(Araucaria) Sri Lanka: Who’s Afraid of Amateur Radio? Tsunami’s heroic technology has few backers in Sri Lanka

[Luizinho]

Ola pessoal!!!

Mensagem postada na lista DX Clube PR.

73 de PY2OC, Luiz
GG66OT
JaPY DX Group
http://www.japydx.org
Jundiai, SP

Boca no Trombone
http://btrombone.blogspot.com



Yimber Gaviria wrote:
>
> Five years ago, in the immediae aftermath of the  Indian Ocean Tsunami 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian%20Ocean%20Tsunami>, amateur radio 
> helped revive emergency communications with some of the worst affected 
> locations.
>
> The decades old practice was hailed as the ‘low tech’ miracle that 
> literally helped save lives. Where electricity and telephone services 
> — both fixed and mobile — had been knocked down, amateur radio 
> enthusiasts (or ‘radio hams’) restored the first communication links.
>
> They were at the forefront of relief efforts, for example, in the 
> Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India, and in Hambantota in southern 
> Sri Lanka.
>
>
> When all else fails, shortwave persists…
>
> Within hours of the tsunami, a short wave radio link was established 
> <http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=1220778886>between 
> the disaster management operation at the Prime Minister’s office in 
> the capital Colombo and government offices in the stricken south.
>
> “We went in because the District Secretaries office only had a 
> satellite phone and communications was difficult,” recalled Victor 
> Goonetilleke <http://dxasia.info/about-us#victor>, then President of 
> the Radio Society of Sri Lanka (RSSL) <http://www.qsl.net/rssl/>. The 
> service was discontinued when other disrupted communications networks 
> resumed.
>
> As he later summed up: “When all else is dead, short wave is alive.”
>
> Goonetilleke, one of the island’s best known radio hams (call sign: 
> 4S7VK),reported at the time 
> <http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/victor-goonetilleke-says-amateur-radio-saved-lives-in-sri-lanka> that 
> “uncomplicated shortwave” radio saved the day. And it was accomplished 
> by unpaid radio enthusiasts using nothing more than basic equipment 
> and determination. The only cost to the state was providing food for 
> volunteers operating round the clock.
>
> Sir Arthur C Clarke, inventor of the communications satellite and long 
> time resident of Sri Lanka, wrote in /Wired/ magazine 
> <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.02/letter.html>: “We might 
> never know how many lives they saved and how many minds they put at 
> ease, but we owe a debt to Marconi’s faithful followers.”
>
> *Sidelined and overlooked*
>
> *Now, fast forward five years to the present. Notwithstanding their 
> celebrated role after the tsunami, radio hams have been sidelined in 
> Sri Lanka. Their very hobby is being frowned upon by the state on the 
> grounds of…national security.*
>
> “As the applause died away, everything was forgotten,” Victor 
> Goonetilleke recalled last week in an email interview. The only 
> recognition in Sri Lanka was ‘a very appreciative letter’ from 
> President Mahinda Rajapakse, who as Prime Minister at the time 
> spearheaded the governmental response to the tsunami.
>
>
> <http://www.groundviews.org/wp-content/uploads/Victor-Goonetilleke-a-radio-ham-since-1966.jpg> 
>
>
> Victor Goonetilleke, a radio ham since 1966
>
> Encouragingly, however, the Radio Society received awards and 
> accolades from Europe, Japan and India for their post-Tsunami work.
>
> In the months following the mega-disaster, Sri Lanka passed a new 
> disaster law and set up a new public institution mandated to 
> coordinate disaster risk reduction and emergency responses.
>
> “We have made presentations and participated in every disaster 
> management seminar, but no follow up has taken place despite standing 
> ovations at such seminars/meetings,” says a dejected Goonetilleke, who 
> is currently secretary and disaster operations manager of the Radio 
> Society.
>
> The provisions for involving radio hams already exist. A disaster 
> mitigation plan by the Telecom Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka 
> (TRCSL) some years ago listed the integration of amateurs in disaster 
> recovery action.
>
> Looking back, it seems like the public-spirited radio hams were given 
> their 15 minutes of fame and then soundly ignored. Worse, the 
> short-lived prominence may have attracted new bureaucratic hurdles.
>
> For example, disaster communication equipment donated by foreign 
> amateur radio groups was held up for two years pending clearance from 
> the Customs and Ministry of Defence. These were released only after 
> the ‘direct intervention’ of the Secretary to the President, says 
> Goonetilleke.
>
> The reason for such official hesitation was probably the long-drawn 
> civil war in Sri Lanka, which intensified in 2006. *Now, more than six 
> months after the war ended in May 2009, the ‘temporary’ restrictions 
> have not been lifted. Radio hams are both puzzled and frustrated by this.*
>
> “This is the irony,” says Goonetilleke. “Amateur Radio assisted and 
> offered help — unasked — at tsunami time, and during the 30 year war, 
> helped the security forces in many ways at a crucial time when our 
> forces were caught unprepared and inadequately unequipped.”
>
> He is emphatic that during the entire war, no amateur radio enthusiast 
> was ever involved any violation. “Even their equipment, however 
> meagre, (was) never robbed by terrorists.”
>
> *Poorly understood*
>
> *One reason for this bureaucratic negativity may be simple ignorance 
> of what  amateur radio 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur%20radio> really is — reflecting 
> the disturbingly low levels of media literacy in Sri Lanka.*
>
> In fact, ‘Marconi’s faithful followers’ have been indulging in their 
> serious hobby for a full century. It relies on  short waves 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortwave>, in the frequency range of 
> 3,000 to 30,000 kHz, or 3 to 30 MHz. These waves propagate by bouncing 
> off the ionosphere and the Earth’s surface, thus travelling long 
> distances.
>
> Today, an estimated six million worldwide engage in this pursuit for 
> recreation, self-training or public service. It requires considerable 
> knowledge, skill and time — the term “amateur” merely implies they are 
> not in it for making money. It’s used in the same sense as an amateur 
> athlete.
>
> Radio hams use various transmission modes, including the  Morse code 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse%20code>, radioteletype 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioteletype>, data and voice. Around 
> the world, radio hams are licensed to operate two-way communications 
> equipment using  radio frequencies set aside for this purpose 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur%20radio%20frequency%20allocations>. 
> This allocation is done nationally by telecommunications regulators 
> (TRCSL in Sri Lanka 
> <http://www.trc.gov.lk/component/content/article/14-others/24-amateur-radio-license.html>) 
> and globally by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
>
> Amateur radio is not to be confused with  community radio 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community%20radio>, a localised method 
> of broadcasting mostly using the  FM band 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM%20band> of the spectrum.
>
> In this era of advanced communications systems, amateur radio remains 
> an important part of emergency communications after disasters. Recent 
> examples include terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre twin 
> towers in New York September 2001, Hurricane Katarina in New Orleans 
> in August 2005, and China’s Sichuan earthquake in May 2008.
>
> One main reason for this appeal is its amazing simplicity: radio hams 
> can mobilise quickly, improvising on antennas and power sources. Most 
> of their equipment can be powered by a car battery. Even when 
> batteries drain too low for voice, the last bit of power can support 
> exchanges in the Morse code.
>
> Perhaps the low tech, low key nature of amateur radio contributes to 
> its image problem. The proven technology has few champions among 
> development donors or humanitarian relief agencies. Most radio hams 
> are too busy with their hobby in their spare time to do much 
> ‘marketing’ for their pursuit.
>
> Goonetilleke feels amateur radio is ‘worse off than ever’ since the 
> Radio Society was established in 1950. The non-profit-making group now 
> has 210 members,  <http://www.qsl.net/rssl/webmemregister.htm>of whom 
> 120 are amateur radio license holders.
>
> He laments: “Today…the service is treated as a threat or hindrance by 
> the defence authorities, not granting clearance for equipment (or) new 
> licences for those who have passed.”
>
> Other constraints include the high cost of equipment compounded by 
> high customs duties and other tariffs. But even if these can be 
> overcome with the generous support of foreign amateur radio clubs, 
> security clearance remains a big challenge.
>
> The amateur radio community in Sri Lanka is also not attracting enough 
> young blood to keep it going, partly because obtaining an amateur 
> radio license is a tedious process. There is also the appeal of newer, 
> flashier technologies such as Internet, mobile phones and video games.
>
> Radio hams keep springing to action in times of distress. But who will 
> respond when amateur radio itself sends out an SOS?
>
> //
>
> //
>
> /Science writer Nalaka Gunawardene studies how communications 
> technologies impact society, and has been calling for enhanced media 
> literacy in Sri Lanka. He blogs at http://movingimages.wordpress.com 
> <http://movingimages.wordpress.com/>/
>
> /Source: http://www.groundviews.org/2009/12/31/who’s-afraid-of-amateur-radio-tsunami’s-heroic-technology-has-few-backers-in-sri-lanka/ 
> <http://www.groundviews.org/2009/12/31/who%E2%80%99s-afraid-of-amateur-radio-tsunami%E2%80%99s-heroic-technology-has-few-backers-in-sri-lanka/>/
>
> Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia
>