Specialist Communications Group

A re-think is underway about emergency communications and amateur radio in the wake of Australia’s Black Saturday bushfire disaster in February this year.

A key issue during the Royal Commission inquiry into these bushfires has been communications.. or the lack of it.

Consideration is now being given by a small number of people within the amateur radio community of how to provide better communications in the future, with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

While analogue voice communications on HF, VHF and UHF with hand-written message taking is the traditional modus operandi of amateur radio during emergencies, this has limitations.

Data transmission over amateur radio for providing emergency communications for relief and other agencies provides efficiency, accuracy and privacy. Its use is growing worldwide.

A presentation to the Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference (GAREC) held in Tokyo in August about RECOM, the emergency communications arm of the Red Cross, attracted a lot of interest.

The GAREC delegates saw how RECOM had been using modern digital communications for the past 10 years during bushfires, floods and cyclones.

RECOM already has the backbone infrastructure for data communications with a series of HF network stations across Victoria.

This has un-used capacity, but with a display of goodwill it could easily be made available for a new specialist communications group.

Surely it is time that serious thought is given as to how WICEN (Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network) or perhaps another group of like-mind radio amateurs, can develop a new capability for amateur radio emergency communications in the State of Victoria (VK3).

- Amateur Radio Victoria
www.amateurradio.com.au/news