Ham Radio Fills Communication Gaps In Nepal Rescue Effort

itwbennett writes: Amateur radio has stepped in to fill communication gaps in Nepal, which is struggling with power outages and a flaky Internet after a devastating earthquake on Saturday killed over 5,000 people. Though 99 persons have ham licenses in Kathmandu, about eight use high-frequency (HF) radios that can transmit long distances, while another 30 have very high frequency and ultra high frequency sets for local traffic, said Satish Kharel, a lawyer in Kathmandu, who uses the ham call signal 9N1AA. The hobbyist radio operators are working round-the-clock to help people get in touch with relatives, pass on information and alert about developing crises.

Comments

Re:Once again

[BradleyUffner]

While you do have a good point, I think that any disaster that requires ham radio for communication would also likely have taken out the local power grid leaving consumer power line networking inoperable.

Re:Again?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do we really need a story about ham radio after every disaster?

Yes. Because it's great to hear about geeks helping people. And it's wonderful to see technology used in positive ways. I love seeing people being nice to one another. These are heroes: not the assholes shooting. Any asshole thug can pick up a gun or bomb, but it takes skill, kindness, and bravery to help people you don't know to contact others.

We need to see and hear more of this in the violent shitty World.

Mesh networking

[havana9]

When a disaster happen, that disrupts communications, the amatueur radio operators give help even in 2015 when cellphones are ubiquitous. This runs down on some peculiar aspect of the hobby:

• amateur radio operators are traind and know how they gear works so they can repairo or adapt the system to work, for instance a spool of wire, a fishrod and and some coax cable could be use to make a temporary antenna
• old, proven, patent free analogue and digital transmission modes: old tube radios could interoperate with new and shiny software defined radios
• reliability: some ham radios are built like a tank, because were designed to be used in a tank
• almost standardized power suppy permits to power the radio with flexibility even with a bunch of D cells or a lead-acid battery
• mesh networking: no central control system: all communications are set up freely an could reconfigure on the fly

Re:Mesh networking

[ColdWetDog]

No, the real benefit from amateur radio operations is that they are trained to work as a team. The reality is that the vast majority of the gear used in emergency communications are modern, reliable, commercial rigs that the operators could no more fix internally than you can fix your computer. They don't train to McGuyver the radios, they train to set up command and control links and practice working with interfaces with the Internet and government systems.

That way, when the shit hits the fan they can plop down in their chair and do something useful. Yes, you can get a field station running with a length of wire and a car battery and there are lots of ham radio operators who delight in that sort of thing. But organization and teamwork is the real key to effectiveness and that is why amateur radio has been embraced by governments world wide.

Re:Again?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we do, but why? It's educational for the younger audience. I would have never known of ham radios and their usage during disasters if not for slashdot. We get new and young readers now and then. It's good for them, but maybe not for you.

Re:Again?

[whitelabrat]

I'm ham licensed as well, and this kind of news is a really important aspect of the hobby. There are lots of folks out there who would like to take our radio space and sell it off and it is important that we keep reminding folks that when things get ugly we keep working.

Re:Again?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahhh....an egocentric comment by a confirmed cellular addict.

I spent two years on a sailboat in the canals and fjords of Chilean Patagonia and Argentina. I have been south of every automobile, paved road and street light in the world. Most of the time we were 100 miles or more from the nearest cell phone tower (and road). Sat phones are unreliable at these latitudes (about 55 degrees south) because the satellites are in more or less equatorial orbits. And the Chilean navy wants to hear from you twice a day when you are in Chilean waters. The only tool that will work is a single side band HF radio. When connected to A PC via a specialized modem, this setup can send and receive emails from anywhere in the world. My transmitter is only rated at 100 watts and yet it routinely communicates with stations that are more than 3000 miles away. I have contacted Europe from the Pacific Ocean. "Hobby"?!? For those of us who are really out there, amateur HF radio is the communications lifeline.

P.S. Could the submitter of "Again?" make an attempt to explain to me what "official radio communication" means?

73's

KR6AS

Re:Again?

[neorush]

In 1998 there was an ice storm that struck Upstate New York. Hams were virtually the only source of communication as official communication channels ran out of gas (in many cases literally) after a day or so. I sat in a Firehouse with my own equipment relaying communications from ambulances (where another ham was riding along) to other base stations in nearby towns. We did most of this over 2 meters.

Hams were absolutely crucial because we could move in and quickly setup and operate additional equipment. I know times have changed....but every time I look at the state's disaster readiness plan hams would be needed again.

I think you are over estimating the ability of official channels to be ready to function on their own for weeks at a time.