Radio as lifeline

About a month ago, Bharati Prasad and her team of six young ham radio operators landed in Port Blair with a hobbyist8217;s dream: Set up a ...

About a month ago, Bharati Prasad and her team of six young ham radio operators landed in Port Blair with a hobbyist8217;s dream: Set up a station and establish a new world record for global ham radio contacts. In the world of ham slang, it was called a 8216;8216;Dxpedition.8217;8217;

8216;8216;It is a big honour to come to the Andaman 038; Nicobar and operate. There is no ham activity here because it is considered a very sensitive area by the government,8217;8217; said Bharati, 46-year-old mother of two from Delhi. In fact, the last ham activity here occurred in 1987, when Bharati set up a station in Port Blair and made 15,500 calls. 8216;8216;I had always wanted to come back and break that record,8217;8217; she said.

This time, Bharati set up an antenna in her hotel and turned room 501 into a radio station. She made more than 1,000 contacts every day 8216;8216;with just three hours of sleep.8217;8217;

On December 26, while the other hotel guests were fast asleep, Bharati8217;s room was crackling with the usual squawks and beeps. At 6:29 am, she felt the first tremors. The tables started shaking violently. She jumped up and shouted, 8216;8216;Tremors!8217;8217; into her microphone. Then the radio went dead. She ran out and alerted the staff and guests. But with that one word, she had alerted the world too.

Within a few hours, the extent of the damage was clear to everyone in Port Blair. The tsunami had knocked out the power supply and telephone service, leaving the capital virtually cut off. Bharati set up a temporary station on the hotel lawn with the help of a generator 8212; and put the city back on the ham radio map. 8216;8216;I contacted hams in other states and told them about what had happened. The world of radio hams had not heard from us after the tremors,8217;8217; she said.

On Monday morning, she marched into the District Commissioner8217;s office and offered her services. 8216;8216;What is a ham?8217;8217; he asked. After she explained, he let her set up a radio station in his office, and a second one on Car Nicobar. For the next two days, Bharati8217;s ham call sign, VU2RBI, was the only link for thousands who were worried about their friends and families in the islands. She also became the hub for relief communications among officials. 8216;8216;Survivors in Car Nicobar were communicating with their relatives in Port Blair through us,8217;8217; she said.

When the phone lines were restored on Tuesday, Bharati8217;s team in Car Nicobar radioed information about survivors to her team in Port Blair. Bharati also helped 15 foreigners send news to their families. Offers of relief poured in from around the world through her radio, and she directed them to officials.

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When the earthquake occurred, Bharati8217;s worried husband called her from Delhi and asked her to return home. 8216;8216;He reminded me that I have two children to look after,8217;8217; she said, laughing. 8216;8216;I told him as a ham radio operator, I have a duty in times of disaster.8217;8217;

The country8217;s communications law does not allow a ham to leave home with his or her radio without government permission. Bharati said after her first expedition to Port Blair, she spent 17 years begging officials before she was allowed to return. Now she hopes her work will ease the path for other hams. 8216;8216;She looked like a simple housewife when she checked in,8217;8217; recalled Ravi Singh, the hotel manager in Port Blair. 8216;8216;But now I marvel at the courage she has shown.8217;8217;

8212;LAT-WP