IARP: another way for Radio Amateurs to help in emergencies

Amateur Radio has a long history of emergency communication service. This is particularly true during natural disasters that cripple commercial telephone and radio. Amateur Radio operators have the skill, equipment and experience to provide immediate support when other communication methods are unavailable.

During hurricane season, for example, amateurs are often called upon to provide communications assistance. The United States National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, has its own Amateur Radio station (call sign WX4NHC). Since 1980, the station has been activated whenever a hurricane is within 300 miles of landfall in the areas of the western Atlantic, the Caribbean or the eastern Pacific.

The Hurricane Center station has a pool of more than 30 specially trained operators that can man the station in 3-hour shifts for as long as is needed. These operators collect real time hurricane reports for the Center's Hurricane Forecasters from amateurs scattered throughout the affected areas. These "Surface Reports" are real-time eyewitness reports provide the forecasters with supplemental information that may not be available through other means.

Individual radio amateurs have also provided critical communications to islands that have been totally cut off from the outside world because of hurricane damage. This was the case in Bermuda in 2003 when hurricane Fabian swept across the island. For a time, Amateur Radio was the only means of communication.

Amateurs not only provide voice communications in emergencies, they have the capability to relay data as well. An Amateur Radio network known as Winlink2000 is capable of sending information such as e-mail to and from the Internet. Using the Winlink2000 system, any amateur with a radio is able to quickly establish a data pathway to the Internet without having to rely on satellites or other commercial services.

After a disaster strikes, Administrations attempting to quickly alleviate victims’ suffering and rebuild vital infrastructure can now employ a tool that enables more effective use of telecommunications systems and services by humanitarian organizations. Until now, the trans-border use of telecommunication equipment by humanitarian organizations and amateur radio operators was often slowed or prevented by regulatory barriers that make it extremely difficult to import and rapidly deploy telecommunications equipment for emergencies. These barriers include:

 Licensing requirements to use allocated frequencies;

 Restrictions on the importation of telecommunication equipment;

 Limitations on the movement of humanitarian teams.

The Tampere Convention provides an immediate solution. Delegates to the Intergovernmental Conference on Emergency Telecommunications (ICET-98) adopted the 17-article treaty in June of 1998 in Tampere, Finland. The international treaty came into force 8 January 2005 following ratification by 30 countries and, once invoked by a National Administration, enables a waiver of regulatory barriers that impede the use of telecommunication resources to mitigate the impact of disasters. The first treaty of its kind, the Tampere Convention calls on signatory countries to facilitate prompt telecommunication aid to mitigate a disaster's impact. It covers both installation and operation of telecommunication services and waives regulatory barriers such as licensing requirements and import restrictions as well as limitations on the movement of humanitarian teams. The pact also grants immunity from arrest and detention to those providing disaster assistance, and exempts them from taxes and duties.

"In emergency situations, telecommunication saves lives," said Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications, which, along with the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has been a driving force in drafting and promoting the Convention. "With this Convention, relief workers can make full use of today’s telecommunication tools which are essential for the coordination of rescue operations."

The Tampere Convention is an important building block in the efforts of the International Amateur Radio Union to improve recognition of the Amateur Service in providing emergency communications for disaster relief Amateur Radio's role in emergency communication received high praise in an opinion adopted by the Second Tampere Conference on Disaster Communication in May 2001, where several speakers lauded the work of amateurs in the wake of disasters.

ITU Radiocommunication Sector Recommendation M.1042, "Disaster Communications in the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Services" is another vehicle to formalize Amateur Radio's role in international emergency and disaster mitigation. It encourages the development of "robust, flexible and independent" Amateur Radio networks that can operate from emergency power and provide communication in natural disasters. The recommendation also urges amateur organizations to "encourage and promote the design of robust systems capable of providing communication during disasters and relief operations," and advocates allowing such organizations to test these networks periodically during non-emergency periods.

Additionally, the IARU played a leading role in developing the ITU-D Emergency Telecommunications Handbook.

The IARU led the way for a revision of Article 25 of the international Radio Regulations at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) to include an item enabling radio amateurs to handle third-party communications during emergency and disaster relief situations. A government may determine the applicability of this provision to amateur stations under its jurisdiction.

The International Amateur Radio Permit, or IARP, is designed to allow radio amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela), without seeking a special license or permit to enter and operate from that country other than the IARP. According to the CITEL agreement, the IARP may be issued by a member-society of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). The permit describes its authority in four different languages. The ARRL offers this service to US citizens for their use when they travel to CITEL countries.

There are two classes of IARPs. Class 1 requires knowledge of the international Morse code and carries all operating privileges. Class 2 does not require knowledge of telegraphy and carries all operating privileges above 30 MHz.

A list of the countries which accept an IARP may be found at http://www.citel.oas.org/iarp.asp. They are: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, El Salvador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The combination of all of the tools described above, the Tampere Convention, the Handbook, Article 25, Recommendation M.1042 and the IARP represent an improved environment in which Amateur Radio operators can conduct international emergency communications.

Jonathan Siverling
ARRL Technical Relations Office