Kolkata: The Aliah University will set up a state-of-the-art ham radio club station adjacent to its rich laboratory in its New Town campus with assistance from West Bengal Radio Club (WBRC), an organisation of ham radio operators in the state. This will be the first-of-its-kind in any educational institute in the state.
The Electronics and Communication Engineering department of the university on Monday hosted a one day seminar-cum-workshop on ‘Amateur Radio’ which was attended by 250 odd faculty members, students as well as other university stakeholders.
WBRC collaborated with the Indian Academy of Communication and Disaster Management for discussions on the subject.
“In case of natural disasters like cyclones, the communication system often goes haywire posing a challenge to the state administration to establish contact with the affected area so that relief materials, food, water, medicines etc can be supplied. In this backdrop, it is the ham radio that helps in connectivity and acts as an alternative communication. Realising the importance of this, the Aliah University hosted a one-day seminar cum workshop where lessons on setting up such ham radio stations were demonstrated before them,” said Ambarish Nag Biswas, custodian and secretary of WBRC.
Some colleges in Kolkata and the suburbs have hosted training programmes on ham radio but the workshop on Monday was the first in a
university in the state. “We feel that our efforts have been successful as the stakeholders attending the workshop have evinced interest in extending support to disaster affected areas in the coastal belt of South 24-Parganas in case of any natural disasters through the proposed club radio station which they plan to set up,” Nag Biswas added.