The EDMRC Kangra Amateur Radio Club operates under the call sign VU2EDM, registered with the Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC) Wing of the Ministry of Communications. The club provides standing emergency communications capability for situations where mobile and broadband networks are degraded or unavailable — a recurring reality in post-event Himalayan conditions.
Licensed operators
The club's founding operators are licensed under WPC and serve specific institutional roles:
- Nitika · VU22NS · President / Custodian
- Abhishek Verma · VU3JIE · Secretary
- Harjeet B.S. Bhullar · VU2EDU · Patron / Advisor
- Jishnu V. · VU22VU · Joint Secretary / Deputy Custodian
- Anita Kumari · VU3JIG · Treasurer
- Kumari Seema · VU3JIH
Equipment
Operational equipment includes Yaesu FT-65 and FT-4X dual-band (VHF/UHF) handheld transceivers, base-station antennas, and a dedicated HAM radio lab co-located with the GIS laboratory at the EDMRC Kangra campus. Equipment is progressively expanded each year through institutional procurement and licensed-operator training cycles.
Integration with EDMRC operations
VU2EDM functions as the emergency communications backbone for EDMRC's AapdaPAR community-resilience programme and the hazard-specific AapdALERT response teams (RainSAFE Land, FireWATCH, TrekPASS, WinterSAFE). Future district-wide coordination — under the working name AapdaSETU — Kangra Amateur Radio Network — is planned as a voluntary inter-club MoU mechanism, not a WPC-licensed entity.