Emergency communications
Construction project "Emergency radio cases"
For my personal "re-entry" into amateur radio (after some years running around for the german red cross society) I made a virtue out of necessity:
I didn't know before I started cleaning out my basement how much equipment and antennas, etc.
I actually still own from my "amateur radio past". In short, there were a few. Shortly before
I read the book BLACKOUT - Tomorrow will be too late (Marc Elsberg (english version / ISBN: 978-1784161880)).
After that, I personally realized that it would be a pity to own such a lot of devices when you can't use them from scratch.
Preparation for the "emergency"
My personal preparations for a "blackout" - i.e. a total failure of the power and data networks - consisted in installing
all my equipment in cases - ready for immediate use and operation. This applied
of course also for antennas and accessories. Everything is now stored in my cellar (nicely tidied up, of course) and has to be
taken out in case of need only and be built up.
Project and documentation
To document my activities I have built a
seperate website-block (apologize, curently only in german language). There you can see the project status
and get an overview of what I have implemented and realized until now.In the meantime I am much further along, than originally thought, and have converted the many provisional cases into professional and stable units, for which the effort to make them ready for operation is relatively low.
Currently I am mainly occupied with organisational stuff: An inititive to bring emergency communication near to th ecommon citizen without any wireless experience.
Emergency radio station DN1NF
In order to be able to use emergency communications also without a crisis-event as means of communication and above all to be able to train non-amateur-radio operators i received the additional training call sign DN1NF. I had one before (DN1GL), but it was only valid for a limited time. The new one does not have a limitation anymore.A training call sign entitles me to perform training radio operations - i.e.: Under my supervision and guidance "non-amateur radio operators" are allowed to use amateur radio equipment on the frequency ranges released for this purpose. Thus I can now also practice and ensure emergency radio operation outside of a disaster on amateur radio frequencies.