For several years, WICEN (Vic) and the EMCOM group have cooperated to provide a robust, highly reliable digital messaging system over HF radio.
EMCOM grew out of the former RECOM, the communications arm of the Red Cross. RECOM was established in 1997 with a small group of engineers, scientists, and technicians, all of whom were radio amateurs, to develop a highly reliable, secure HF digital radio system – something almost unknown in amateur circles at the time and still rare today. The group developed radio systems and software to achieve this goal. Over the next 15 or so years, RECOM were activated over 140 times to provide communications at emergencies all over Australia.
With change of legislation and shifting Red Cross priorities, RECOM services were no longer required by Red Cross, so EMCOM was formed to deploy the people, technology and equipment used so successfully in the service of Red Cross.
Subsequently EMCOM and WICEN have cooperated to offer a similar service within Victoria and beyond, through the WICEN Special Communications Unit (SCU), a small group of specialist operators who can respond quickly when needed.
More recently EMCOM have expanded into the Pacific, equipping and training operators – Antoine 3D2AG in Fiji, and Tili T2AT in Tuvalu.
An important part of the EMCOM system is the automatic Network Stations which operate 24/7. Network stations are a form of gateway, between the long-range high frequency (HF) digital radio system and the Internet. All information passed over this radio system is highly encrypted. Network stations scan a range of frequencies from 160m to 15m. Network station facilities include outgoing email, message posting to a secure web site using GPS location pins, and other services.
The 3D2AG/P DxPedition to Rotuma Island
Antoine de Ramon N’Yeurt, 3D2AG, is a well-known amateur Dx station operator operating from his home in Suva, Fiji, as well as various Dxpeditions to various Pacific islands.
Antoine travelled to Rotuma Island during December 2019. The Rotuma group is the northernmost section of Fiji, and has a total population of about 1600 with very little external communications.
Antoine is also an EMCOM operator and, fortunately, took his EMCOM equipment with him. While on Rotuma he had no access to email and extremely limited phone communications.
Call for AssistanceOn 26 December 2019, Antoine issued a call for assistance over the EMCOM system, via a post (with GPS location) to the EMCOM secure website.
The request related to a developing tropical storm NW of Rotuma, which was causing some concern. Antoine requested EMCOM forward up-to-date weather information for use by himself and the other people on Rotuma, as this information was not readily available.
Antoine was also able to pass information about what was happening to the outside world, by email through the EMCOM system: https://dxnews.com/3d2ag-p_rotuma-island/
The Response
In response to the request, EMCOM supplied Antoine and the people of Rotuma with weather forecast information updated several times daily, enabling them to track the development and movement of the tropical storm.
This tropical storm soon evolved into Tropical Cyclone Sarai, a Category 2 cyclone which then tracked in a southerly to SE direction past Rotuma. This activity continued as TC Sarai tracked towards Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji where Suva is located, and until Sarai had passed to the south of Suva.
To facilitate this activity, EMCOM activated an additional radio Network station near Melbourne to support Rotuma, in addition to the permanent automatic Network stations which operate 24/7/365 and which also serviced the activation.
Weather information for marine areas, Rotuma and Suva was downloaded from the Fiji Meteorological Service web site several times daily and loaded onto the Network Station, for later download by Antoine when convenient. This information was updated about 30 times over the course of the next few days.
During this time Antoine had only limited access to power; his DxPedition was mostly solar powered with a small diesel generator (with limited fuel supply) as backup. Of course during much of this period, there was minimal solar power available due to cloud cover.
Email service
As well as providing the Wx information, EMCOM also provided an email service to and from Rotuma over this period and up until 14 January 2020.
This proved especially useful during the early days of the DxPedition, when Antoine suffered some problems with some equipment. He was able to obtain assistance and advice from the USA via the email service.
Tragedy
Tragically, Antoine’s son drowned on 9 January while the family was on Rotuma Island, not long after the cyclone had passed. Antoine used the EMCOM system to pass the sad news on to the outside world and announce he was ceasing Dx activity, with a notice to a prominent Dx site here: https://www.dx-world.net/3d2ag-p-rotuma/
We extend our condolences to Antoine and all of his family.
73 de John VK3ATQ, John VK3ZRX and the combined EMCOM / WICEN SCU team
