TONI MCDONALD -Southland Express

A NEW and improved mobile communications vehicle has stepped crisis communications channels into a new era.

This week, the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters Southland branch and Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (AREC) launched their new Ford Transit van which was more capable than its outdated predecessor — offering 12v and 240v power, solar, diesel and mains power solutions, Starlink satellite communications and optional HF radio.

Project manager Glyn Saunders said the upgrade provided the Southland region with a modern emergency communications vehicle that would support the community for years to come.

The van supported search and rescue calls-outs, coastguard, civil defence emergency management and community events.

It linked field communications into the incident management team via high frequency systems that were capable of linking into worldwide satellite or to shorter range frequencies.

‘‘We’re sort of like the command control link for the community.’’

‘‘It improves response time . . . the sooner that information comes in, the incident command team can then assess that and change their operations and relayed out to the teams.’’

Some equipment was also transportable to allow it to be quickly deployed via helicopter to establish a forward communications hub.

Source : Southland Express