During the Gaja Cyclone in 2018, Selvi* was frantically looking to buy medicines. Floods didn’t allow her to step out and yet, she tried. She tried to find shops that were open and even went online to purchase, but to no avail. As a last resort, she tuned in to her ham radio, hoping someone near a pharmacy might be listening. Shortly after, the radio crackled back. Help was on its way.
Professor Kaviyarasan, a ham operator and a faculty member at Anna University, says such moments reveal the importance of a ham radio. Also called the amateur radio, the ham radio operates through radio frequencies requiring no cellular infrastructure, internet, or server. It needs only a licensed operator with an unique identification call sign, a transceiver, and the will to make contact. Despite being functional and handy, ham radio remains unfamiliar to most people.
But a group of educators in the state are making it their mission to popularise it. “We have been teaching about ham for years now without a fee,” says Ramesh, of the Rajapalayam International Radio Communicators Club (RIRCOM). He has personally introduced the ham radio to nearly 1,500 students, of whom more than 800 have gone on to obtain licences. Kannapiran, a teacher and a ham operator from Udumalpet, has taught the technology to over 5,000 students, with nearly 500 of them imparting that knowledge to others. Kaviyarasan, too, voluntarily teaches his students and has helped in setting up radio stations in different parts of the state.
Steps to start with
To operate the ham and get a licence, one needs to write the Amateur Station Operator Certificate (ASOC) exam, which is conducted by the Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India, the Wireless Monitoring Station, Department of Telecommunication (DoT). Ramesh informs that it costs `100 to attend and `2,000 to get the licence. This gives access to global frequency without further charge.
Picking up these radio operation and communication skills can be advantageous in technical recruitment, believes Ramesh. In addition, he informs that ham operators’ details are formally instructed to be maintained at the collectorate office for coordination during relief operations — a significant part of the community’s role in public welfare. Yet it remains absent from school syllabi, rues Kannapiran. “Including lessons on ham radio in the school curriculum for disaster management would create greater awareness among people than the initiatives we take on our own,” he adds.
When networks collapse
The operators recall several instances when amateur radio became the only reliable source of communication. “In 1995, three people went missing during a trek in a riverine forest with rich wildlife, near Srivilliputhur. There was no means to communicate with them. When we got the information from them, we went for aid along with the rescue team,” shares Ramesh.
Three decades later, Ramesh and his club continue to volunteer at major public gatherings, especially at temple festivals. “During these fests, there are massive crowds. Death due to stampede and suffocation is common. These emergencies are not always possible to handle through mobile phones, as the cell phone tower would be jammed,” he says.
Unlike a group call on a mobile phone, a single voice on ham radio can be heard simultaneously by a hundred or even a thousand people on the same frequency — a capability that carries communication potential for disaster communication.
Friendships over frequencies
Once you step into this world, you quickly learn that ham radio is as much about human connection as it is about technology. “I have friends from more than 50 countries now,” says Ramesh. Kaviyarasan describes, “If I need to go to the US for research, I just have to post a message in the ham radio club. The hams who are willing to welcome new friends will come and receive me, and we will do the same for others. People who are willing to be a part of this (the ham community) gain knowledge more than they realise, and connect with professionals.”
Ramesh shares, “I can call people through certain countries’ frequencies, for instance, JA is Japan and VU is India. When I call through the radio saying CQ (code meaning- calling any station) along with a country code, interested people will connect with me.”
Once a year, these voices that have only ever known each other through static and signal put faces to callsigns. The Mahameet Eyeball Meet, organised by the Vandu Net Amateur Ham Radio Club in Chennai since 2003 annually in Mahabalipuram, is among the most prominent of these gatherings. Kaviyarasan recalls, “Once I contacted a person in Erode randomly and we had casual chats over the radio. Later, when I went to Yercaud for an Eyeball Meet, he met me, and it felt like we had known each other for ages.”
Even though ham communication has been drastically overlooked Kannapiran concludes that when emergencies occur, and connections are severed, ham might be the hope.
To become a ham, visit: www.rircom.in, or call Ramesh on 9600297002
(*Name changed)