IEARS

„IEARS“, the Intel Emergency Amateur Radio Service, is a volunteer organization of Intel employees, who have offered their radio communications and technical skills for use in time of disaster or other emergencies.

IEARS‘ primary responsibility is to provide electronic communications services in the event that „normal“ communications methods are unavailable. By utilitizing a variety of communications methods, IEARS team members can set up a communications network linking Intel campuses with each other, out-of-state Intel locations, and the local emergency services agencies.

Details of the foundation of IEARS can be found here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loma-Prieta-Erdbeben_1989

I am a founding member of the local IEARS team in Braunschweig,

IEARS activity in Germany

German IEARS teams are mainly active in Ulm and Braunschweig. While Ulm mainly focusses on portable operation using battery-powered equipment, the site in Braunschweig focusses on fixed operation using mains and battery power. Braunschweig also participates often in contests to train operators and increase team

Responsibility

The Braunschweig IEARS team’s primary responsibility is to protect the health and welfare of Intel employees and their families during emergencies. This includes supporting the general emergency preparedness and response plans which Intel has formed for the Braunschweig site.

Within IEARS activity in Germany the Braunschweig site also assures communication with individual IEARS activity, e.g. in Intel Ulm (540km from Braunschweig) or Munich (600km from Braunschweig)

Equipment

The Braunschweig IEARS team has a number of resources available to fulfill its role in the Emergency Preparedness strategy. The equipment is operational from a small operation room, near the cafeteria in 1^st floor of the building. The main transceiver is a Kenwood TS-2000-radio, which services HF/VHF and UHF amateur radio bands. Antennas are on the building and a trap-dipole and various vertical antennas are available.

 The team in Ulm runs an additional station with the following attributes:

– Full range HF portable and self-contained manpack transceiver CODAN 2110

– Solar cell powered

– Portable antennas

– PSK31, WinLink enabled

– Outdoor Toughbook Laptop for data based communication