GAREC-07 celebrates emergency communications in Huntsville

The third Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference took place August 16th and 17th in Huntsville, Alabama. This, just prior to the opening of the combined Huntsville Hamfest and 2007 ARRL National Convention.

Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reports:

The ARRL Letter says that some 100 delegates from around the globe came to Huntsville, Alabama, for this global emergency communications gathering.. GAREC as it was called had a prevailing theme of how to apply advanced technologies to emergency communications. As such attendees were provided a sampling of just about everything pertaining to the Emergency Communications arena.

ARRL Alabama Section Manager Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, said many large and essential organizations that work with Emergency Communications sent representatives to Huntsville. This included representatives from the IARU, the ARRL, Army MARS, the American Red Cross, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, the Department of Homeland Security, The Salvation Army, industry and others. Also on hand were many Section Emergency Coordinators, District Emergency Coordinators and Emergency Coordinators from the ARRL field organization.

The League's Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, and its new Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager Dennis Dura, K2DCD, were among the presenters.. Pitts spoke about the need for a Public Information Officer to be in the Joint Information Center at any ARES deployment. Dura talked about using VoIP, EchoLink and IRLP for establishing and maintaining communications during hurricanes.

The session spent time discussing the methods of combining RF links to the Internet. This, to establish a cohesive network. The Voice over IP Hurricane Net is another tool that was discussed. Amateur Radio operators, the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center and emergency managers use it jointly to gather detailed information on local conditions. Other presentations included the use of new technologies such as ALE, D-Star, Winlink 2000 and TSSG. TSSG is an advanced system being developed in Ireland.

The conference made a number of recommendation. Among this is to introduce the call sign suffix "/D." This would be used by those in the Amateur Radio Service who handle traffic related to emergency and disaster situations. This recommendation was made by Willem Visch, PG9W. He believes that it would let anyone listening immediately know there was emergency traffic and lessen the chances of someone unintentionally breaking in on an emergency net.

Another recommendation included the extension of "EmComm Party on-the-Air." These are Emergency Communications exercises already in place in ITU Region 1.

Seppo Sisatto, OH1VR, is the Region 1 representative. He proposed holding two annual international drills, lasting only 4 hours, beginning November 11. This, he said, recognizes that major calamities can and do cross international borders, and hams need to practice for such eventualities.

GAREC delegates also suggested that the IARU initiate studies in cooperation with its member societies and with specialized emergency communication groups. These investigations would focus on the development and possible introduction of standard codes for use in international emergency communications. They would also look at the need for the development of a list of standard resource types.

They delegates also appealed to all of the IARU Member Societies, as well as specialized emergency communications groups, encouraging the acceptance to and ratification of the Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Response Operations. That’s a fancy way of saying that its time for all of the worlds radio oriented emergency communications providers to work hand in hand.

Other procedural issues were also covered at GAREC 2007. All attending consider the gathering to have been a major success.

Bruce Tennent, K6PZW
Amateur Radio Newsline

While GAREC is not a decision-making body, its ideas and proposals will be submitted to the IARU to be included for discussion at their next Administrative Council meeting, scheduled for June 2008. These and other ideas may also be discussed at each of the three IARU Regions' upcoming meetings.

Source: ARNewsline, ARRL, WB9QZB