KALPETTA: Ham radio system to expedite the collection of information from Chooralmala and Mundakkai areas where communication is difficult following the natural calamity. The base station is at the Collectorate in Kalpetta. Ham radio operators along with rescue workers transmit information.

The cell towers in Mundakkai and Chooralmala areas were completely washed away in the landslides. The service of cell phones is presently very limited. It is in this situation that the district administration has taken steps to provide the services of ham radio operators. The base station is set up on the ground floor of the Collectorate. Operators feed information through ground and ham radio transmitters to the station, which is equipped with receivers, amplifiers, and computers for logging and digital modulation.

Ham radio communication is facilitated by the Phantom Rock repeater installed at Ponmudikotta in Ambalavayal. The repeater was installed by the Sultan Bathery DX Association, an organization of ham operators. Association chairman Sabu Mathew, senior ham operator and Pulmonologist of Sultan Bathery Govt. Hospital Dr Abraham Jacob oversees the ham radio service. The ham radio operators had reached the spot on the first day of the tragedy following the request of district collector D R Meghashri. It was the Ham radio message that helped to bring the locals there as requested by the first army team that arrived in Mundakkai.

Presently the information available from the region is being forwarded to the Collectorate by ensuring the services of ham radio operators with each team of the Chooralmala-Mundakkai rescue teams. M Nidhish, Ashwin Dev, Dr Rohit K Raj, Anoop Mathew, K N Sunil, M V Shyam Kumar, Martin K Dominic, T V Santhosh and Sunil George are transmitting the rescue information in Chooralmala to the Collectorate through the broadcasting center.