Australian Bushfires Causing Major Telecommunication Outages, Hams on Duty

Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) President Greg Kelly, VK2GPK, says the bushfires in Australia have caused significant disruption of telecommunication services in the states of Victoria and New South Wales. Radio amateurs are supporting relief operations and communication.

WICEN (Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network) in New South Wales reports it has been active assisting in a number of multi-agency activities during the bushfire emergency, in its role as a support squad of the NSW Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA) operations center in Bega. WICEN teams in NSW and in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) have sent a team to Bega to help re-establish radio communication services, disrupted by fire activity.

WICEN and other VRA squads continue to support the Rural Fire Service (RFS) at various Fire Control Centers and the Bushfire Information Line. Other WICEN members remain active with the RFS and the State Emergency Service.

Kelly has asked radio amateurs in International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 3 to monitor the emergency communications frequencies, per the IARU Region 3 band plan, whenever possible, as well as repeaters. "Amateurs seeking to establish emergency communication should use these EMCOMM frequencies in the first instance, or repeaters if available," he said in a statement posted on the IARU Region 3 website. "Radio amateurs who are volunteers for [WICEN and other emergency communication organizations] should keep themselves updated," Kelly advised. "Emergency communication is one of the main reasons radio amateurs have access to RF spectrum. Please assist if and when you can."

The IARU Region 3 emergency "center of activity" frequencies are 3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160, and 21.360 MHz. These are not net frequencies, but they are recommended as starting points for emergency traffic, and activity may extend 5 kHz above or below the designated center frequency.
South of NSW in the state of Victoria, WICEN VIC reports that the amateur repeater network is largely off the air, possibly due to a lack of power. "Some sites may have been directly affected by fire," WICEN VIC said on January 4. "It could be some weeks until the sites can be reached for inspection."

From the ARRL letter de VK5BJE

Page Last Updated: Saturday 11 January 2020 at 11:30 hours by Robert Broomhead

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