An Up-date from the IARU International Emergency Communications Coordinator

Dear Fellow Amateurs,

When I introduced myself as the IARU Emergency Communications Coordinator, nobody could know, what dramatic and tragic events would occur over the following 12 months, and what an important role the Amateur Radio Service would have to play. The visibility our service got through reports in the media has helped us, but it also created high expectations. The first Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference (GAREC-2005) in Finland in June was an opportunity to discuss experiences and to develop new ideas. Emergency communications were on the agenda of the IARU Region 1 Conference and the IARU Administrative Council (AC) Meeting in September as well, and important decisions have been taken on these occasions.

GAREC-2005 proposed the establishment of "Center of Activity" Frequencies for emergency traffic on some of the HF bands. Region 1 adopted such frequencies in its Conference in September, and we expect that the two other regions will do the same in their forthcoming conferences in 2006 and 2007. Band plans are under the responsibility of each region, and the frequencies on the mostly regionally used 40 and 80 meter bands are specific for Region 1 (the other Regions have different allocations and already use frequencies in parts of the bands so far not accessible in Region 1). The frequencies on 15, 17 and 20 meters, mostly used for intercontinental traffic, have been discussed with Regions 2 and 3, and we hope that they will also be adopted by the competent conferences in these Regions. Details are available at http://www.iaru.org/emergency/CoA2.html .

Following a suggestion made at GAREC-2005, the IARU AC decided, to establish a working group for the development of an "IARU Emergency Communication Handbook". This group is now being constituted and expected to work intensively as from January 2005. Anyone interested to participate is kindly invited to contact me directly. At the same time it was also decided, to publish a "flyer" or small brochure about the role of the Amateur Radio Service in Emergency Communications. We hope to have this publication ready early in 2006 for distribution at Conferences and similar events.

During the year, I had several opportunities to discuss emergency telecommunications with national societies when I visited their countries, be it in the context of IARU activities or during other, professional or private, trips. Due to the dramatic events, the subject also found much interest in a number of international conferences on related subjects, such as emergency and crisis management, where I was invited as a speaker.

Other noteworthy events were the official entry into force of the "Tampere Convention on Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Response Operations" (see http://www.iaru.org/emergency/tc-hams.html ) in January 2005 and the publication of the second edition of the ITU "Handbook on Emergency Telecommunications". This manual includes a large section about the Amateur Radio Service, and parts of this book are now available for free download at http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/emergencytelecoms/publications.html .

Emergency Communication activities for the new year include GAREC-2006, again in Tampere, Finland, scheduled for 19-20 June 2006, see http://www.iaru.org/emergency/Garec-2006/first-announcement.html, the participation of the IARU in the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) in March as well as in other work with the ITU. Much of this work concerns the preparation for the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 2007, which is expected to take important decisions concerning the Amateur Radio Service. At this conference, emergency communications will be a key argument for defending the existing and obtaining additional privileges for our service.

I am looking forward to closely work with the newly appointed Region 1 Emergency Communications Coordinator, Seppo Sisatto, OH1 VR, the Region 2 Emergency Coordination Advisory Group, and the recently constituted Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee. In addition, more and more national IARU member societies are intensifying their work on emergency communications and are forming specialized groups; please keep your regional coordinators informed about such activities so that we can make sure that we can all benefit from each other's experiences !

Many thanks to all of you for your support during the past 12 months --

73

(Hans Zimmermann)

F5VKP / HB9AQS
IARU International Emergency Communications Coordinator