Thiruvananthapuram: In a bid to establish a unified live communication channel that can relay information between the theatres screening the movies and the main venue of the festival Tagore Theatre complex during the International Film Festival of Kerala ( IFFK ), Kerala State Chalachitra Academy has associated with Activehams Amateur Radio Society, Kollam (AARS-KL).Around 20 volunteers including nine operators are on active duty across all nine theatre complexes screening the movies this year. The services offered by AARS-KL are entirely free of charges. This is also the first time that ham radio volunteers are being part of IFFK.“For some movies, there are lots of delegates in the queue and often they outnumber the total number of available seats. At the same time, other theatres may have plenty of empty seats. We offer a platform that updates the people in long queues about such an option of available seats they can use instead of waiting and missing a show,” said Rajagopalan R, retired KSEB officer who has been a ham operator since 1991 and is currently volunteering at IFFK as a ham operator at Kalabhavan Theatre.Rajagopalan said that while mobile phones might not connect calls in high network traffic zones like film festivals, ham radios will work.According to Nishant A K, secretary of AARS-KL, who is the chief operator at control room set up at Tagore Theatre, the ham radio services ensure quick responses in communication between various theatres and Chalachitra Academy at the push of a button.“For most of us, ham radio operation was simply a hobby. You need to undergo training and get a license to operate ham radios. We started operating around five months ago and our first assignment itself was during the floods. We worked alongside Kerala and Odisha fire force and NDRF by providing communication backup at Chengannur and Pandalam. We are also the first team in the state who got training in the newly implemented community rescue volunteer (CRV) team,” he said.AARS-KL has members from various walks of life with no age restrictions. The Kollam wing on duty at Kanakakkunnu is led by Rajasekharan Nair, retired deputy director of survey department.

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