Don't leave home without your Lifesaver Card


By Ronald W. Jensen

Special to The Baja Times



Americans living in Mexico should know about the Binational Emergency Medical Care Committee: a reputable non-profit organization that will get them out of Mexico in case of a life-threatening medical emergency. Based in Chula Vista, California, the organization cost $45 to join. Membership includes the following services and benefits:

•A Lifesaver Card you can carry in your wallet that allows you to call collect anywhere in Mexico, 24 hours a day to activate emergency assistance in case of a sudden illness or accident.

•Expert coordination of your emergency evacuation from Mexico via land or air ambulance transport.

•Bilingual support staff on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

•Bilingual legal assistance.

•10% discount on auto insurance with Instant Mexico Auto Insurance Services.

•Annual membership renewal for a discounted price of $40.

As soon as your call is received, the Binational Emergency Care Committee – known by the acronym BEMCC – will immediately assist you in obtaining proper medical care while working on your safe return to the United States. By becoming a member, BEMCC will have all the information that is needed for your safe return.

Your personal information such as your Social Security number, health insurance information, and emergency contact is kept in BEMCC's secure database and is accessible only by the bilingual BEMCC staff. This information is crucial to arrange your evacuation to the United States when you are involved in a medical emergency in Mexico. This information is kept strictly confidential and is never sold or used for marketing purposes, according to Celia Diaz, the director and founder of BEMCC.

Your medical insurance will be billed for the cost of the actual transport plus any other medical service fees. BEMCC does not pay for the transport service. BEMCC coordinates the emergency evacuation. They eliminate the uncertainty and confusion during a medical emergency, she explained.

As a retired paramedic now living in Mexico, I have personally used and benefited from these services on numerous occasions. The organization has contacts ranging from Mexico City to Washington D.C., and it works closely with the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. consulates and numerous Mexican federal, state, and regional public safety agencies to facilitate the safe and timely return of sick and injured Americans traveling or living in Mexico.

Members can call collect from anywhere in Mexico 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to activate emergency medical or legal assistance. That number is: 619-425-5080.

You may also apply online or renew your current membership and pay with a credit card. All applications processed online will be active once BEMCC obtains credit card confirmation from their credit card merchant services organization. Your BEMCC Lifesaver Card will be sent to you via the US postal service.

The online address is: bemcc@bemcc.org

Jensen is a former Mexico correspondent for United Press International and other U.S. new agencies. Email address: bajaronjens@live.com

Mexican Radio call signs


The International Telecommunication Union has assigned Mexico the following call sign blocks for all radio communication, broadcasting or transmission:

Call sign block

XAA - XIZ

4AA - 4CZ

6DA - 6JZ

While not directly related to call signs, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) further has divided all countries assigned amateur radio prefixes into three regions; Mexico is located in ITU Region 2.   Mexico is in ITU zone 10 and CQ zone 6.

Call sign assignments for amateur radio

The Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones issues call signs in the XE and XF series for amateur use, the latter mainly for offshore use.

The separating numeral is used to identify the region in which the amateur is licensed:

Call sign prefix Region

XE1: Central Mexico Colima, Distrito Federal (Federal District, most of Mexico City), Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico (the state surrounding the Distrito Federal on 3 sides, includes some parts of Mexico City), Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Puebla, Queretaro, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz

XE2: Northern Mexico Aguascalientes, Baja California (northern half of the peninsula), Baja California Sur (southern half of the peninsula), Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas

XE3: Southern Mexico Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Yucatan

XF1:  Islands around the Baja California peninsula in the Pacific Ocean or the northern part of the Gulf of California

XF2:  Close central islands off the Pacific coast of the Mexican mainland, in the Gulf of Mexico, or in the southern Gulf of California, generally west of 90°W.

XF3:  Caribbean islands Carribean islands, generally east of 90°W.

XF4, XFØ:  Revillagigedo Revillagigedo island group, in the Pacific Ocean
Call signs for foreign hams

Typically a permit to operate in Mexico will state the call sign you are to use, and can be one's home call sign with a further XE prefix. For instance if your home call sign is WA1ZZZ, you might be assigned XE1/WA1ZZZ.

Further, if you operate outside of the XE1 area, you would add a further identifying suffix - for instance XE1/WA1ZZZ/XE2 if you were operating in northern Mexico.  The call sign must be given always as enumerated on the permit, and the operator's location must also be stated in Spanish.

The permit does not automatically allow operation in XF island areas. Special permission must be sought for island operation.

Special Events

Call signs in the 6DA-6JZ block have been used for special event call sgins on a temporary basis. In 2007 6G1LM was assigned to Federacion Mexicana de Radioexperimentadoes for their 75th anniversary as was 6F75A.

6H1 also replaced the XE1 prefix, 6I2 replaced the XE2 prefix, and 6J3 replaced the XE3 prefix. 6E4 replaced XF4 for the Revillagigedo island group.

URL: http://links.assetize.com/links/c0b231 has further information.