CDEM Comms
HFRADIO.NZ CDEM Comms enables New Zealand civil defence organisations to exchange email and short messages when all business as usual (BAU) communication systems are down or overloaded.
The service is offered to New Zealand national, regional and local civil defence organisations by the HF Radio Charitable Trust and delivered by approved New Zealand amateur radio clubs.
HF Radio Charitable Trust is currently seeking expressions of interest from New Zealand amateur radio clubs.
HFRADIO.NZ CDEM Comms is an initiative of the HF Radio Charitable Trust.
HFRADIO.NZ CDEM Comms is unrelated to any service provided by the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters Incorporated (NZART) or its sub-group Amateur Radio Emergency Communications (AREC). It is also unrelated to the NZART AREC Emergency Funds Charitable Trust or NZART Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Limited.
Service Specification v1.5 (tentative 06/09/2025)
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Service Name | HFRADIO.NZ CDEM Comms |
| Service Owner | HF Radio Charitable Trust |
| Customers | National, regional, and local civil defence organisations |
| Service Providers | Amateur radio clubs (incorporated under the Incorporated Societies Act 2022) approved by HF Radio Charitable Trust. |
| Service Objective | Messaging mode of last resort when business as usual (BAU) communications are down or overloaded. |
| Service Description | Email and chat messaging between CDEM controlled locations such as emergency operations centres (EOC) and Incident Control Points (ICP). |
| Technology | HF radios operating on amateur service frequencies connected to personal computers running Microsoft Windows version 11.0 and email / messaging application VarAC version 12.0 or later. |
| Encryption | Not available due to licence restrictions relating to the amateur radio service. Recommendation is to wait until business as usual (BAU) communications are restored before exchanging sensitive messages. |
| Operators | Certified amateur radio operators supplied by Service Providers. Customers may supply an employee or volunteer to send and receive messages using the station computer when supervised by a certified amateur radio operator. |
| Equipment | Assets are owned by either a Service Provider, a Customer, or the HF Radio Charitable Trust according to how they are funded. |
| Funding | It is preferable that funding is provided by Customers, in which case all assets are owned by the relevant Customer. In the case where a Service Provider obtains community funding for HFRADIO.NZ CDEM Comms, then it will own the assets. If the HF Radio Charitable Trust is required to obtain the funding, then it will own the assets and assign them to a Service Provider on a lease agreement. |
| Service Locations | Each Service Provider shall Ideally install and maintain permanent base stations at each Customer EOC. In addition, the Service Provider shall carry at least one field station able to be deployed to ad hoc ICP locations when requested by the Customer. |
| Manning | The Service Provider should aim to recruit and assign a minimum of two volunteer certified amateur radio operators to each Location, both of whom are required to participate in exercises, although they can alternate if required. |
| Training | Service Providers will train club members selected to participate in HFRADIO.NZ CDEM Comms. Suitable club members are recommended to the HF Radio Charitable Trust by Service Provider committees for approval by the Trustees. |
| Exercise | Service Providers and their Customers will agree on an exercise frequency, preferably monthly aligned with the Alpine Fault Network exercise conducted on the first Sunday of every month. |
| Activation | Activation procedure for a disaster event to be agreed between Customers and Service Providers. |
Amateur Radio Clubs - FAQ
VarAC has many features that make it ideal for HFRADIO.COM CDEM Comms in particular being peer to peer with ability to run unattended;
Starlink does not fit into any amateur radio service.
Starlink is a commercial satellite wifi hotspot offered by a single Internet service provider. It is prone to overloading and failure following a natural disaster similar to terrestrial Internet and telephone services.
Amateur radio based HF email and messaging is the solution for last resort communications. That is your niche. Don't be distracted by non_amateur_radio solutions.
Commercial solutions are out of scope for the amatuer radio service.
Commercial HF solutions are provided by for profit companies, including land mobile radio providers who the amateur radio clubs rely on for support, particularly in relation to high sites for VHF/UHF equipment.
Volunteers offering a commercial HF solution are eating their commercial partners' lunch.