The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Emergency Telecommunications Guide is now available for download from the IARU website. The guide was developed to provide the IARU member-societies with materials suitable for training radio amateurs to participate in emergencies. It also was designed to provide guidance to individual Amateur Radio operators with little or no experience in handling emergency communications but desire to enhance their ability to participate in such events or to simply have a better understanding of the process. The IARU Administrative Council meeting approved the Guide at its 2014 meeting.

“IARU member-societies are encouraged to distribute this guide among its membership and, if necessary, to provide a translation into a language used within their own country,” an IARU media release said. “This guide can also be used in conjunction with other training materials by leaders within the emergency communication community to train radio operators in the basic theory and practice of handling emergency communications traffic.”

The IARU International Secretariat has invited feedback, comments, or suggestions regarding the Guide.