Revised ITU recommendation on use of Amateur Radio in disasters in effect

A revised International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) Recommendation is now in force to promote 'effective utilization of the amateur services in disaster mitigation and
relief operations.'

Initially developed in 2001, the document, known as
Recommendation ITU-D 13, was brought up to date last year through the efforts of an ITU-D study group and circulated to administrations around the globe for adoption.

"This is an updated version of a Recommendation that administrations include the amateur services in their national disaster plans, reduce barriers to effective use of the amateur services for disaster communications, and develop memoranda of understanding with amateur and disaster relief organizations," explained ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ.

ITU-D 13 further advises cooperation among all parties in making available model agreements and "best practices" in disaster telecommunications.

The revised Recommendation takes into account changes adopted at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) to Article 25 of the international Radio Regulations. One change provides that Amateur Radio
stations may be used to transmit international communications on behalf of third parties in case of emergencies or for disaster relief. Another encourages administrations "to take the necessary steps to allow amateur stations to prepare for and meet communication needs in support of disaster relief." The FCC recently adopted changes to its Part 97 Amateur Service rules to reflect these and other WRC-03 actions.

The revised Recommendation ITU-D 13 recognizes that effective Amateur Radio disaster communication depends "largely on the availability of amateur operators located throughout a country," and that post-disaster international humanitarian assistance "often includes the provision of
amateur operators and of equipment from an assisting country."

It further acknowledges that barriers in terms of gaining permission to operate and to move equipment and operators into a disaster zone "in many cases hindered the full use of telecommunications capabilities available from outside an affected country."

"The Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunications Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations," adopted in 1998 by the Intergovernmental Conference on Emergency Telecommunications in Tampere, Finland, established a framework for the reduction and/or removal of such barriers. Revised in 2003, ITU-Radiocommunication Sector Recommendation M.1042-2, "Disaster Communications in the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Services," encouraged "the development of such services and of making such networks robust, flexible and independent of other telecommunication
services and capable of operating from emergency power."

The revised Recommendation ITU-D 13 is expected to be available soon - in several languages and in MS-Word and PDF formats - from the ITU Web site

Source: The American Radio Relay League

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