Slashdot Mirror
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."
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
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).
How likely is it that Joe Ham in some suburbs is going to be capable of talking to India? Even with perfect weather and a great rig, very unlikely. Even with repeaters, rather unlikely.
Not all Ham radio is in the short-range VHF/UHF bands. HF bands in the 15 meter to 160 meter wavelength range can directly "reach" India from the U.S. There are thousands of Joe Hams in the suburbs with this kind of equipment.
Not really.. what BPL means is that
people in the 1st world wont be able to recieve a weak signal from the other side of the world.
Radio waves in the bands the BPL interferes with dont propagate uniformly in all directions.
At certain times of the day and with seasonal variations there are preferred propagation paths.
Sometimes those paths are to the US, sometimes to Europe. Widespread usage of BPL would drown out those faint faraway signals with a local interference noise.
Starman97@Gmail.com (bring it on spammers)
Right, but the side receiving the signals from those in the disaster area aren't in a disaster area. BPL noise interferes with the reception of the emergency traffic.
kc8apf
Hams (at least those with interest) can be well trained in this area. They are trained to do everything from serve as simple phones for wellness traffic ("Hi mom, my house is gone but the dog is OK.") to assisting emergency relief personel (operating their radios for them to keep hands free, helping co-ordinate the operation by keeping information on everyone up to date on people's position, how many more people a relief station can handle so those in the field know where to take new ones, that there are X people with Y injuries that need to be medivaced, etc.)They are much more than normal people with "magic cell phones" that still work without the infrastructure.
In the US you can find them doing ARES and RACES (I think those are the big two) which are disaster relief and such training to do the kind of things mentioned above. Not only do they do drills simulating traffic and operating without power and normal communications and stuff, the practice regularly by helping out with the running of parades and other public events to keep their skills sharp in doing that kind of thing.
On my local repeater (RACES repeater, I think) every so often (Wed nights at some time) they practice carrying traffic between people. It's usually unimportant stuff (saying "hi" to friends, party invites, happy birthday, etc.) but they practice. Someone is incharge and they ask for messages and they go through them one by one. The guy with the message will say "this is ____ and I have a message for _____ in _____, can anyone carry it" (or something like that). Someone will volunteer (either they know the person or they will just call them or pass it on to the next 'net). The person sending the message and the person who volunteered will then chat (either there, or more frequently on a nearby empty frequency so things can keep moving along) and the message gets sent. It's all quite interesting actually.
Hams do alot (besides just chat and also neat expirmatents trying to bounce signals off various layers of the atmosphere, the moon, mars, commets, asteroid showers, balloons, and anything else more than 5 feet in the air).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
It's been said zillions of times before, but I'll say it again.
Someone has to be able to hear you at the other end (where there is no disaster). If the local noise floor is S9+20, there's no way I'm going to be able to hear your little 100W call for help from hundreds of miles away. It just isn't going to be copyable above the noise.
Hundreds of thousands...
http://ah0a.org/FCC/Licenses.html\
General, Advanced and Extra licensees have HF
operating privileges.
That's just in the US.
There are several million Amateur Radio operators world wide.
Starman97@Gmail.com (bring it on spammers)
In disaster situations, many different amateur radio groups become active. Most notable are ARES and RACES. Both of these are usually associated with major relief organizations (in the US, typically the Red Cross).
While some of the traffic is just people saying that they are OK, lots of the traffic is critical emergency coordination traffic. This can be both ways as well. Incoming weather information and knowledge about what relief is coming can be very important.
kc8apf
Amateur rado "hasn't advanced" in the last 10 years? Sorry, but when I look at the new, yet afforable HF radios with dual DSP, or send GPS data through a sat. link, bounce microwaves off mountain peaks, or use pure digital VHF communication (Which is now possible and commercially available), I can't help but think you haven't seen an issue of QST since 1995. The hobby has matured, and more than kept [ace with changing technology. Rich de KY6O
Your assumptions are mostly correct.
We train, practice and prepare to be useful at a moments notice. All on our own nickle.
Arrangements do exist with many governemnts and agencies. In the US Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES - http://www.ares.org) and Radio Ameteur Civil Emergency System (RACES - http://www.races.net) are two common ones. The American Red Cross as well as The Salvation Army (SATERN - http://satern.org) have their own arrangements with hams.
Traffic passed will be of "life and death" nature, until such traffic is either being carried by other chanels or is no longer there. Then "Health and Welfare" traffic can and will be passed - the "I'm OK" type messages to family and friends.
We hams have a very LONG history of doing this type of work. Many would say it's one of the very reasons we exist. It is our 'public service' to justify our use of public air waves.(be nice if other services remembered that)
You can learn a lot more with some basic research. http://www.arrl.org is a good start point. Look for such things as ARES, RACES and National Traffic System (NTS - http://pages.sbcglobal.net/k9jm/ntsguide.htm)
Senior NCO in the fight against entropy. I've seen things, man. Things no one should have to see.....
The problem with BPL is that because ham radio will be unusable most of the time, ham radio culture will die. By the time the power lines are down, there won't be any heroes of ham radio around to save the day ... they'll all have moved on to more feasible hobbies.
Some parts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are home to tribes that have had very little contact with the outside world and who have little or no natural immunity against the illnesses that most of the rest of us take for granted.
They've had cases where vast swathes of these tribes have been wiped out by things like measles, influenza, etc, with recorded instances of deadly outbreaks as far back as the 18th and 19th centuries.
Hence, for their own protection, access to those people has been limited. I guess it's easier to spot a fair-skinned Westerner as being an outsider and avoid them accordingly than it is to do the same with mainland Indians who share similar complexions. Even so, you need a permit to visit the islands, and that's why.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Essentially, I doubt anyone in the Indian red tape ever imagined that the waves would end up hitting the mainland.
More than mere navel gazing.
A link that pretty much backs up what I was saying. And it even mentions that the author used a balun to reduce feedline radiation!
http://qrp.kd4ab.org/2000/000617/0033.html
I really wish I could find the actual article, but this is close enough for me... Wrong on the year, though: it was mid-2000. Everything else is close enough.
Linux IT Consulting and Domino Development in Michigan
One thing that you do NOT realize ... BPL *WILL* kill effective long range communication. Making it MUCH MORE difficult to help out in a situation like this.
BPL raised the noise floor from being able to hear a weak signal (less than 5 watts) ... to not being able to hear a station booming out with 1500 watts and a highly directional beam.
THIS is why its brought up ... to shed light and attention to it.
Since the FCC has given BPL a green light, we'll have to see how effective Hams are in the future, hopefully, as in the past, Hams will push the technology forward and overcome this roadblock.
PS, yes, I am a Ham ... and the above scenario is sensationalized ... but a possibility
Karma? Karma? I don't need no stinkin' karma.
I hate to have to ruin my karma like this, but please refrain from lumping "HAM" operators with the CB groups. We frankly don't like that. Although, most "HAM" (amateur) operators usually train for stuff like this just incase we actually are needed. They have quite a few groups/classes that you can do to help learn where you fit in the 'disaster' picture.
Although, I must admit, you at least nailed the point on the head with your second thought you put down. Amateur Radio operators don't just get their license to chit-chat about stuff. Most of us are here for when we're needed.
Case in point: The recent streak of Hurricanes out around Florida. The Amateur Radio community had spotters in the field the entire time relaying information to the National Weather Service and the Hurricane Watch Center.
A good resource for those of you interested in getting your Amateur Radio Service license is:
http://www.arrl.org (Amateur Radio Relay League)
It's considered the "voice" of the community and has quite a bit of news on there.
Harm
The Sally-Ann are there too
http://satern.org/response.html/
Donate to them here:
http://www.salvationarmy.org/
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
In 1985 I worked more than 200 Health and Welfare Querys an hour for most of a day, in and out of Mexico city after their earthquake.
From a station in Suburbia. Palo Alto, to be precise.
-Z
PS: Repeaters are a VHF-and-up thing. Disaster work is usually HF. You know, the frequencies BPL wipes out.
You have violated Robot's Rules of Order and will be asked to leave the future immediately.
Nice straw-man there.
I've individually listed many things local governments should be doing... Some of which COST NOTHING, and most of which have a very minimal cost associated with them...
How about not changing zoning to allow houses near a flood channel? How about not paying to install storm drains if you don't intend to keep them clear? How about spending a few hundred dollars ONCE to get a generator to power the central radio tower, or buying them radios powerful enough to communicate without needing the central tower? How about spending a minimal ammount of money on clearing brush in and around the forrests? How about just allowing fire departments to occasionally back-burn like they used-to?
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
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
Fine, then it's not an emergency, because the same "emergencies" happen every few years... Major floods, major fires, power outages, etc.
You seem to be intentionally vague here. You think that not allowing homes to be built where there are regular floods/fires may not do any good? Come on now.
People rarely get upset about spending money on emergency services. Spending lots of money on trivial things is the problem.
Absolutely right. And in everything I've seen, local governments aren't preparing AT ALL, so they're nowhere near reaching the edge of effectiveness.
That is certainly their role, and I've tried to point out that they are being vastly unresponsive to the needs of the people. They SHOULD be doing things like making zoning ordanances that keep houses out of areas prone to flooding and fire, but they aren't. When they AREN'T doing a HUGE portion of what they SHOULD be doing, why keep them around?
No, you should send in letters instead.
Have you ever had a need to do so? I've never been bothered by ordinances in the slightest. In fact, things which should only be handlede at the local level (like leash laws) are state laws here, so you would have to dispute pretty much anything important in the state capitol, anyhow.
Besides, I'm not necessarily saying we should transfer everything over to the state. Perhaps just getting rid of city governments, and transfering control to counties would be good enough.
Yes, they aren't forced to listen to you, and they can't be pushed around by local companies either. Besides, what can your local government do for you? Put up some signs around town? They have very little control as it is, and they are doing that oh-so-poorly that I think the county or state level couldn't possibly do the job any worse.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
That's fine if it's a heavy-duty generator, but from what I've heard of hospitals and power failures, they buy units that actually can't handle more than a couple days of constant operation at they loads they require. ie. It's not a fuel issue.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Actually, this is not really media contrived or a matter of opportunity knocking. I am part of the University of central Florida Amateur Radio Club (The Moderator can verify this if desired, I do not feel like giving out my email address to thousands).
Dr. Harpole (K4VUD) was actually part of what they called a DXpedition. Where he had gone , there had never in history been an officially sanctioned amateur radio station before. It was mere coincidence that he had been there 2 weeks prior that special permission had been granted for the radio operators to operate there. The ARRL has more on the DXpedition gone into emergency mode
Also, It should be noted that Dr. Harpole was not the only radio operator there. We have been keeping a series of links on this, however, which are available on the UCF Amateur Radio Club's wiki.
I would like to point out that I do not typically reply to Slashdot posts, however, this is actually something of which I am somewhat a part, and figure I should set things straight. (despite the fact people will still continute to put up off the wall posts on the subject anyway)
> But did they use Morse Code?
I think you're a troll... but...
I'm fairly certain that in an emergency you can use whatever mode of transmitting you like in any segment of the band. I'm not certain of this, but I'm sure someone here can tell us for sure.
Regardless, I would think that CW would be the best mode of operation due to the fact that you could use less transmitting power (and conserve your battery) and still get through.
You know you're a geek if you've ever replied to a tagline.
I've been working on a project in the A&N Islands the last couple of years so I know a bit about this: There are a couple of reasons the islands have been off-limits. The main one is defence security. If you look at a map of the Indian Ocean, the A&N Islands are at the opposite corner of the ocean from mainland India - much closer to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. As a result a significant chunk of India's navy and air force are stationed there - think forward positioning. One of the first major casualties of the tsunami was the Indian Air Force base on Car Nicobar islands in the extreme south, which was totally wiped out. Even now, foreigners are allowed to visit the northern Andamans, but are prevented from travelling to the southern Nicobars unless they have special permission. Protecting the native tribes is a much less significant concern. There are around 300-400k mainland Indians living in the Andamans now (plus a bunch of migrant Burmese and Bangladeshis) so preventing the transmission of diseases isn't really an issue anymore, with the possible exception of the 200-odd Sentinelese living on North Sentinel Island.
- find an area with active BPL.
- Listen for emergency traffic for the Maritime Mobile NET on 14.300 Mhz.
- Get frustrated on how far you have to drive to avoid the interference.
The Maritime Mobile Net has been instrumental in accepting and relaying emergency traffic for ships in the affected tsunami area and it is just one of many services Amateur Radio is able to provide. Next time a disaster hits your area you should read what services your local ARES/RACES (www.arrl.org) chapter volunteered for.During the hurricanes this year the ARES/RACES chapters of Central Florida were instrumental in providing communications between all of the shelters that had been opened up. We were able to pass messages to the Emergency Operations Center even when the police band could not be used.