May 1 2008, NorthJohor MARTS organised an (RACES) Emergency
Communication Drill attended by hams from Segamat, Muar, Melaka,
representatives from NESRAC and JASRA.
Teams of hams were then sent to various parts of Bukit Kepong and
from their locations, they sent messages back to base and to each
other. By the end of the day, some teams were asking for more. So more
will come in future.
18 days later... May 19, 2008..12 noon...our RACES practise
were put to use.... NorthJohor MARTS received a call from Moi Adventure
(Moi Adventure is a Gunung Ledang mountain guide/trekker group). Moi
Adventure and NorthJohor have been planning an SAR Emergency
Communication Exercise on the montains for hams. 40 trekkers have shown
interests to be hams. This call told us that 6 climbers were lost since
May 18.
Within 2 hours, we were at Sagil police station which was made the
operation office. As we arrived... the police offficer in-charge
requested our help to provide communication for the rescuers.
Immediately we set up a communication centre at the Sagil police
station with 9M2DA acting as Emergency Coordinator (EC) and activated
our RACES protocol with fellow hams from Segamat, Muar and Melaka
rushing in with their equipments and 4-wheel jalopies. Rescuers
involved in the SAR were Bomba, JPA3 and Moi Adventure trekkers.
By 1600hrs rescue teams accompanied by hams moved up to scan the mountains.
We set up 3 more portable stations forming a parameter to monitor
the rescuers. Hams stayed up as long as there were still rescuers in
the mountains and the rescuers were up in the mountains until dawn!
At 4am, May 20, a ham with one of the rescue team manage to spot a
fire on one of the peaks. They contacted the climbers and confirmed it
was their signal. Finally, the climbers were found at 9.20am.
Many were impressed with our communication methods. Climbers'
parents who monitored the rescue at our station were thankful so were
the rescuers.
Moi Adventure and NorthJohor MARTS will still continue with our
plans to hold an SAR Emergency Communication Exercise. It would
probably take 2 days but it will is nothing compared to real live
situations.
Sorry, we were too busy with the communications.... we forgot to bring our cameras...
--
CK Choy
9W2PCK
District Manager,
NorthJohor MARTS
Gunung Ledang Rescue MARTS RACES
