Ahmad Husaini (seated left) sharing his knowledge with a group of pupils who were visiting the planetarium.
MEMBERS of a local amateur ham radio society took part in a mass disaster communication simulation exercise to transmit messages across 30 hills and mountain peaks nationwide.
The event was organised by the Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitters Society (Marts) that was set up in 1952.
Its president Mohd Aris Bernawi, 71, said the exercise was to establish the locations where two-way radio communication can be carried in the event landlines, Internet and mobile phone communication had to be shut down due to large-scale disasters.
“The floods in Pahang and Selangor in 2014 and 2021, respectively, rendered landlines and other digital networks unusable due to the need to shut off electricity.
“Radio communication can also be useful when there are large-scale forest fires where electricity and communication cable lines are located,” said Aris.
Among peaks chosen for the exercise was the National Planetarium in Kuala Lumpur, using the call sign 9M2RPN.
Marts member Hamdan Abu, who coordinated the locations, chose the planetarium because it was located more than 150m above sea level.
“Height is not the only criteria. No buildings should interfere with transmissions,” he said.
Hamdan, who took three months to look at locations, said members had also spent another three weeks training for the final day of the simulation exercise.
Six Marts members set up a tent beside the planetarium entrance during the day-long exercise, using different bands of frequencies to simulate road closures, weather conditions and rescue efforts, which their counterparts stationed on other peaks would then transmit and relay.
Marts member Ramlah Mamat holding an aerial for better reception during the exercise.
The members’ task was to relay between two to three messages each across the peaks.
Another Marts member Siti Nusilah Hasan, 48, said they were delighted to discover that from Kuala Lumpur, their message was able to reach as far as Bukit Selang in Kuching, Sarawak, albeit not directly but through relay.
Siti Nusilah added that the act of relaying a message during the simulation drill required a certain level of precision to preserve clarity.
“We will state the number of words, and during transmission, either by voice or Morse code, we will read out even the punctuation marks.”
To ensure accuracy, the receiver of the message must confirm receiving the same number of words as stated, she added.
Siti Nusilah, a sales and marketing executive with a textile company, said she became a ham radio enthusiast in 2017 after reading a news article on how knowledge in two-way radio communication could become an asset during emergencies.
She was joined by army sergeant Taufiq Sanapi, 40, safety executive Ahmad Husaini Marzuki, 48, school lab assistant Ramlah Mamat, 52, and Mohd Albar Mohd Noor, 40, an executive director of an event management company.
The ham enthusiasts also found themselves becoming the centre of attention when groups of schoolchildren began venturing over to the tent to look at the equipment that the members had set up for the exercise.
Mohd Albar and Taufiq satisfied their curiosity by introducing them to a two-way radio operation.
Marts member Mohd Albar Mohd Noor (right) giving school pupils a brief introduction on how two-waycommunication and the Morse code alphabet works during the disaster communication simulation exercise at the National Planetarium.
Taufiq also introduced the students to the Morse code alphabet.
National Planetarium senior deputy director Mohd Zamri Shah Mastor, 55, also attended the event and noted the widespread use of two-way radio communication in the field of astronomy.
“When the International Space Station (ISS) was passing over the Malaysian orbit in October 2023, we were able to arrange for students to communicate live with Danish astronaut Andreas Enevold Mogensen,” he said.
Mogensen, he said, spoke about eating, living and sleeping in space during the 10-minute window when the ISS passed Malaysia’s orbit.
The Mars mission also relied on radio frequency to communicate, he said.
“We hope to increase public awareness about the significance of radio frequency as a viable alternative to digital technology in communication.
“The recent outage that left dozens stranded at the airport should serve as an example of this,” said Zamri.
Marts vice-president Zanirul Akhmal Zanirun, 46, said over the years, ham enthusiasts had volunteered time and experience to the National Disaster Management Agency, and the departments of forestry, civil defence, fire and rescue, and drainage and irrigation.
