Article on Amateur Radio - India Should Make Amateur Radio Its Home Policy! By YL. Sadineni Yamini (VU2YAM) Gold Medalist & LIMCA Book of Record Holder. The world is changing fast; more people are becoming vulnerable to disasters or are forced to cope with acts of violence, financial crises and growing uncertainty, often without adequate support from their governments. Now most of the countries including India are technologically moving to digitalization. However, few questions are still remained unanswered. Does Government alone can handle any major disaster in the country? Does existing Communication Network all alone enough to serve the nation in a calamity? Is our government has a vision to establish an interoperable public, technical, responsive connectivity which is freely available? Are we really equipped and prepared to face a future challenge? Is there any scientific hobby which is authorized by International Telecommunications Union which can integrate many departments and plays a vital role in Home land security? Here is the answer….Its none other than Amateur Radio (HAM Radio). Recently, USA has integrated Amateur Radio in National Policy 2015 for Homeland Security. Many know one face of HAM Radio that is being used in Disaster Management. However, several really do not know that HAM is being extensively used in Homeland security, Health, Skill Development, Electronics, Broadcasting and Information Technology. Disaster Management can be defined as the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters. The first people to respond to a disaster are those living in the local community. Even in the most technically advanced continents like USA, Europe, and in several Asian countries, the Disaster / Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides support to State and local governments in fulfilment of their responsibilities for preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation of disasters to utilize and implement amateur radio technologies and operators to provide electronic communications for State and local governments in disasters. Amateur radio operators have been providing communications in natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, hurricanes and earthquakes since 1910. Amateur Radio exists for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations. To accomplish these broad objectives, amateurs must be afforded reasonable access to the spectrum from the lowest frequencies to the highest. Yet, spectrum access is an increasingly valuable commodity. Commercial interests willingly pay billions of dollars for access to the frequencies they require in order to be able to sell telecommunications services. The radio spectrum is so valuable that even government and military users are under great pressure to relinquish frequencies for commercial exploitation. Some amateur radio operators in the world communicate by sending Morse code signals, others prefer to use microphones. Some use computer-to-computer communications, while still others set up amateur television stations so that they can see the person they are talking to. Indian Scenario: While comparing with the advanced countries, India has limited to use amateur radio only during disasters. As a disaster occurs once in a while, the subject lost its credibility and importance in the government. Over the years, many central and state governments has stopped giving a thought on integrating amateur radio in primary school education, Technical education, Home Ministry, Communication Ministry etc., In India, rules are very much liberalized for a mobile phone which can be a good tool for Anti social activists, whereas this public and very useful ham radio has lot of breaks. Proposed Solution There should be national framework and a road map to integrate all major ministries and departments within which HAM volunteer personnel may coordinate their services, facilities, and equipment with in support of nationwide State and local emergency communications functions. It is intended, through joint coordination and exercise of the resources of HAM community and Central, State and local governments, to enhance the nationwide posture of emergency communications readiness for any conceivable emergency. A Separate Commission should be established with an Expert Amateur Radio members, Members from Police, Disaster Management, Higher & Technical Education, Health, Science & Technology, Revenue, Traffic etc., and Amateur Radio should be integrated in major National Plans like National Communication System, NDMA,NDRF. Amateur Radio coordinate efforts to provide sheltering, feeding, and emergency first aid following a catastrophic earthquake, significant natural disaster or other event requiring assistance; to operate a Disaster Welfare Information (DWI) System to collect, receive, and report information about the status of victims and assist with family reunification within the disaster ares; and to coordinate bulk distribution of emergency relief supplies to disaster victims following a disaster.” News Courtesy - maahyderabad.in/india-should-make-amateur-radio-its-home-policy/ - yaminifoundation.in
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 12:02:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015