Page 28 - DDME "The Disaster Forum"

24

Roger, Copy, Over & Out! These are the common calls we think about when we talk about 2-way radios, or even better, we often see persons with a 2-way radio as a
Get a plan and put your plan into action.
police officer or maybe you are a paramedic.
let’s stop and talk about this topic, lets talk about communications during an emergency or disaster event. How are you communicating with your family, friends, neighbors and even members within your communities? These are some of the things we must think about as we approach the 2019 Hurricane Season.
Modern technologies in the telecommunications industry has changed all of our lives, I enjoy using my mobile phone every minute of the day, it feels like a moving computer with the added features of phone calls, text messaging, camera and music. While these features and services are wonderful, they are often interrupted during a storm. The road to recovery after a storm can be delayed by many factors, one of them most certainly is communications to individuals and communities that are affected and requires urgent attention. This can further be complicated or delay if a second storm is on the way and the emergency teams now have to provide two functions, response and preparedness simultaneously. We have seen such scenarios on a few occasions, namely the 2008 Hurricanes Hanna & Ike, and also most recently 2017 Hurricanes Irma & Maria. This sequence of events possesses a great challenge for utility services such as the restoration of Electricity & Telephone services.
Over the past 15 years we have seen the vital and critical role radio communications plays during major event like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Haiti’s earthquake in 2010 and most recently Hurricanes Irma & Maria. These
Radio Communications
- Media Outreach -
INTRODUCTION
With the pattern identified above, we must develop a plan, one that encompasses a method of communication in our household, amongst our family members, neighbors and our communities.
this is the true meaning of Partners in Preparedness.
HISTORY
The transmission and reception of radio waves is the basis and foundation for all present means of communications, this can be broken down to voice and text sub categories in the communications sector.
Radio communications had been dated back to 1896 when Guglielmo Marconi was awarded a British patent, and then went on to establishing the first radio station on the Isle of Wright, England. During the years of 1938 to 1944 Radio communication played a vital role during major world event world war 2.
Radio communications is the backbone for the day to day operations of 911 Dispatch, Police Departments, Fire Departments, Paramedics, Aircraft & Airports, Seaport & Vessels. All of the above listed industries are vital to our day to day lives in the Turks & Caicos Islands and around the world.
MY BACKGROUND
As the Radio Communications & Telecommunications Specialist of the Department of Disaster Management and Emergences, I am delighted to share my background with you in radio communications with an effort to explain the need for an emergency communications network and the critical nature of communications in our survival.
In my earlier years I was always amazed at the various methods of communications and electronics, which drove me to start constructing my own Frequency Modulation (FM) and Amplitude Modulation (AM) Radios by the age of 10yrs old , I had the support and
events had severely crippled the telecommunications industries in the affect areas.
The unsound heroes of emergency communications are often overlooked, however in recent times countries have come to the realization that these few radio comms hobbyist or ham operators, which are professionally identified as amateur radio operators do exist and resides within our communities. Here in the Turks & Caicos Islands radio operators are spread across the islands, and across the Caribbean, but my question would be, who are these guys? Do you know them? Are they registered with any one? Do they have a group or organization?
My aim is the revive the love of operating a handheld radio for our citizens and communities by providing the necessary guidelines and support to formulate a Turks & Caicos Islands Amateur Radio Association. A platform where we can create our emergency communications network together,