ARLA/CLUSTER: A importancia do radioamadorismo na India

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Use of Ham Radio in India

The Times Of India report amateur radio is useful even during
non-emergency situations

The newspaper says:

As part of its disaster management initiatives, the government began
relying on ham operators. “Ham radio is used extensively even today
during emergency and times of disaster as other modes of communication
may not be of much help,” said Dr T Radha, commissioner for disaster
management.

But ham radios are also being used at other times as the service is
free. Field staff from district collectorates who go to the interior
areas use hams to communicate with the office. It comes in handy as
there is no cellphone connectivity in many such remote locations.

The government has been using the services of a dozen or so operators
to effectively communicate from remote districts, mainly in coastal
areas. As hams cannot use amateur radio for pecuniary benefits, the
government pays honorarium to them. Though in the past few years,
there were indications that the government might end its association
with hams, it was persuaded by collectors of various districts to
continue the service for this year. The revenue department has now
sanctioned Rs 20.8 lakh towards monthly honorarium to be paid to 14
ham operators based in Vizianagaram, Vizag, East Godavari, West
Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, Khammam and Hyderabad.

Read the story at
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=
OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_TOINEW&Type=text/html&Locale
=english-skin-custom&Path=TOIH/2013/07/24&ID=Ar00203