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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Message from Malaysia to Amateur Radio Operators

          The Malaysian Amateur Radio Emergency Service Society (MARES/9M4CME) is calling all ham radios particularly in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Seychelles, Thailand to participate in the search and rescue of the missing aircraft, Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER bearing registration 9M-MRO flight MH370.
          The flight has gone missing from ATC radar at 1.21 am local time 8 March 2014.  Search & Rescue SAR was initially done within the vicinity of the South China Sea.  However, new confirmed evidence recently revealed has shifted the SAR activities to the vicinity of Malacca Strait, Andaman Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. This is a huge area to cover roughly 21,000 sq km.  To date, SAR efforts have the combined assets from at least 14 countries involving more than 50 aircraft and 30 vessels making it the single largest SAR mission ever.
          In light of the multinational effort that is undertaken, and also in view of the many rumours of the plane crashing or landing in islands within the SAR area, MARES is calling all ham stations, especially those from the countries within the search area, to participate in a daily reporting session.  The objective is for ham operators to provide any sightings, information or evidence that might help the authorities to find the missing MH370.  Details are as follows:
          Daily Check-in and reporting session will be done at UTC 1300 hrs - 1500 hrs on 14.250 MHz and 21.250 MHz (+- QRM)
          Any urgent message beyond the specified DX session time shall be communicated via email to emergency@mares.org.my
          All information and evidence obtained will be forwarded to the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation and Malaysian National Security Council by MARES.
          On behalf of Malaysia, MARES would like to thank in advance all participating stations for their time and effort in helping us find the missing 9M-MRO / MH370.  Let us all do our part in this moment of crisis.
          Please do spread this effort to stations and clubs you think might be helpful in our effort.
Thank you, and 73s,
9W2FG on behalf of MARES.
Yours sincerely,
Jose Jacob, VU2JOS
National Institute of Amateur Radio 

Hyderabad, India
(AWR?Wavescan 265)