Thanks for the info, Rick. Given the chaotic situation in Nepal right now, what are the best channels for applying pressure on either Nepali Customs or other relevant organisations? To effect a change quickly we need some precise targetting, not a 'shot-gun approach'. Alan - G7HZZ - for Phoenix Radio Group (UK)
Sure: self-interest, nepotism, ineptitude, corruption, profiteering, an unwillingness to take responsibility and even incipient megalomania can all come to the fore under such chaotic conditions. Earthquakes open up the cracks that might already be there . . . the wider those original cracks, the worse things can become.
20M phone band is 200kHz wide. Why is that particular 3% of the bandwidth is so important that people can't let it be dedicated to that purpose for a couple weeks, even if they only use it for non-emergency support. What's the big deal? There are tons of frequencies that people lock-up for hours, days, and some even decades at a time: 14.300, e-cars, midcars, southcars, nightwatch, brothers, CG net, a net for every type and family of radios ever made, nets for religious discussion, nets for deriding religious discussion, nets for specific races and languages, and literally hundreds of others. Setting aside a frequency to meet at is an important aspect of communicating effectively. It's not out of the ordinary and it's not impolite to request that the frequency be maintained for their purpose while they have it. Then again I suppose people gripe about and jam most nets because it's not their particular view of what Amateur Radio Is For™, so it's just too much for some people let a group have a couple of kc to themselves for a few weeks, for whatever purpose. Why some perceive it as an infringement on their 'rights' as an operator to 'have' the frequency if they want it, I hope I never understand. I hope that I never become so self absorbed that I say the words, "don't tell me that I can't". I hope that I am never that selfish. I hope that I never feel that entitled. Spectrum is a natural resource we all share, and sharing, even when we disagree on the value of that particular use at that particular moment, is one of the responsibilities that comes with holding a license.
And the harsh truth is that so called "emergency nets" like these accomplish little if anything other than pumping the egos of those who serve as net control. Exhortations that we apply "pressure" to the government of Nepal to change its restrictions on amateur radio are laughable. If there were numbers of amateur radio operators likely stranded in the effected region (there are not) who had ham radio as their only means of requesting help that might justify the nets...but that is not the case. The government of Nepal (3rd world or not) is responsible for asking for assistance and it did that. That is why USAR teams and other aid from the USA, Netherlands, and many other nations are now in the region providing needed assistance. They bring their own comms with them.
I agree 100%, so stateside stations thinking they are running an "emergency net...with zero emergency traffic" they need to go become mars members and really learn what an emergency net is, how and why. What they are doing is nothing more then being a frequency COP. What is N0NU really doing? I've heard him talking about emails... is that part of running an "emergency net" come on really?
I'm disappointed with some of the comments in this thread. Probably none of us posting here really understands the situation in Nepal. I for one don't know what communications capabilities are operating and if they are of any use in the myriad locations where help is needed. I don't know what the Nepalese authorities and military have in reserve to bring into service, and probably no one else on this forum does either. We know there are sat phones/terminals/radios and more coming in with aid teams, but who and where? I know some phone infrastructure was working in the minutes after the quake because family there contacted a Nepalese guy where I work to tell him they were safe. But that doesn't mean it exists between people providing aid and those needing it, nor that it is still working. About two years ago right here in the First World of Colorado a flash flood killed several people and wiped out communications, power and roads in many areas not that far from me as the crow flies, but separated by mountainous terrain. Ham radio was a vital link during that time to the isolated communities, and that was nothing compared to the scale of the disaster in Nepal. Our radio service is not going to save the world, but it can help. Let's not be so critical and negative toward those making the effort. There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and didn't work after the crisis is over.
I think it comes from asking folks to stay clear of an "emergency net" frequency, when it isn't an emergency net at all. I am particularly bothered but this, it's an attitude that has scared users off the local repeaters in our area because they are "reserved for emergency traffic". Just last week I heard two folks in a regular ham QSO clear off "in case" of someone needing the machine for emergency traffic! What the heck?!? It's amateur radio - AMATEUR Radio! It's not a 911 system. If - IF there is a problem with normal lines of communication, then we can play a role. However, that's less and less a likely scenario these days (particularly for long haul comms), and as far as I can tell in this incident, AR was not needed for emergency traffic (I'd like to hear otherwise if I am wrong). So calling it an emergency net when they are talking about e-mails being send to each other is disingenuous. And I am not aware of communications being "wiped out" here in the Colorado during the floods. Steve KV6O
Pinewood Springs, Jamestown and others in Boulder and Larimer counties had communication, power and road access destroyed.
What communications were wiped out? Landlines, yes, for the most part, but public safety was up as far as I remember. Cellular was largely intact as well. Steve KV6O
As someone newly arrived in the Wonderful World of Ham, I have to say that I'm disappointed with some of the comments in this thread, too. Maybe some of it is a function of folks being based in the "wrong" part of the world to be able to appreciate what's going on, but what I've heard of the emergency net here in Europe has been really inspiring. Sunday afternoon and early evening here they were directing offers of supplies and aid to flights leaving from the UK, Brussels and Poland. There was also relay of messages coming from Nepal and India regarding individuals who had not been heard from since the initial earthquake or the Sunday morning aftershock. But much of that happened at times when the folks back in the US would have been tucked comfortably into their beds. Honestly, giving up one or two frequencies a mere 10 kHz apart (in the segment limited to Extras in the US anyhow) seems a minor inconvenience if there's a possibility of helping out in a disaster like this one. And while I agree that it may not do much good to try to influence the Nepalese government to change their approach to ham radio, it's definitely worthwhile and just plain interesting to get some of the "backstory" as to what the situation is regarding the limited "ham community" in the country. Even hams seem to just assume that communications work in precisely the same way everywhere in the world, which simply isn't the case. There's also the little matter that emergency service isn't the "action packed" thrill-a-minute stuff that is portrayed on TV shows - it's usually boring, protocol determined waiting and watching for what needs to be done and then doing it (off-line via phone or Internet if that's the best way to operate) or finding someone who can respond efficiently and effectively. My hat is off to 4X6TT and CT7ACG who manned the network over here for the better part of the first few days after the quake. I learned more useful stuff about ham radio listening to them handle the emergency net traffic than I have in eavesdropping on the day to day routine traffic here in France or over in the States.
Wow. What a diverse collection of opinions. Half of the opine here probably did not even empower Google to research anything. Like Radio Nepal, AM/FM broadcast network, transition to digital TV, percentile of wired POTS, percentiles of cellular and geo-political/population density centers. You know, basic research to get the 'lay of the land' from a radio or communication standpoint. So, what I glean from open source and other (APAN)...power, power generation, and fuel for power generation is the main concern to keep what is working UP! Congestion at the airport is hampering everything. "Rural" areas didn't have much in the way of 'comms' to begin with. Bus lines moved Folks around, and if I understand correctly the mail too. So...let us assume (yes, I know the saying) that if fuel is a problem...busses are not running and communication and information are not flowing from rural areas. There has been a recent scramble to aquire solar options. The one cross-band repeater seems to be up but I cannot find authoritive coverage information which would not be useful anyway as all of on this forum are not there. The Radio Society of India seems to be throwing assets and people in to the area. Radio Nepal which targeted the populace before was on 5.005 Mhz (in country comms!). I am going to assume (that word again) that LONG HAUL on 15, 20 and 40 meters out of the area is NOT really the goal of the Folks on the ground. Red Cross has a standard commo package. So does almost every other international aid group. Why are 'we' getting bent about the 20 meter nets? I will let you Folks ask the add on question. Yes, it is a shame that a donated repeater seems to be tied up in Customs red tape. I am sure years from now, it will be a painful comment in some after action report. So, instead of making shitty comments about some very unfortunate Folks, their govenment, the Folks from India that are assisting, the Folks that are at least 'standing by' on 20 meters for 'What if'....how about talking up *What can the Amateur Community do, or will do better.* How about, if you happen to have usable 'extra' radio gear...donate it. Even if it doesn't get to Nepal...or as some hinted that it will be sold for 'cash'...the person buying it will probably be a ham or as seen in in PHL during the hurricane recovery...some GOVERNMENTS use ham gear because that is what they can afford. We, here in America...the land of plenty, are awful damn lucky. Flame away if you don't agree...the bit bucket is hungry.
I just read an email from Gopal Madhavan VU2GMN, President of ARSI (Amateur Radio Society of India), Director/Chairman Region 3 of IARU has said in an email to ARSI members as below: Immediately after the earthquake struck VU2JAU OM Jayu, The Emergency Communications Coordinator of ARSI,, swung into action and set up a communications bridge with Nepal. 9N1AA OM Satish has been the primary contact as he lives near the airport and so was lucky to have uninterrupted power. Several other hams, including various DX operators, rallied to the effort and an almost 24 hours link was operated with net control being taken up by one or other from time to time. As ham radio became a vital link, we enquired of Satish as to what was needed and he gave me a list of items that could help them in getting better communications going. One item was 40 /80 Meter dipoles and coax cable so that the HF radios they have could be immediately deployed. ARSI ( VU2GGM, VU2 LU and others in Bangalore made up 10 such antennae) and with the help of VU2JHM handed them over to a group of doctors flying out of Bangalore at 0300 HRS this morning. The flight should have landed just a while ago and the antennas could be deployed immediately assisting with communications within Nepal from different areas. They have also requested for other material and this is being organized through ARRL, after Dave Sumner K1ZZ of ARRL gave me a call and asked as to what was needed. Sean Kelly, a very senior ham working for Amphenol Corporation in the USA, is helping by coordinating collection of material into their Pune unit ( which I helped set up between 1970 and 1974) and then transporting them to Nepal. So a joint effort is being made to supply amateur radio stuff that will help Nepal set up a better system of ham radio communications to better deal with situations like we have now. All requests for material aid were channeled to the appropriate authorities and several countries have already supplied a lot of material. Doctors, nurses, relief workers, search and rescue teams were also requested and India and other countries are rushing men and material. Several planes from India have been busy transporting men and material and bringing back trapped persons. ARSI, and others in India and abroad, hope to continue with the efforts over the coming weeks.
My guess is that it may have something to do with the 14.205 and 14.215 frequencies being in the busiest section of the 20m band instead of within the appropriate 14.280 - 14.320 range ( http://www.iaru.org/emergency-telecommunications-guide.html ).
There is no cell coverage in those locations due to terrain, like a number of other valley and canyon locations. I'm most familiar with Pinewood where I have friends. The volunteer fire dept. could talk amongst themselves but not out of the canyon, and other public safety is spotty. They couldn't contact other agencies. Larimer county requested and deployed two hams by helicopter into Pinewood, and there was one ham resident there in contact with Boulder county. (I called him and got a message to our friends who were being evacuated by helicopter).
I'll be seeing someone from Larimer tomorrow, so I'll ask. Obviously, if there wasn't cell coverage to begin with, there was no loss. I am not aware of any agencies that had zero communications with the "outside" world, i.e. comms wiped out. Many rural VFD's still use VHF, but even on VHF there are standard NIFOG frequencies they should have programmed in - both simplex and repeated - that I hope they would be aware of. My agencies BK's have may local VHF repeaters programmed in (USFS, other local VFD's, etc.). Heck, they even have a group with nothing but ham simplex and local repeaters for our area. The DTRS radios are all programmed with analog simplex and repeated frequencies (such as the 8TACs and 8CALLs) and there are several analog FM 800 repeaters around in case the P25 system goes down. The state DTRS (700/800) system doesn't cover everywhere (by a longshot), but is a very powerful tool for long haul comms as the entire system is linked and quite robust by ham standards (R56 sites, battery/generator, redundant uW links in many cases). Then there's the matter of what traffic the hams were handling - was it truly emergency traffic, or health and welfare? There is a difference. Health and welfare IS important, but not emergency traffic. Curious.... Steve KV6O PS. I'll tell ya where this all comes from. I work in the public safety communications space, and volunteer with several agencies as a FF, EMT, technical rescue specialist, etc. For YEARS, the ARRL was pushing and pushing the emergency comms aspect of amateur radio, to the point that it have permeated the ham culture here in a negative way - folks are afraid to use local repeaters. People would chase off ragchewers saying "keep the repeater clear for emergency communications/traffic" when nothing was going on! The result? Lots of simplex activity and little repeater activity in a community that could really use repeaters. New hams with HT's get easily frustrated - the new HT they have is ideal for the local repeaters, but no one uses them. The policies at the repeater owner/club level have been changing slowly, but the damage is done. To read thru some of these usage guidelines you'd think you we were using a public safety dispatch frequency - it's AMATEUR Radio! The ARRL has backed off this stance (finally!), and I think folks are beginning to realize that ham radio is not the be-all, end-all, savior of the world. I do see the emergency value of AR, and smile when I read stories of hams calling in accidents on mountainous roads where no cell service exists - awesome. But when I listen to a bunch of US hams on HF, talking about e-mails between themselves, and claiming an emergency net is in progress - WTF? The emergency ISN'T here. This could have easily been done via e-mail, phone calls, skype, conference calls, and even on AR with an HF net - just don't claim it's emergency traffic. In fact, had they just picked a frequency and had a net, round-table, whatever, I bet nobody would have bothered to interfere with them. Buy by drawing attention to their operation, they invited the miscreants. That's just my opinion, that and $5.00 these day's will get you a Venti Latte at Starbucks.
