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SATERN: SALVATION ARMY TEAM EMERGENCY RADIO NETWORK 1

2014 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference (GAREC)

Huntsville, AL: 14-15 August 2014


IARU Facts

# IARU represents the amateur radio community to the ITU.

# IARU has 160 members societies such as the ARRL.

# IARU is charged by the ITU to develop an emergency communications system that is completely independent of all other existing communications infrastructures.

# ITU) is the UN body for international telecommunications and technologies.


ITU / IARU REGIONS


GAREC Facts

# Sponsored annually by IARU.

# Meets in a different IARU Region each year.

# Designed to be an informal gathering of international amateur radio emergency communications experts.

# Goal is to advise IARU on emergency communications and help them meet the goal of developing an indepen-dent emergency communications system.

# This year’s focus was on the application of advanced technology in amateur radio emergency comms.

# About 20 people attended including amateur radio operators from Britain, Malaysia, Russia and Finland.


IARU REGION REPORTS


Region 1 covers Europe, Africa, Russia & Middle East

# Region 1 has 40 countries

# Spain has about 4,000 amateur radio operators

# Kenya has 6 (licensed).

IARU REGION 1 REPORT

= Greg Mossup, GØDUB =


Region 1 experienced several major disasters:

# Atlantic Storm Christian

= 27-28 Oct. 2013

= high-end Category 3

= 18 killed; 1 missing

= 1.3 M w/o power

= road, rail, sea and travel disrupted

= no amateur radio used




# Balkan Ice Storm: = 03 February 2014

= Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia

= major impacts in Slovenia

> 250,000 w/o power

> half of forests damaged

> cell phones and public service radio impacted

> Austria requested amateur radio assistance




Kefalonia Earthquake = 26 Jan. / 03 Feb. 2014 = 600 buildings damaged

= Two M6.0 earthquakes = no amateur radio needed




# Balkan Flooding

= 14-18 May 2014

= heaviest rain in 120 years

= Serbia / Bosnia-Herzegovina

> 62 killed;

> 1.6 M people impacted

> 60% loss of Serbia power

> amateur radio used locally and regionally



Amateur Radio volunteers in Belgrade, Serbia, Communications HQ- Photo by Dragan Antonic, YU1OU




Issues in Region 1:

# May lose shared use of 23 cm band in Europe.

# Changing leadership in the member societies

# Poor coordination. of Center of Activity (CoA) frequencies.




Issues in Region 1:

# Global SET is ONLY intern’l emergency communications exercise.

# Too much emphasis on public service comms and not on formal traffic handling

# Need to standardize radio and equipment power plugs between countries.


Region 2 covers the America’s – North, Central and South.

# The Region 2 representative was unable to attend.

# There was no official report.


= Dr. Cesar Pio Santos, HR2P =


Region 3 covers Asia and the central and western Pacific


= Johnny Tan, 9M8DB =

Region 3 experienced several major disasters:




# Pakistan Earthquake - 24 & 28 September 2013

= M7.7 on 24 September

= M6.6 on 28 September

= 847 killed

= amateur radio deployed to support local logistics




# Typhoon Phailin = 12 October 2013

= India’s 2nd strongest cyclone

= landfall as a Category 4

= up to 12 M people impacted

= 600 shelters

= 550,000 evacuated

= largest evacuation in 23 yrs

= teams of amateur radio operators were used




# Bohol (Phil.) Earthquake = 15 October 2013

= M7.2 earthquake on island of Bohol, Philippines.

= Energy equivalent of 32 Hiroshima bombs.

= 222 killed; 976 injured

= 73,000 buildings damaged

= 14,500 destroyed

= PARA used on 40 & 2 mtrs




# Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) = 08 November 2013

= strongest / deadliest Philippines typhoon

= Category 5 at one point.

= 6,300 killed

= 2,000 missing

= 11 M people impacted.

= PARA / HERO network

= Used 40 & 2 meters




# Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 = 08 March 2014

= 12 crew / 227 passengers

= (MARTS) provides comms from airport to hotel used as family reception center.

= MARES asked amateurs in Pacific to forward any information on MH-370on 20 & 15 meter nets.




Issues in Region 3:

# is amateur radio EmComm “irrelevant” today?

# recommends operators be trained on non-amateur radio systems

# amateur radio still important in rural areas


# IARU is adapting ARRL docu-ment to create an HF Intn’l Emergency Op. Procedure

Discussion about international emergency communications:

# Only 3 pages compared to 300 page ARRL document

# ARRL 300 page Emergency Communication Handbook has precise USA procedures.

# IARU will not use “Q” signals Uses “plain language”

Intern’l EmComm Handbook



# SOP does not tell how to route messages to e-mail / social media.

# IARU SOP practiced in Global SET.

# Training in international message handling is needed.

# Internet is NOT going away!

# Internet DOES have challenges:

# IARU recommends Point-to-Point communications when possible.


# Global confusion over third party traffic message handling regulations. For example:

# What constitutes third-party traffic?

# Some countries have wide permissions to pass inter-national third party traffic but no networks to do this.

# The U.S. has great networks but very limited number of countries they can do this with.

# Generally, amateur-to-amateur traffic not coming from or intended for someone else is acceptable.



# Recommendations for a Handbook include:

# No mode should be “the” mode.

# Procedures for new technology such as digital modes are needed.

# Retain instructions on information gathering and dissemination.

# Instruction & procedures to contact relief agencies should be included.



ORGANIZATION REPORTS

= ARRL: Dan Henderson, N1ND =

# ARRL Legislative Affairs Manager.

# Was responsible for Field Day, etc.

# Took 2 years to negotiate recent ARRL / FEMA MOU

# ARRL directed staff to create a plan for 2015-16 to recruit new hams – especially from youth and diversity.

# Result of Board Minute 36 from 21-22 July meeting.



= SATERN: Bill Feist, WB8BZH =

# Southern Territory SATERN Coord.

# Focused on using new technology

# 20th Century: Used HF SSB for H&W and VHF / UHF FM for tactical support communications.

# Emergency communications needs of The Salvation Army are changing and requiring more advanced technological communications support.




# Includes the use of digital modes such as WinLink / WinMore, Olivia, EchoLink & others

# Includes the use of non-amateur methods such as UHF business band and . . .

# . . . satellite-based communication




# SATERN sponsors HF SSB Nets, FM / EchoLink / IRLP & HF digi-nets.

# HF SSB for H&W and VHF / UHF FM for tactical communications is not being abandoned.

# Includes the use of a new state-of-the-art remotely controlled amateur radio station – WB5ALM.



= MARS: Paul English, WD8DBY =

# MARS is the military’s link to them.

# Recently tasked with supporting Combat Commands involved in HADR missions.

# Program Manager and Dupty Director for U.S. Army MARS.

# Concept is that local amateur radio operators often “first on the ground” in foreign countries needing disaster relief.




# Military is more aware now of global disasters and the role of amateur radio in them although language can be a challenge.

# Process has been exercised a number of times.

# MARS uses programs such as GDACS and APAN to gather info.

# It has been tested but not used in several real-world disasters.




# IARU / GAREC protocols may provide common training standards.

# Military is concerned about the accuracy of local reports from unverified sources.


GAREC LESSONS# Partnerships can be critical:

= government

= not-for-profits

= for-profits / critical infrastructure

= educational centers

= between the 3 IARU Regions


GAREC LESSONS# Using social media:

= social media can be targeted and used to distribute information effectively

= sometimes social media is like “a message in a bottle”

= DX Spotting Networks

= continued discussion is needed


GAREC LESSONS# Promotion of Amateur Radio:

= promotion of amateur radio to youth and diverse populations

= participation in EmComm and public service events

= After Action Reports to ARRL, served agencies, newsletters, social media, etc.

SATERN: SALVATION ARMY TEAM EMERGENCY RADIO NETWORK35

GAREC LESSONS# Relevancy of Amateur Radio:

= Was surprised to find out that this is a global concern.

= Is amateur radio becoming irrelevant in EmComm?

= SuperStorm Sandy: A Tale of Two States.

= When All Else Fails: Amateur Radio.

= “Amateur Radio: Your Partner in Disaster Response”.


GAREC LESSONS# Relevancy of Amateur Radio:

= Explore and promote other services amateur radio can provide

= Eliminate “When Also Else Fails” from our thinking.

= Do other non-communications tasks with the communications.

= Do other non-amateur radio communications tasks.


GAREC-2015

= Date(s): 23-24 June 2015

= Location: Tampere, Finland.

= Theme: “Cooperating With Authorities”

= Tenth anniversary GAREC

= Draft program in January 2015


2014 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference (GAREC)

Huntsville, AL: 14-15 August 2014

2014 global amateur radio emergency communications ... · pdf filesatern: salvation army team...

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