How is ham radio useful during disaster?

Answer 1

The government itself does not use amateur (ham) radio. There are thousands of licensed ham radio operators who volunteer to help when the government asks for help. These hams have expensive portable radios, antennas, antenna tuners, batteries, and so forth, that they purchase with their own money

Answer 2

Key to disaster management - Effective Communication

The world is not a very safe place to live in these days as disaster and terrorism can strike at any moment. Communication is the only relief as times of disaster and hence the need for a efficient disaster management system becomes imperative in public places and even in business establishments and important commercial joints where people move around in large numbers. Disaster might strike in the form of natural calamities, terrorist's attacks and accidents. Thus an efficient disaster management system which will work in adverse conditions is needed. In times of natural calamity like floods, storms or fire the usual mode of communication like phone, mobile etc might not work or might be lost in the calamity.

Consider this, underground communication lines get disabled due to flooding, cell towers are blown over or simply choke due to high utilization, backup generators run out of fuel - or are filled up with water.

Whatever be the situation, one can not rely transporting fuel to keep the power up for vital facilities since the power lines could be snapped (often seen in photographs) with uprooted trees and power lines and towers twisted and broken completely, or simply there is no road to the generators - either due to floods, or due to various obstacles like trees, or damaged roads or bridges.

There are others with Radios - Why HAM Radio?

Radios of police may not be necessarily on same frequency as that of firefighters. The military has it's own set of frequencies and even other departments that use radio for communication can communicate, however the communication is limited within there own group! The truth is they cannot communicate with each other - and that is The biggest challenge. How to convey message between diverse group of disaster or relief agencies when they all have sets, but cannot talk to each other.

The response phase after any disaster includes the mobilization of the necessary emergency services and first responders in the disaster area. This is likely to include a first wave of core emergency services, such as firefighters, police and ambulance crews. This is where HAM (Amateur) Radio comes in picture. Using HF radio sets, messages can be conveyed or relayed to long distance and accurate picture of situation on the ground, requirements and key information could be sent to disaster response team.

Advantage Amateur (HAM) Radio Operators

The society at large must be well protected and the protection given by the disaster management forces must be instant and immediate. Thus the disaster management crew must be well trained and equipped with the best appliances which might help them to communicate the condition they are in and the status of the calamity in the region they work for. With HAMS, Amateur Radio operators, you have a ready workforce that is efficient with regards to communicating with each other 'efficiently' and 'effectively'. They are known for innovation and apt at adapting to situations. Unlike commercial systems, Amateur radio is not as dependent on terrestrial facilities that can fail. It is dispersed throughout a community without "choke points" such as cellular telephone sites that can be overloaded.

Amateur radio operators are experienced in improvising antennas and power sources and most equipment today can be powered by an automobile battery. Annual "Field Days" are held in many countries to practice these emergency improvisational skills. Amateur radio operators can use hundreds of frequencies and can quickly establish networks tying disparate agencies together to enhance interoperability.

Some recent examples where HAM Radio operators played a significant role in communication during disasters

* 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan

* 2003 North America blackout

* Hurricane Katrina in September 2005

In India

* Orissa Cyclone

* Latur Earthquake

* Tsunami

* Aila

Despite the fact that many states in India get affected by natural and other calamities, proper coordination between different agencies is still not very effective. Amateur Radio Operators volunteer to offer help as and when needed, however there is no national database on active operators who can be called upon during any disaster, and also if they have right setup (which means - ready to go on air gear) at short notice. UN and other agencies do allocate funds to various departments for establishing suitable amateur radio stations, but apathy and lack of vision has so far done nothing substantial to setup a national backbone or disaster management setup other than creation of various agencies for disaster management.

Amateur Radio has also been included in school textbooks, but nothing beats a practical demonstration and in that regard, not many would ever see a rig in operation. They could write about it in exams without even looking at how an amateur radio really looks like!

Answer 3

In times of crisis and natural disasters, amateur radio is often used as a means of emergency communication when wireline, cell phones and other conventional means of communications fail.

Unlike commercial systems, Amateur radio is not as dependent on terrestrial facilities that can fail. It is dispersed throughout a community without "choke points" such as cellular telephone sites that can be overloaded.

Amateur radio operators are experienced in improvising antennas and power sources and most equipment today can be powered by an automobile battery. Annual "Field Days" are held in many countries to practice these emergency improvisational skills. Amateur radio operators can use hundreds of frequencies and can quickly establish networks tying disparate agencies together to enhance interoperability.

Recent examples include the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan, the 2003 North America blackout and Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, where amateur radio was used to coordinate disaster relief activities when other systems failed.

On September 2, 2004, ham radio was used to inform weather forecasters with information on Hurricane Franceslive from the Bahamas. On December 26, 2004, an earthquake and resulting tsunami across the Indian Oceanwiped out all communications with the Andaman Islands, except for a DX-pedition that provided a means to coordinate relief efforts. Recently, Amateur Radio operators in the People's Republic of China provided emergency communications after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and US hams did similar work following Hurricane Ike.

The largest disaster response by U.S. amateur radio operators was during Hurricane Katrina which first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane went through Miami, Florida on August 25, 2005, eventually strengthening to Category 5. More than a thousand ham operators from all over the U.S. converged on the Gulf Coast in an effort to provide emergency communications assistance. Subsequent Congressional hearings highlighted the Amateur Radio response as one of the few examples of what went right in the disaster relief effort.

Answer 4

During a natural disaster, it's possible that normal forms of communication with the 'outside world' may be interrupted. Land-line telephone facilities may be unusable because physical wires or poles may be torn down, the exchange battery that powers everything may be damaged, the exchange building itself may be damaged or destroyed, the pipelines out of town such as microwave towers or satellite uplinks may be damaged. Cell-phone facilities may be unusable because cell-towers are down or bent, cell-sites are destroyed, or just because too many people are trying to use a cell, it's capacity is maxed out, and wait-times are jamming the system. Even emergency operating centers may be out of commission if their buildings or antennas have been hit. No two amateur stations are equipped or configured the same. They all have different radios, operate on different groups of frequency bands, use different antennas mounted in different ways, located in different neighborhoods, and several have back-up power such as generators or batteries. Chances are good that whatever the level of catastrophe that shuts down normal communication, somewhere in the area there is a ham operator whose station is still operable and capable of making contact with other ham operators far from the area affected by the disaster.

Answer 5

During disasters regular mode of communications, land phones, mobiles, are disrupted as the local infrastructure are destroyed. Ham radio can work on batteries or portable generators. Contacting the world outside the disaster zone becomes easy as there is always some other ham radio operator on-line who can relay the message and create a communication channel between the disaster zone and rescue / support services.

Answer 6

Answer #1:

Ham radio can help us in many ways. Mostly police and security organizations use

this equipment to communicate with each other. It is also used in many buses,

caps and trucks. They use it to communicate it with their main offices. Mostly

constructors use ham radios with their co-workers to talk about their work.

When the network is down of mobile phone then mostly people use ham radios.

It is also used in disasters because of networks are mostly down at those areas.

=================================

Answer #2:

-- Police and security organizations do not use ham radio equipment to

communicate with each other.

-- Ham radio may or may not be used by hams for recreation and personal

hobby communications while they are passengers in buses, caps, and trucks,

but it is not used by the drivers of any of them to communicate with their main

offices.

-- Ham radio is not used on construction sites, industrial sites, chemical plants,

steel plants, or oil refineries for communications among co-workers.

-- Ham radio is not used at all as a backup for the mobile phone network.

-- Ham radio may or may not be active in a disaster area, when normal public

communications with the outside are inadequate or have been cut. When it is,

it's not used by any official law or rescue agency. It's always provided by private

volunteers, most often using their own privately owned equipment.

-- Ham radio is never used on a job or in a government operation. It's never used

for pay, and is used only by people who have Amateur Radio ('ham') licenses..

Answer 7

provides warning provides warning provides warning

Answer 8

Any method of non-wired communication can help in a disaster.