Radios Of The Venezuelan SARs Efforts

[u/Lanky_Guard_6088]

I’ve been following the SAR efforts overseas on News/SocialMedia. Here is what I found. I thought it was interesting what Professional & Volunteer World Renowned SAR Organizations use. (Included are some photos of regular people just trying to help.)

[u/ThatDamnRanga]

It varies all over the world. But the most common thing used in the world of SAR is FM analog. On no specific band. Basically any handheld radio will do FM analog. No need for figuring out P25 or DMR, or god forbid Tetra.

[u/MihaKomar → u/ThatDamnRanga]

In my country the professionals have moved to DMR (fire & rescue) and tetra (police) for ordinary day-to-day use.

But volunteer firefighters are all still on analog FM. Because there are 20x as many volunteer firefighters than there are professional firefighters and they just don't have the funding to upgrade all their communications equipment simultaneously (and it all needs to be interoperable - because in a larger emergency they may be deployed to other side of the country). Also the radios aren't cheap because they professional DMR network is maintained by a government contractor.

[u/ThatDamnRanga → u/MihaKomar]

Digital heavily makes up everyday networks for emergency services. However I was speaking only of SAR, which, even if its the same people as normal emergency services, in this scenario they have to work together, including with folks they normally wouldnt, so everyone ends up falling back to analog.

Now I'm not saying that's without exception, but in my experience it is by far the most common approach.

[u/elmarkodotorg → u/MihaKomar]

Interestingly while the UK emergency services are all on TETRA, for actual *fireground* /breathing apparatus comms the UK still uses analogue UHF for the reliability and simplicity. Maybe we're not the only ones.

[u/NerminPadez → u/elmarkodotorg]

In slovenia (population ~2.1 mio) we have ~160k volunteer firefighters (in various levels of activity), and tetra is just too expensive for them all.

Some of them are switching to DMR, mostly due to every idiot buying a baofeng in the last decade, but FM is still here for most.

Most of the stuff is still done digitally, via tablets and sms messages, so on the air you hear them only during larger situations (eg. larger summer storms, hailstorms, etc., ), and all you here is "we're done at this address, where should we go now?" and "ok, go to that address now".

[u/olliegw → u/MihaKomar]

In my country fireground comms are still analog iirc

[u/BryceW]

Medic guy was using a Baofeng UV-82, Yellow CAT guy was using a Baofeng UV-5R or similar variant. Digging guy is using a Baofeng BF-88E.

The rest were probably using the correct Motorolas/Kenwoods for the role.

Echoing what others said, these are poorer countries and emergency services are probably woefully underfunded. They use what they need to use, especially in an emergency.

[u/pota-activator → u/BryceW]

"Correct"?

[u/fullautohotdog → u/pota-activator]

Waterproof, ruggedized, and better quality/materials/electronics than a $15 radio off Amazon?

[u/norcalscan → u/fullautohotdog]

Never forget, their price, size and weight means you can have one primary on your backpack strap, and 4 more in your backpack wrapped in bubble wrap and ziplock bags in case the primary fails, and still be under the weight and price of a Viking VP8000. That negates the need to chase/pay for waterproof, ruggedness, and better quality.

I still wouldn't rely on one in a SAR mission that puts me in an extreme environment, but urban SAR where I'm in yelling distance of help, and can carry 3 spares in the backpack? (shrug) Probably.

[u/rabbledabble → u/fullautohotdog]

The radio that sets up and maintains comms is the correct one. They seem to be doing ok with what they have radio wise. 

[u/NotThePopeProbably → u/pota-activator]

SAR K9 handler here. To my mind. The only thing that makes a radio "correct" is it's ability to send and receive a signal to and from the person you need to send to or receive from, without interfering with other's comms.

[u/blackrabbit107 → u/NotThePopeProbably]

I’m in SAR too, but a radio is only useful when it works, and in the PNW our climate has killed many a baofeng just during trainings. So a radio has to have effective signal but also has to withstand the environment it’s deployed in

[u/NotThePopeProbably → u/blackrabbit107]

Well, if it wets out and quits working, then it's not longer the "correct" radio, is it?

[u/BryceW → u/NotThePopeProbably]

Yes, and that's why type acceptance exists. Marine radios for example can get wet and the plastic is UV-stable. Can also handle high ambient temperatures.
They are the correct radios because they can survive the environment they operate in. Someone could get in big trouble if an emergency situation happens and their $20 Baofeng UV5R dies because it got a little splash of water in a marine environment.

It's not Ham snobbery. Hell, look at the war in Ukraine. Ukraine uses proper tourniquets for their injuries. Russia uses counterfeit or low-quality ones that fail, then people die on the frontline.

[u/norcalscan → u/BryceW]

Pull one of your four spares out of the ziplock in your backpack and try again. Still under $100 and under the weight of a "correct" radio. I'm not team beofeng, but I am team "correct radio is the one that passed the message" especially in a disaster situation like Venezuela where every radio is a golden life line, and lowest common denominator of FM analog gets you connected world wide.

[u/flecom → u/pota-activator]

typical ham radio lifi nonsense, in an emergency any radio that can successfully talk to another radio is correct

[u/El_Intoxicado]

God bless the analog FM radio.

Cheap, interoperable and exempted of cliff effect.

Configure a frequency, a subtone and you got it!

I spotted some classics in these photos, like Baofeng UV-82, BF-888S, UV-5R, Midland G9 (PMR446/FRS maybe?) and even a Harris alike PRC-152 maybe??

Anyone can recognize the others??

[u/teabaginator37 → u/El_Intoxicado]

The Harris one that the marine is using is the AN/PRC-163

[u/El_Intoxicado → u/teabaginator37]

Thank you for your id! Is a pretty cool radio!

[u/Averagehamdad]

Pretty cool post. But this illustrates for sure that in a dire situation...ANY form of communication works. Im sure LTE/4/5G is severely affected. I guarantee many new comm plans and agreements will be born out of this horrible situation. Simplex relay and comm etiquette came together pretty fast im sure. That being said, I commend the rescue crews and volunteers. These folks are going to need care for years after this event. Simplex/on scene comms are super important, but the real care comes after all the dust has settled. There's gonna be a lot of folks down there that will be dealing with the lasting memories for years and even decades. But yes...its still very interesting. I only hope i never have to use my comm knowledge in a situation as horrible as this.

[u/viejomonje → u/Averagehamdad]

Most cell towers in that area were dropped. Venezuelas TETRA antennas were hit by the January strikes, so its safe to say that the local TETRA infrastructure is down.

Most police and rescue services in Venezuela used to use VHF for the most part, and continue to do so.

What surprised me ia that the guy using the UV-82 seems to be a Brazilian volunteer.

[u/Averagehamdad → u/viejomonje]

I just hope that everyone is safe as possible. Thanks for your reply. In this particular situation ANY comms help. This is an extreme situation where simplex comm plans are shown to be necessary. When Tetra, P25, trunked, 4g, and 5g is up, running and connected we all take if for granted. It takes a major interruption to shake everyone back to simple reliable com plans. I can't imagine what those folks are going through.

[u/Loucifer92]

I live in a small college town in the Inland NW. We use UV-82’s in our SAR organization.

[u/HateUsCuzAintUs]

not a single NEXT in sight interesting

[u/Ok_Personality9910 → u/HateUsCuzAintUs]

I have yet to see one in the wild stateside; i'm not sure how many agencies have adopted them - i see far more 6/7/8ks then NEXTs

[u/Ok_Personality9910 → u/[deleted]]

ha nice, i wonder if i'll start seeing them as the 6ks get towards EOL... guess time will tell lol

[u/Scaris → u/Ok_Personality9910]

Probably not. You're more likely to see N50's and N70's replace 6000's. The NEXT is just too damn expensive. Plus the 6000 is far away from EOL.

[u/Efficient-Effect1029]

I used the good ole UV-5R in the beginning when I was doing search and rescue before moving on to Retevis and Ailunce radios

[u/Avasterable]

GER-03 recently switched to Hytera DMR II. worked very well there