that sees little use, emergency equipment that might not ever get put into heavy-duty service often gets just prefunctory checkups, if any maintenance at all. Two weeks of 24/7 operation is the equivalent of driving a car 15,000 miles!
Fuel Storage is another issue: Running at 2/3 load, you can figure that a typical 300KW generator will burn about 20 gallons of diesel per hour. That is 480 gallons a day, about 3,400 gallons a week. 2 weeks of operation would require the equivalent of a full 7,000 gallon tractor-trailer sized tanker's worth of fuel to be stored on site (about the size of truck that delivers fuel to a gas station). Fuel that isn't used or stabilized goes sour (gasoline), or can develop slime from bacteria (diesel). I once had the experience of helping my dad nurse a diesel engined boat down the Cheasapeake Bay after buying a load of diesel fuel that had been stored all winter in a marina without being stabilized. We had to change the filter every 15 miles or so, and we were reduced to rinsing our last filter out in the bay just to make it to Annapolis to buy more filters (it was either that or sit dead in the water in the ship channel on a foggy day). If heavy infrastructure is out (roads, railroads, fuel terminals) it will be next to impossible to resupply, so a large tank is a must.
At most of my worksites (financial institution back offices) there are standby generators to keep the place going if the power fails, but they are only large enough to keep essential systems going. One of my prime sites has gone on "backup" twice in the last 10 years for several days to over a week during an extended period of bad weather, or when utility construction disrupted normal power. Outdoor lighting was extinguished, and interior lighting in all but critical areas was cut by about 2/3.
A tidal surge of 6 feet doesn't mean that the entire ocean rose 6 feet all around the island. This surge is essentially a large swell coming from one direction.
The wave would have had a very long amplitude because of the deepwater to the east.It the case of Diego Garcia, it came from the east. Most of the development on DG is on the west side. The tidal surge was essentially deflected/absorbed by the east side of the U shaped land mass (see map [ntlworld.com]) and likely resulted in little more than a slight rise in water height in the central lagoon, and little if any flooding on the west side.
I'll point you to a map of the Maldives.
The Maldives are interesting because there was extensive damage, flooding & loss of life. Yet the islands of the Maldives are exactly what Diego Garcia are: coral atolls perched on the eastern edge of the Chagos plateau with deepwater to the east. In those circumstances my belief is that DG must have suffered extensive flooding (it wasn't just the eastern Maldives that copped the flooding E.g Look at Faafu - 18 boats lost on one atoll).
I might have bought the story that there was only "some damage" but no damage? No loss of life? (Don't the servicemen go down to the beach?)
BTW, my newspaper asserted shortly after the tsunami that Diego Garcia was "forewarned of the approaching tsunami" and hence spared....who told them that and why was it then after dropped?
I'd also point out that the epicentre of the quake was north of east of DG.
The Machine stops.
Did anyone else happen to notice that he was in Port Blair, and he was from UCF's film program which had a hand in the "Blair Witch" ??? Coincidence? ;-)
Libertas in infinitum
Cell sites generally have a generator of either natural gas or Diesel to give them approximately 24 hours of backup time (had a project on this in school). After 24 hours, they figure either the power problem isn't going away and it will take them MUCH longer to fix the problem (at which point it would be uneconomical to have a power backup sollution in place for that unspecified period) or they will already have fixed the problem by then. This is one reason why I will always have a landline, even if I don't have a long distance carrier seperate from my cellphone.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars