Hamradio Emergency Communication Group Luxembourg (EmCom)

We wanted to work together within the national associations on disaster preparedness and emergency communications, both because there is strength in numbers and to broaden our respective objectives.

Presentation of our organisation

EmCom is a non-profit association founded by various Luxembourg associations active in the field of amateur radio station operation in Luxembourg, including Radioamateurs du Luxembourg, a non-profit association that was established in 1937 and represents the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg at the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), which has its headquarters at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

We wanted to work together within the national associations on disaster preparedness and emergency communications, both because there is strength in numbers and to broaden our respective objectives.
This federation of clubs brings added value to public players called upon in the event of major force events, in terms of the deployment of emergency communications via this single point of contact between amateur radio associations.
In my capacity as a member of working groups dedicated to emergency communication within the IARU, our association intends to support national public bodies with their know-how and expertise in this area. This support will be both technical (eg.EmCom's role will not only be to support the development of self-sufficient communications equipment suitable for use in disaster situations, but also to provide human resources (e.g. participation in national exercises, training, presentations and the development of teaching materials and procedures in accordance with IARU-ITU guidelines). On the other hand, EmCom will incorporate lessons learned from national exercises to meet the needs of public authorities.
Our association also has an educational vocation, enabling all interested amateur radio operators to combine radio with emergency communication (EmComm) and disaster preparedness (EmPrep), and to educate the general public about the basics of radio communication in emergency situations (e.g. also with non-technical means and the recycling of available materials). By creating these capacities in civil society, a significant additional contingent of resources will be created to re-establish a functional community in a post-disaster situation.