INFORMATION FOR POTENTIAL USERS OF RAYNET SERVICES
This information is intended to explain who, and how, RAYNET may assist and the process for requesting the assistance of RAYNET generally, and the South East Hampshire Group in particular.
WHAT IS RAYNET?
RAYNET is a national voluntary organisation of Radio Amateurs whose purpose is to assist with communications in times of major civil emergencies, disasters and emergency exercises, and the provision of communications at local marathons, fun runs, carnivals and similar events when message passing and engineering skills can be tried and tested.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
We are able to provide a wide range of communications systems such as point to point links, base stations talking to mobile and/or portable units, radio coverage of a wide area, or a particular course or route. We can also provide mobile asset tracking and have a Direction Finding capability .
As well as voice communications we are also able provide data links.
See the Group Resources Page for more details of our Equipment and Capability.
All RAYNET radio operators hold one of the three classes of Amateur Radio Licence issued by Ofcom, upon successful completion of the required course and examination. These classes are Foundation, Intermediate or Full, and Ofcom lays down the operating conditions in the licence issued to each operator.
The Ofcom Licence dictates who may call on Radio Amateurs’ services. However, this does not mean that we cannot help other organisations as long as one of the defined User Services approve the event.
These User Services are:
Any Government Department
Any ‘Category 1’ or ‘Category 2’ responder, as defined in the Civil Contingencies Act (2004)
British Red Cross Society
St John Ambulance
St Andrew’s Ambulance Association
The Women’s Royal Voluntary Service
The Salvation Army
If you would like Southeast Hampshire Group to assist at your event, all that is required as a first step is a phone call or email to us. We can then discuss the requirement and if we are able to assist we will send you, or the appropriate service, a small form to complete and return prior to the event
Now for the best bit. South East Hampshire RAYNET does not make a charge for its services. We depend on members’ subscriptions and donations to provide the funds needed for the provision of new, and the maintenance of existing, equipment.
If you feel able to make a donation to the Southeast Hampshire Group then that would be most welcome of course, and would keep our Treasurer very happy!
We can provide radio equipment and operators (Note that the radios must be used by a RAYNET operator because of the licensing conditions) to allow communication between any number of points on an event. These could be in RAYNET vehicles (or in other vehicles with a RAYNET operator) or handheld radios that allow operators to be on foot, either on or off road.
We can also provide facilities such as vehicle tracking, wide area radio coverage, or technical help in radio matters.
RAYNET can supplement, or if none exists, take the place of, mobile phone coverage, or existing inadequate radio provisions on an event. Additional operators may be located with a medical service provider so that any requests for medical assistance can be passed direct to them.
Contact details
Please use The Contact Raynet Page, or contact our Group Controller
If you are a member of a RAYNET group and would like to offer help on one of our events which we are asking for help, please Email Paul using the form on the Contact Raynet Page or phone using the number provided.