Amateur radio is a scientific hobby that can be cultivated by individuals of all age groups and professions. In an emergency like a natural disaster, two main activities by amateur radio operators can prevent loss of lives. First is to forewarn about a possible emergency so that people can precaution and take such measures that will not endanger their lives. And the other is to pass messages, images and other info to aid agencies to help the survivors and injured as soon as possible in an emergency situation. Tele-communication of messages or other information can be sent in analog or digital mode. Some of the different modes include voice also called as radio telephony, Rtty – radioteletype, continuous wave – cw for Morse Code, FM, AM, television and digital.

When communication infrastructure breaks down due to natural disaster, amateur radio operators transmit emergency traffic on voice mode about the well being of survivors to friends, families and relatives or about causalities. Besides passing of messages, hams through their radio equipment can also transmit in digital mode that includes RTTY - radio teletype, TOR – tele-printing over radio, packet radio transmission and the recent PSK31 – a type of modulation.


Image Courtesy: Karthikeya Acharya

Satellite images or video pictures of the affected area can be transmitted without delay as soon as amateur radio operators reach the site or by those who were already present. This information and knowledge can facilitate speedy decision making when it comes to providing basic aid to the affected survivors and injured. Generally the aid from government comes in only after the assessment is done by government representatives. And when the aid arrives, it is too late.

This article explores everything about amateur radio; How to become an amateur radio operator? What they generally do? How content can be transmitted by amateur radio operators and how can they contribute in an emergency operation? By popularising amateur radio among general public, relief and rescue can become easy. Voluntary organisations and government can play a very important role to achieve this. A national amateur radio operator’s guild can coordinate for the resources in emergency. Government and other organisations can benefit from this potential human resource that will provide speedy consultation supported by facts, images and other relevant information.

In the beginning
To become an amateur radio operator, one has to pass different levels of Radio Amateur Station Operator’s Certificate Examination conducted by Government. Working

Ham Radio connects tsunami survivors in no time

S. B. Ram National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad sbram_lic@yahoo.com

The National Institute of Amateur Radio (N.I.A.R) is Hyderabad (India) based NGO that promotes ‘Amateur Radio’ or ‘Ham Radio’ in the country as a scientific and socially useful activity. As part of promotion of Amateur Radio and Radio sport, our Ham Radio teams went to Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands) on 1st December, 2004 on a Dx-pedition (‘D’ for Distance, ‘X’ for Unknown stations contacting through Amateur Radio with fellow Radio Hams across the world known as DX-pedition). On 26thDecember, 2004, our DX-pediton team members - Ms.D.Bharathi Prasad, S.Ram Mohan, and R.Sarath Babu, were busy in communicating with fellow hams across the world at different frequencies. Suddenly their radio sets started shaking heavily. Within no time they realised that it was a major earth quake and communicated this to the fellow hams across the world. “We are in Danger .. Our Radio’s are heavily shaking.. Quake .. Earth Quake.. Earth Quake…it is a major Earth quake… We are running down from the 5th floor, Hotel Sinclair, Portblair”. This is the first message, which was sent by our teams. After few minutes power went off. Our Hams were back on Radio Frequency after half an hour with the help of generators. As soon as link was restored, our fellow hams across the country particularly from Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Calcutta started enquiring about the team members. In a desperate tone they asked Bharathi… Are you safe ? Rammohan, Sarath….Are you safe? Around 7.00 A.M, the sea water started pouring into the Portblair. People on the bay and surrounding areas started running to the nearby hills. Our team was confused and panicked. Around 10.30 AM they came to know that it was a killer ‘Tsunami’ that had struck many parts of the islands such as Car Nicobar, Hutbay, Kachal, Cambel Bay etc. Immediately our Radio operators approached the government officials and offered their voluntary services to connect the area to rest of the world through amateur radio. Puneet Kumar Goel, Secretary Cum Relief Commissioner, Andaman & Nicobar Administration agreed to use our system. Immediately, a control station was set up by Ms.Bharathi & Sarath Babu at Deputy Commissioner’s office. On 26th December, 2004 another team headed by S.Ram Mohan & D.V.R.K.Murty was air dropped at Car Nicobar. Jose Jacob was dropped at Hutbay.. D.V. Satyanarayana & M. Chaitanyamumar droped at Mus. As soon as they reached the respective islands, Amateur Radio stations were setup by using car batteries as there was no power supply. I along with my colleagues, are still operating everyday from the Control room at D.C office. Subsequently some more Ham Radio members from Gujarat have flown to Portblair. Very few people were able to escape from the killer Tsunami. And for the survivors Ham is the only the link to the main land, India, to get help. Many hams across the country Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi have kept open their stations and thousands of messages to the kith and kin of the Island people was conveyed besides official traffic. Thanks to Suri, Chairman and Director, National Institute of Amateur Radio for providing logistic suport to the teams who are working 24 hours. We also thank our volunteers who have offered their services.

knowledge of radio communication principles, procedures, techniques, technology and communication phraseology is essential to pass the exams. At advanced level, person’s skill in being able to send and receive Morse code is tested. There are four levels of examination and each level allows the operator to transmit from a transceiver, a single unit capable of transmission and reception of HF, VHF or UHF bands. After applying and passing the exams, the government agency issues license with a call sign. A call sign is an alphanumeric code, the prefix denotes country and suffix gives the identity of the person that is combination of three alphabets except SOS, TTT and XXX as they are used to transmit actual emergency situations. An example of call sign is VU3MBV. VU3 denotes location that is India and MBV is identity of the license holder.