Emergency HF frequencies for disasters?

[VK4IY]

We had no phones in Mount Isa for 24 hours. Satphones were not working either most of the time.

[VK4TI]

From the WIA:

Recommended IARU Region III centre frequencies for emergency operation

At its 2009 meeting, IARU Region III adopted the following frequencies as recommended emergency centre of activity frequencies: 3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz. As an IARU member society, the WIA has adopted these recommended frequencies.

"Centre of Activity" frequencies are not spot frequencies. They are recommended as starting points for emergency traffic which may extend 5 kHz above or below the designated centre frequency.

http://www.wia.org.au/members/bandplans/data/

I don't know if this helps but FWIW.

Colin

http://vk4radio.info/wicen-freq.html
7075 being very useful

[VK4DU]

We lost Telstra Internet and mobiles for about 18hrs in FNQ.

This was due to a damaged cable in Brisbane, apparently.....

Internet, maybe...but mobile phones?

I wonder who the genius was who designed a mobile network with such a lovely single point of failure?

Clearly the switching is done in Brisbane.

Not a good advert for "Australia's biggest mobile network".....!

[VK4DU]

Good "old" HF will still work when all this fandangled IP stuff falls over.

Of course, as others have pointed out, amateurs are not organised enough to take advantage of it....

Perhaps the WIA could come up with a standard config for a emergency amateur station - i.e. reliable backup power for x hrs, spare emergency antenna ready to be rigged, standard operational procedures, etc.

The WIA could "accredit" these stations, and forward the list to emergency services.

Not going to happen, of course......

[VK4TI]

We lost Telstra Internet and mobiles for about 18hrs in FNQ.

This was due to a damaged cable in Brisbane, apparently.....

Internet, maybe...but mobile phones?

I wonder who the genius was who designed a mobile network with such a lovely single point of failure?

Clearly the switching is done in Brisbane.

Not a good advert for "Australia's biggest mobile network".....!

According to a Telstra rep this morning on tv , two points of break including a washed out bridge and water gouging many kilometers apart , now a 3rd line to Townsville , still slow and making the idea of dumping the nbn on their backbone look a very stupid decision
and of course the fibre back-haul off mobile distribution makes a mockery of mobile use in an emergency

[VK4DU]

and of course the fibre back-haul off mobile distribution makes a mockery of mobile use in an emergency

Yep - this is the kind of stuff the WIA should be doing a press release on....

[VK4TI]

and of course the fibre back-haul off mobile distribution makes a mockery of mobile use in an emergency

Yep - this is the kind of stuff the WIA should be doing a press release on....

20 Years back I used to handle a lot of messages , quite a few people would find the antennas and simply ask , now that knowledge seems absent and the belief is the phones will work irregardless ( now shattered and soon forgotten)

[VK1VMA]

I can't speak for Queensland, but in NSW the state government hasn't made much of an effort to retain any sort of effective HF capability for at least 20 years.

It's not that the emergency services can't do this themselves (NSW SES still has its HF frequency allocations for example), it's just that for whatever reason, they won't deploy the appropriate equipment and training necessary to have an effective and resilient strategic HF network.

The powers that be prefer to put their eggs in the landline, 3G mobile and trunked radio baskets, with obvious results.

[VK4BLP]

One of the failures was a cable that was washed away somewhere near Kingaroy, and was a cable on the coast somewhere.