<div dir="ltr"><h1 style="box-sizing:border-box;font-size:16pt;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Ham radio operators put their hobby to the test</h1><p style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px">Members of the <strong style="box-sizing:border-box">Amateur Radio Society of Odisha</strong> got together at an uninhabited island within the Chilika lake to test their operational skill and technology to help the public during natural calamities such as cyclonic storms <br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">The Hindu newspaper reports: <br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">The team had chosen this island as it is inaccessible by conventional telecommunication network.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">During their two-day camp at the island that ended on Sunday evening, eight licensed private HAM radio operators of Odisha experimented transmission of messages to the outside world through radio signals.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">It was an attempt to simulate real-life situation during any natural calamity when all conventional modes of communication cease to exist. <br style="box-sizing:border-box">“To simulate such a situation, we remained cut-off from the outside world for two days and used solar power to operate our HAM radios. A bamboo pole was used as an antenna tower,” said Gurudatta Panda, one of the participants.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">Amateur radio operators can link up with other HAM enthusiasts through ‘short wave’ radio frequency.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">During the event, these operators, despite their lack of infrastructure, managed to contact around 130 Amateur radio operators around the world.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">Around 90 of these were from different parts of India while others were from countries including Denmark, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">On Sunday morning they made contacts with HAM enthusiasts of neighbouring countries except Pakistan.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">According to ARSO members, the importance of HAM radios during natural calamities has not diminished in this era of advanced communication.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">According to them, during the Titli cyclone, Gajapati district was completely cut-off from the outside world for a few hours. During that time HAM radio with the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force became the main means of communication of the district administration with the outside world.<br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">Read the full story at <br style="box-sizing:border-box"><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/ham-radio-operators-put-their-hobby-to-test/article26298870.ece" target="_blank" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,51,102);text-decoration-line:none">https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/ham-radio-operators-put-their-hobby-to-test/article26298870.ece</a><br style="box-sizing:border-box"><br style="box-sizing:border-box">Amateur Radio Society of Odisha <br style="box-sizing:border-box"><a href="http://arso.in/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0,51,102);text-decoration-line:none">http://arso.in/</a></p></div>