AREN

The following update was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.

From 1800UTC 22 January the HF frequencies used to respond to the
immediate needs of the Haiti Earthquake, 14.300MHz, 14.265MHz ,
7.045MHz, 7.065MHz, 7.265MHz, 3.720MHz,  3.977MHz will return to normal
use. The groups who have been passing messages on those frequencies will
revert to monitoring mode or their normal operations.

There are still a number of radio amateurs in the country attached to
various relief groups who may still be heard on the amateur bands on a
number of frequencies according to their particular needs to maintain
contact with their home countries.

Please maintain the normal procedures of;

* Listen before transmitting
* If you hear any station passing emergency traffic then leave the
frequency clear and avoid causing QRM.

Thanks to everyone for their assistance during this emergency.

The following update was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.

Dear friends,

I just finish a telephone conversation with Rafael HI8ROX who provide
the following information:

1) Repeaters

Port au Prince (Haiti) repeater:
146.880 -600 tone 100

Jimaní (Dominican Republic) repeater
147.970 tone 100 simplex
They will work Thursday morning on this repeater including changing the
antenna to improve coverage.

Both repeaters are working well and usable even with handheld.

Rafael ask the amateur radio operators going to Haiti to take note of
the frequencies.

2) Radio Club Dominicano amateurs are still in Jumaní, when many wounded
are arriving.  They are helping Haitians to contact their relatives and
friends outside of Haiti but they can´t help the world to find specific
individuals in Haiti.  They are receiving many emails with such request
but security and road conditions make impossible to look for specific
individuals in Haiti at the present.

3) Radio Club Dominicano is updating their Facebook account (in Spanish)
regularly.

We are updating news on Haiti received from our Member Societies on our
Twitter account www.twitter.com/iaru_r2 and on our Webpage
www.iaru-r2.org that now has section for Emergency Communications.

73

Ramon Santoyo V., XE1KK
Secretary IARU Region2
xe1kk@iaru.org
www.iaru-r2.org

The following update was received from Greg Mossop, IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.

The eight amateurs from Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) who were operating under the callsign HI8RCD/HH have had to abort their operations after the convoy they were travelling in was fired on.

EB9GF, who is integrated in the Spanish Red Cross contingent, was able to contact the colleagues from the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD). The RCD has currently two VHF repeaters in use for operations:

- 146.970 (-600), CTCSS 100 Hz. Placed in the Dominican Republic. Please
note that the old frequency 147.970 seems to be wrong.
- 145.350 (-600), CTCSS 100 Hz. New repeater active near the border with
Haiti.

RCD initially reported that their team crossed the Haitian border at 10:50 hours haitian time arriving at the Dominican Embassy in Haiti at 14:29 hours when they started installing and testing their equipment.

Within a few hours though, reports via the RCD Facebook page confirmed by a long telephone conversation between Hugo Ramón HI8VRS and Ramon Sanyoyo V, XE1KK reported that the HI8RCD team of eight amateurs, were back in the border town of Jimani (Dominican Republic). Their convoy, which included other non related Dominicans, was assaulted and one person reported dead.

The Radio Amateurs were uninjured but decided to leave the capital for safety and return to the border unescorted. They report the situation as extremely unsafe and scary.

The repeaters they have installed remain in service linking the Haitian and Dominican capitals,  and are being used by the Red Cross and Civil Defense since there is no other way to communicate. The station at the Embassy in Haiti could not be activated though.

To confirm, all members of the HCD team are safe and have returned to Jimanji in the Dominican Republic.

In other reports, John Henault HH6JH who is engaged in Missionary work with homeless children in Port au Prince continues to make contacts on 20m using power from a neighbour’s generator and very pleased that amateur radio enabled him to let his friends in the USA know he was alive.

Another radio amateur in the country, Pierre Petry HH2/HB9AMO who works for the UN food program is also safe. However nothing is known at this stage of about another ten hams in Haiti.

Thanks to Ismael EA4FSI, Cesar HR2P and Jim VK3PC for their reports.

Frequencies in use from Haiti are now believed to be: 14.300MHz, 14.265MHz, 7.045MHz , 7.065MHz, 7.265MHz, 3.720MHz,  3.977MHz and a 2m repeated on 147.970MHz. The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on EchoLink node 278173 Please keep clear of these frequencies even if you cannot hear any emergency traffic – stations in the area are low powered and may suffer interference. Some interesting news from the Radio Club Dominicano (RCD) group in Facebook ( Translation by Ismael EA4FSI ):

During the night of the tragedy, amateur radio operators received a message from the Dominican Red Cross, requesting the use of an amateur radio repeater in order to establish communications between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This repeater started to operate immediately, with the assistance of Mr Joal Cleto HI8RYF and Mr Angel Carpio HI8ABC. Mr Joal Cleto is now leading another group installing additional repeaters in order to improve the communications.

The Radio Club Dominicano has sent communication teams to the neighbour country, in the hope of transmitting from the Dominican Embassy Pétionville, in the following frequencies:  7.045, 7.065, 7.265 and 3.720 (recommended for disasters by IARU) and the 2m repeater in 147.970.

The hams which will operate the Radio Club Dominicano station with callsign HI8RCD/HH are:

Teddy Jimenez HI3TEJ
Candido Guzmán HI8CJG
Fausto Alvarado HI8FLB

We would like to thank Mr. Goyco, who offered the transport logistics to the neighbour country, and INDOTEL for granting the frequencies.