The 2015 Global Simulated Emergency Test (GlobalSET) this month, organized by IARU Region 1, will gauge the ability of radio amateurs to respond quickly to an emergency. IARU Region 1 Emergency Coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB, said GlobalSET 2015 will focus on organization, rather than on how easily groups can set up field stations.

“Following the Nepal Earthquake earlier this year, a new test is required to demonstrate that Amateur Radio is able to respond quickly to an emergency,” Mossop said.

Introduced in 2006, the GlobalSET in the past has concentrated primarily on testing the use of the emergency “center of activity frequencies” defined in the band plans. No one is expected to get on air for this month’s GlobalSET, so the exercise is independent of any HF propagation issues.

The aims of the exercise are:

• To show that radio amateurs can respond quickly and in a coordinated manner.

• To get groups and societies involved in an event without language, time, or propagation barriers.

• To update our information about how many radio amateurs around the world are available for emergency communications.

GlobalSET has not been announced in advance; it will take place sometime between December 12 and December 22, with regional emergency communications coordinators sounding the alert. Mossop said all IARU member societies and emergency communication groups have been asked to contact their members to determine how quickly they could get on air, if required.

A time limit of 24-48 hours has been set to complete the local callout exercise and submit results via a web form, which should make the results far easier to produce than in the past. Mossop said he hopes that the web form also will help to overcome any language barriers, since it’s possible to use online translation tools to convert the form into another languages to ease completion.

Along with the actual date and time of GlobalSET 2015, the web form address will be made public when the exercise starts, and each region will gather information separately. — Thanks to IARU Region 3 Chairman, Disaster Communications Committee Chair Jim Linton, VK3PC