Terry Stader, KA8SCP writes on PART-L:
A heads-up to all our D-Star and Echolink users….
As everyone knows, Japan has been under the influence of a horrific situation as a result of a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. There are rolling blackouts and complete loss of power as well as major breaks to communications infrastructure throughout the country.
Many of the “ancillary” communications portions of Amateur Radio in Japan are also suffering from power and internet connectivity loss as you can probably understand. Only vital communications support is being provided in and out of the country.
Please do not initiate any Echolink or D-Star connections to JA stations. Because of the way D-Star and Echolink function in Japan, it is possible that you could interrupt an important communications link in progress by blindly calling in to a link.
If a Japan station is functional and they wish to initiate connections, that is of course their prerogative, but we do ask that you do NOT initiate those connections inbound at this time.
Thanks for your understanding.
Terry