Ham radios

[Ishwor Gurung]

Are there any ham radio operators in Nepal? It seems that it's an
immensely powerful tool to communicate when internet, mobile and land
lines don't work during earthquakes or some such.

I hope there are ham radio operators in and around Nepal that are
willing to conduct training session/s after everything settles down.
For future of course;

I will not be able to engage as I live outside Nepal but I hope I did
bring up an issue that is important for the society to sustain during
natural calamities and confusion.

Cheers
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Regards
Ishwor Gurung
Key id:0xa98db35e
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[Jwalanta Shrestha]

Adding to the thread two prominent Ham radio operators I know in Nepal.

~jwalanta

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[Bibek Paudel]

+1- we could even set up some emergency network for the future.

bibek

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[Saroj Dhakal]

+1 for this setup ...we've to be ready for future..

[Jitendra kumar]

+1 - Training/Awareness about Ham Radio would be an important step in disaster preparedness.

As a measure of disaster preparedness, Cellular broadcast   may be another important tool. It is a part of GSM standard but I am not sure if NTC/NCell are equipped with this technology. Can anyone get information from them about this? This can be effective tool for a govt/NGO wanting to broadcast some important updates/alerts in a specific area during such disasters.

- Jitendra

[Jwalanta Shrestha]

Hi all, below is the reply sent in by Sam:



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sam Frantz <sfr...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 9:32 AM
Subject: Fwd: [ubuntu-np-discuss] [FOSS Nepal] Ham radios
To: Jwalanta Shrestha <jwal...@gmail.com>


Hi Jwalanta-ji,

Perhaps you could post my reply to the groups.  People are free to copy me on any further traffic on ham radio issues if they wish.

Best,

Sam


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sam Frantz <sfr...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 9:31 AM
Subject: Re: [ubuntu-np-discuss] [FOSS Nepal] Ham radios
To: foss-...@googlegroups.com
Cc: suresh...@hotmail.com, ubuntu-np <ubun...@lists.ubuntu.com>


Hi all,

There is a handful of licensed ham operators in Nepal but this number is set to grow after Dashain.  For the past several years, the government has not held any license examinations because the syllabus has been "under revision."  Well, it's now revised and published, and I'm told that up to 20 Nepalis plan to take the exam!  (Foreigners can obtain a temporary license in Nepal without difficulty, as long as they hold a valid license from another country).

I used to be involved in emergency communications in the U.S. and would be glad to speak with any of you who are interested in learning more about how it works.  You could also help think through what applies and what might not apply in the context of Nepal.  Just one immediate note:

In the U.S. and presumably also elsewhere, the power of ham radio as an emergency communications tool comes partly from the good coordination with government and NGO emergency services providers.  For example, in my county in Minnesota, the emergency operations center has desks for law enforcement, fire officials, the weather service, the National Guard, the Red Cross, and for two ham radio operators (one VHF/UHF radio for local communications, one HF radio for regional).  We already have agreements with each of these organizations that specify how we facilitate their communications in certain circumstances. To give one example, during a flood disaster some years ago, ham operators were present at each of the sandbag filling locations as well as at the temporary dikes that were being built; we passed information on how many bags were needed where.  To give another example, I spent an afternoon at the Red Cross in Arlington, Virginia two days after 9/11 passing information from various aid stations at the Pentagon about which supplies needed restocking.  Simple stuff, but the point is that all involved agencies had agreed in advance of a disaster about what role ham operators could play in various scenarios, and we practiced regularly.

If there is interest from a large enough group in Nepal in setting up some kind of ham-based emergency communications network, it would certainly be possible.  But you would face different challenges from your counterparts in the U.S., in terms of building numbers, building relationships with other responders, and in the fact that you won't be able to call in support from elsewhere (in major disasters, hams from outside the disaster area often shoulder much of the burden to allow local hams to tend to their families and property).  Again, if you'd like to do a thought exercise about this, I'd be glad to meet.

With best regards,

Sam

K0YAK/9N7AK

[Ishwor Gurung]

On 19 September 2011 13:46, Sam Frantz <sfr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
[....]

Interesting indeed. All the best to the twenty ham operators that are
getting certified.

Thanks for taking time out to put forward your expertise on this
matter. How about you give a general talk and held a small tutorial
session for Linux users (or other enthusiasts) so they can practice
and learn hamming? :-)
Share with them the information about how they can get certified and
learn more and so on; a ham club is even better! :-) This could be a
good move for everyone in Nepal to learn and share the good stuff.

I do hope something sincerely good comes out of it until the next
earthquake or such natural calamities. Mother nature is indeed hard at
times to everyone.

[Ishwor Gurung]

On 19 September 2011 02:13, Jitendra kumar <jitendra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> +1 - Training/Awareness about Ham Radio would be an important step in
> disaster preparedness.
>

> As a measure of disaster preparedness, *Cellular broadcast*
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_Broadcast>

> may be another important tool. It is a part of GSM standard but I am not
> sure if NTC/NCell are equipped with this technology. Can anyone get
> information from them about this? This can be effective tool for a govt/NGO
> wanting to broadcast some important updates/alerts in a specific area during
> such disasters.

Jitendra, Hi :-)

Either way, I doubt that this is a infrastructure / equipment issue.
Pardon me if I am wrong. This is AFAIK more of a awareness and
"enough" enthusiasts / do'ers issue. If enough people are interested
in ham radio or other forms of emergency communication channel, do you
think the equipment wouldn't be ordered from overseas? If it's
beneficial for everyone in the community be it small or large, I
personally think that the equipment wouldn't be of a issue but I could
be wrong (totally and disgustingly :p) but yeah as I said this is more
about knowing what's out there and gathering as much information as
possible to be able to communicate effectively during times of
confusion, dilemma and major breakout in society; for future i.e.;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers (aka RFC 1149)
also comes to my mind but I doubt it'd be handy heh ;-)

[Jitendra kumar]

I very much agree with you. It is more of an awareness (and as Sam says coordination) issue rather than infrastructure issue. I hope this quake makes people realize how little they are prepared for such disaster and encourage them to be better equipped with knowledge.

Regards,
Jitendra
 

--
Regards
Ishwor Gurung
Key id:0xa98db35e
Key fingerprint:FBEF 0D69 6DE1 C72B A5A8  35FE 5A9B F3BB 4E5E 17B5

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