Getting Ready for Bushfire Season: How Remote Aussie Amateurs Can Build a Rock-Solid Comms Plan

If you're living or operating out in rural or remote Australia, you already know the drill. Come October, the grass starts to brown off, the northerlies pick up, and the ABC Rural updates become essential listening. But if you hold an amateur licence and you haven't thought seriously about your emergency communications setup, now is the time to sort it out — not when you're watching a fire front light up the ridge.

The 2019–20 Black Summer fires were a brutal reminder of just how quickly communications infrastructure can collapse. Mobile towers went dark, landlines failed, and whole communities were left scrambling for information. Amateur radio operators who were prepared stepped up in a big way. This guide is about making sure you're one of them.

Know Your Local Repeater Network — and Its Limits

VHF and UHF repeaters are the backbone of local amateur emergency comms in most parts of Australia. Most state WIA divisions and affiliated clubs maintain linked repeater networks that can carry traffic across surprisingly large areas. In New South Wales, the WICEN (Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network) infrastructure is well established. Similar setups exist in Victoria, Queensland, and WA.

However — and this is the critical bit — repeaters depend on mains power and often sit on hilltops that are directly in the path of bushfires. Many are battery-backed, but that backup might only last 24 to 48 hours. Some have solar, some don't. Before fire season, it's worth contacting your local club or checking the relevant repeater coordination body to understand which repeaters in your area have genuine off-grid capability and which are essentially mains-dependent.

Make sure you have a programmed list of local repeaters and their input frequencies saved in your radio. If a repeater drops out, simplex operation on the standard calling frequencies (146.500 MHz for 2m, 439.000 MHz for 70cm) becomes your fallback. Practice using simplex now — not during an emergency.

HF Is Your Long-Haul Insurance Policy

For anyone more than 50 km from a population centre, HF is not optional — it's essential. A modest HF setup can maintain contact with emergency coordination centres, other operators, and even international amateur networks when everything else has gone down.

You don't need a shack full of gear to make this work. A portable HF transceiver like the Icom IC-7300 or the more compact Yaesu FT-891 paired with a simple end-fed half-wave antenna can be deployed quickly and works well from a vehicle or temporary shelter. If you're already licensed for HF, get familiar with the HFLINK ALE (Automatic Link Establishment) system, which is used extensively by emergency communicators across Australia and can automatically find a working frequency.

The 40-metre band (7 MHz) is typically your best bet for regional communications within Australia — distances of 300 to 1,500 km are very manageable during daylight hours. For closer-in contacts under 200 km, 80 metres (3.5 MHz) at night is hard to beat. Keep a simple laminated band plan and propagation reference card with your portable kit.

Power When the Grid Fails

This is where a lot of otherwise well-prepared operators fall down. Running your radio off a car battery is fine for a few hours, but if you're sheltering in place for multiple days, you need a proper power strategy.

A 100Ah AGM or lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery paired with a 100–200W solar panel gives you a genuinely sustainable off-grid station. LiFePO4 batteries have become much more affordable in Australia over the past few years — brands like Enerdrive and BattleBorn are popular in the caravan and 4WD community, and they're just as useful in an emergency shack. Pair your battery with a quality MPPT solar charge controller and a DC–DC charger if you want to top up from your vehicle.

Make sure all your power connections are properly fused and use Anderson Powerpole connectors for standardisation — this is the amateur radio standard for a reason. Label everything. Under stress, you don't want to be guessing which lead goes where.

Keep your current draw realistic. A typical HF transceiver running at 100W output draws around 20–22 amps. If you're listening more than transmitting (which you should be in an emergency), average consumption drops dramatically. A 100Ah battery can realistically sustain a well-managed station for 24 hours or more.

Register With Your Local Emergency Management Agency

Having a great setup in your shed doesn't help anyone if no one knows you exist. In Australia, the key bodies to connect with are:

• WICEN Australia — the primary volunteer amateur radio emergency organisation. Check your state's WICEN group and get involved in their training activities before fire season.
• State Emergency Service (SES) — many SES units actively work with amateur operators and can use your skills during large-scale events.
• NSW RFS, CFA, DFES — the state rural fire services often coordinate with amateur operators during major incidents. Contact your local brigade or district office to introduce yourself and understand how they might call on you.
• Local Council Emergency Management Officers — particularly in regional areas, these officers often have more flexibility and are very receptive to working with community volunteers who have genuine communications capability.

Registering isn't just about ticking a box. It means you'll be called when you're needed, you'll understand the incident management structure you're operating within, and you'll be covered by the relevant volunteer liability frameworks.

Build and Test Your Go-Kit Now

A go-kit is a pre-packed, ready-to-deploy amateur radio station in a portable container — typically a Pelican case or a sturdy backpack. Your go-kit should include your HF or dual-band VHF/UHF radio, power cables, antenna, a small battery, a notebook and pencil (yes, analogue backup), and a laminated quick-reference card with key frequencies, phonetic alphabet, and basic message format templates.

The most important thing about a go-kit? Test it. Set it up in the backyard on a hot afternoon and actually make contacts. Find out what you forgot to pack. Discover that your antenna connector is corroded. Work out how long your battery actually lasts under real operating conditions. Do this in October, not February.

Bushfire season in Australia is not a hypothetical risk for remote operators — it's an annual reality. The amateur radio community has a proud history of stepping up when it matters most, and with a bit of preparation, you can be part of that tradition rather than being caught flat-footed when the call comes.