Myall Way Emergency Planning Group begins building local UHF network Myall Coast Myall Coast - popup ad Myall Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - November 30, 2023 UHF radios the size of a household cordless phone can operate when everything else doesn’t. RADIO solutions to emergency situations were discussed in-depth at the Myall Way Emergency Planning Group’s (MWEPG) new Radio Team meeting on Friday, 24 November. Held at official blackspot Bundabah, a burgeoning pilot area for such projects, the Radio Team explored the concept of a ‘local UHF network’ to confront the disturbing reality that power and internet will be first to disappear in a disaster. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au The average citizen, however, rarely considers how, without wi-fi or a mobile, they would contact anyone beyond shouting distance. “For $125, a household can have a battery-operated, handheld UHF radio, with range already proven to cover Bundabah, and soon to be tested all the way to the Pindimar Totem Pole,” Greg Mutton, local author and Radio Team member, told NOTA. “Ideally, every household in Bundabah/Pindimar would be equipped with a UHF unit, tuned to a ‘local emergency’ channel, able to receive instructions from emergency services, and allow a connection to the community if you are safe or in need of help, while access and communications in the area are re-established,” Joanne Pearce, head of the MWEPG, told NOTA. “The ‘local net’ could span Bundabah and rural properties to the Totem Pole radio, whence radio calls could relay over the ridgeline to Pindimar and Tea Gardens, with a volunteer overseeing the connection in emergency times.” “We agreed that the Totem Pole, or the highest elevation nearby, would be an ideal location for a fixed community UHF radio – just across from the turnoff everyone uses for mobile reception.” “’CREST’, the Citizen Radio Emergency Service Team, offers training for community situations, and the MWEPG will seek grants assisting a local system set up, like the recent Lions Taree offer to help fund community repeaters in the MidCoast region.” The EPG Radio Team believes that generators and solar panels could easily power a standalone community emergency repeater, and the UHF solution is, so far, the only practical one while Pindimar/Bundabah remains a blackspot. By Thomas O’KEEFE The Myall Way Emergency Planning Group’s Radio Team (L-R): Shane, Steve, Lisa, Greg, Debbie and Joanne.
