During the night of May 31 to June 1, Walloon Brabant was hit by severe flooding.
B-EARS was activated as soon as the provincial crisis phase was declared.
In the photo, you can see the ASTRID terminal and the IC-705 tuned to the output frequency of the ON0BTS repeater. Manoel (ON6RF) and Marc (ON3IBZ) handled communications from the Crisis Center, in coordination with Fabrice (ON5CRB) at the Nivelles Emergency Station, which had been converted for the occasion into a multidisciplinary command post.
ASTRID terminal and IC-705 on the ON0BTS UHF repeater
Manoel served as both a B-EARS operator and an ASTRID operator. Marc was also on two fronts: D5 and B-EARS operator.
This is the second time in less than a year that B-EARS has been activated under real-world conditions in Walloon Brabant. Our volunteers are trained and qualified radio operators, fully integrated into provincial crisis management.
This type of activation benefits the entire team, and we share this feedback internally with future volunteer candidates.
ON3IBZ (Marc) and ON6RF (Manoel) at the Walloon Brabant Crisis Center