By Pranav Sahi
Gaya: Bihar’s Society of Radio Amateurs (SORA) is establishing contacts with HAM operators all over the world on various allotted Ham frequencies to test preparedness for emergency communication at any place and time. The utility of HAM radio is well established during emergency situations and natural disasters.
“We are contacting other HAM operators across the globe. The Ham operators will work day and night for 30 hours at a stretch and try to contact various other operators,” said Sumita Sahi who is President of SORA.
Bihar has over 100 licensed HAM operators. On December 24 and 25, 2020 the Society of Radio Amateurs (SORA) supported by ‘Indian Wave of Amateur Radio’ organised a Field Day program in Gaya. A special Call Sign AT8GFD had been allotted by Ministry of Communications GOI for the event which was attended by 25 operators from Bihar and Bengal.
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The Society of Radio Amateurs promotes Ham Radio in Bihar and has been organising such events regularly in the past 5 years said Rajiv Ranjan who is the Secretary of SORA.
While radio amateurs are limited to the use of small frequency bands, the amateur radio bands, allocated throughout the radio spectrum, but within these bands are allowed to transmit on any frequency using a variety of voice, text, image, and data communications modes.
Amateur operators must hold an amateur radio license which is obtained by passing a government test demonstrating adequate technical radio knowledge and legal knowledge of the host government’s radio regulations.
It may be mentioned that Amateur radio, which is officially represented and coordinated by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) in three regions, exists in most of the countries. Figures suggest that over two million people across the globe are regularly involved with amateur radio. While around 8.5 lakh amateur radio stations are located in the Americas, about 75,000 such stations are located in South and East Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Incidentally, a significantly smaller number, about 400,000, are located in Europe, Middle East, CIS, and Africa.
