The New Digital Amateur Radio for Communication During Rescue Operations

A week after the misfortune that I encountered (accidentally cutting my legs), I was able to walk again.  I went back to my usual routine in the office and worked double time to catch up with the lost time.  I happen to talk again with my mentor regarding the new technology that they are utilizing in the office especially the communication system that they use during disasters.  He showed me the two way amateur radio that they are using and allowed me to use it.  I tried using the radio using standard communication scheme that I learned years ago while I was still using amateur two-way radios (no mobile phone back then, we use radios to chat with friends).  Mr. Espinola (my mentor) told me that that device nothing different compared to the analog radio that I used before in terms of usage.  The difference is that the radio that they got is a digital radio that could reach places far better than the usual analog radios.  He said that the said communication device could actually reach 50 kilometer radius.  And the signal is still clear.  What more this device could offer is its capability to send text messages completely independent to the towers of the telecommunication companies.  Even if the telcos are down, or electricity is out, still the radio could communicate with each other and could send text messages.  This feature does not require load balance on the gadgets.  At the course of the discussion, my mentor made mention of the project that the head of the SPDRRMO (Engr. Raden Dimaano) dreamed of having. He said that they would like to have a device that could streamline video though the digital two-way radio.  So that at times of calamities, they are completely independent from the telecommunication companies.  No load is required, and the system does not require the towers of telcos to establish communication.

 The idea seemed very significant to the operation of the SPDRRMO that is why I open my browser and start reading information about the digital radios.  I considered creating a design of the project that the administration of SPDRRMO dreamed of having.  Unfortunately, upon getting the information, I learned that the method that the digital radios are using are similar to the way computers communicate with each other.  They are sending packets of data in order to exchange information.  The article I read explained that the packet technology utilized by the digital radio is not fast enough to cater video streaming.  I asked a friend of mine who is an electronics engineer and asked his opinion regarding the matter.  He confirmed the veracity of the information in the article I read from the net.  He said that it would not possible to send video streams through digital radios because of the sluggish packet transfer and unavailability of the features that computers have.  Memory (RAM), speedy processor, and applications should work in the middle in order for the idea to work. I had to explain the information again to Engr. Dimaano (head, SPDRRMO).  We need to go back to the original plan of creating the video technology using microcontrollers and utilize the telcos for exchange of information..

The rest of the week was utilized in doing the requirement of the Immersion course which are due to be submitted on May 27.  The research required by the course was also polished prior to printing.  Previous researches must be gathered and collected for bookbinding.