The blue skies over Qianshuiwan beach in Laoting, Hebei were permeated by a spectrum of invisible radio waves on July 30 last weekend, when the Toread Cup 2005 National Amateur Radio Emergency Service Drill Competition was held there.

A total of 15 teams from the northern part of the country took part in the competition, along with almost 1,000 other radio hams who were present in person or involved by long distance via the radio waves.

In fact, for some keen radio hams from Beijing, the competition started early in the morning. More than 80 amateur radio enthusiasts got together at the west gate of the National Olympic Centre in nearly 40 cars equipped with conspicuous radio antennae attached to their cars. With the event's symbol posters pasted to the body of their cars, this made for a special motorcade quite different from other traffic on the streets.

"We will drive in convoy to Tangshan, Hebei first and then head to Laoting," announced Zhai Ke, one of the radio hams who volunteered to be the judge and event coordinator.

After nearly three hours driving on the expressway, the participants arrived in Tangshan and flocked to Tangshan Earthquake Monument, where an opening ceremony was also held as a commemoration to mark the 29th anniversary of the catastrophy that befell the city. After the short ceremony, the motorcade set off again for the destination of Laoting, about one and half hour's drive away.

Organized by Chinese Radio Sports Association (CRSA), the event was held in a location close to Tangshan city, which imbued people with the aim of the event - to boost the practical role that amateur radio can play to provide emergency services for natural disaster prevention and reduction. With its growing popularity as a personal hobby, amateur ham radio has indispensable advantages in reporting disaster outbreaks and offering telecommunications when the normal communication may be disrupted by the forces of nature.

"Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is one of the important contributions that radio hams can make to the country and society," said Wang Lijun with CRSA.

"To make Chinese ham radio practice become more focused on the reality in China, CRSA has made a thorough analysis of the character of our country's natural disaster relief practice, as well as the contributions that ARES has made in major natural catastrophes around the world."

Considering the practical ability for radio hams to maintain ordered communication in the worst situations even without a relay station, the CRSA hopes to refine the tacit cooperation that exists among amateur hams from different places through a high-efficient high-frequency (HF) network when disaster strikes.

The two-day event consisted of three competitions, which pitted the massed radio hams' abilities to erect an emergency short-wave broadcasting transmitter and signal receiver, offshore GPS positioning and search and precise location via radio. The rain that fell on the next day did not quench the participants' enthusiasm to catch the invisible waves in the sky, some even floating in rafts off the sea shore. Beijing 73Club's third team finally finished top on the score board, followed by Shijiazhuang Jititai's second team and the first team of Tangshan Earthquake-fight. According the CRSA's schedule, another drill competition of this kind will be held in the southern part of the country later this year.

(China Daily 08/04/2005 page9)