
PUNE: Around 10 ham radio operators in Pune will be gathering at Vetal Hill, which is the highest point in the city area, for hilltopping, a technical event on Saturday.
Hilltopping refers to the exercise that the ham radio operators carry out regularly on top of hills in their area, in order to finetune their preparedness for continuing long-distance VHF radio communication.
“It’s an exercise where we check our radio propagation conditions. Often, in times of disasters, communication systems fail and it becomes impossible to establish contact with affected people,” said senior city-based ham operator Vilas Rabde.
He added, “For instance, last year, when the incessant rainfall caused flooding of Ambil Odha in Sahakarnagar area, the electricity was cut off, and it was impossible to reach the people as communication systems collapsed. Ham radios can help in such situations as contact can be established through battery-operated transceivers for a considerable amount of time, even in absence of electricity supply.”
The exercise at the end of this month will identify and establish contact with the areas in the city which could be reached through ham radio.
“Vetal Hill is the city’s highest point. We have set up a UHF repeater (which acts like a cell phone /cell tower) at Vetal Hill. From this point, every nook and corner in Pune can be covered in cases of emergency,” Rabde added. Pune has around 70-80 certified ham operators, however, only around 10-20 of them own the transceiver.