I start this bulletin with the sad news that Francois Botha, originally ZS6BUU and now ZS4X, has said farewell to his wife Estelle, after a long and difficult battle with cancer. HAMNET salutes you Francois, and hopes you will weather this storm, comforted by the thought that you left no stone unturned in your care for your wife.

Francois was the originator of this weekly HAMNET report, and for many years the National Director of HAMNET, before he stood down to care for his wife. Our deepest sympathies to you, Francois.

I’m also able to report this week that the Hurricanes and Typhoons are quietening down a bit. Hurricane SARA resulted in 7 deaths and countless people displaced in the Caribbean, but was destined to settle down by Wednesday past. Typhoon MANYI has crossed the Philippines and has dissipated in the sea south of Hainan island, leaving injury but luckily no deaths.

A smaller storm called BHEKI, approached Mauritius and Reunion, with wind speeds of about 75km/h, and was due to pass by the islands, dissipating on Friday the 22^nd.

Let’s hope lots of mopping up can be done before any more storms arise.

Writing in airport-technology.com, Steve Giroux, of Barrett Communications notes that Africa’s diverse environments present significant challenges for long-distance communications technologies. Spanning vast deserts, dense forests, and mountainous regions, the continent’s varied environments can present major obstacles to the deployment of traditional communications infrastructure and can result in limited connectivity, particularly in remote areas.

High-frequency (HF) radio offers a reliable solution to maintain effective communications in such conditions. HF radio systems do not require extensive infrastructure, making them ideal for emergency services, armed forces, logistics and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in potentially adverse environments with limited accessibility. Additionally, HF radios allow communications across vast distances, which is crucial in emergency scenarios where rapid coordination is necessary.

HF radio has advantages over satellite communication systems, as it does not require extensive ground infrastructure and is “free to air”. In addition, HF radio is ideal for remote environments and can be integrated into existing infrastructure to enhance communications capabilities.

Countries in Africa with high quality and reliable power infrastructure obviously are more able to guarantee quality HF communications, while it is a lot more challenging in countries with unreliable power. However, HF is still the most efficient way to carry out long distance communications in Africa.

Thanks to airport-technology.com for this summary.

Businesstech.co.za says that The National Disaster Management Centre in South Africa has declared another National Disaster.

Dr Bongani Elias Sithole, the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre, declared the national disaster due to the loss of life from poor food safety practices in the country.

Sithole received reports from several organs of state and made his decision after assessing the magnitude and severity of the foodborne illness that emanates from or may still emanate from poor food safety practices in the country.

These poor food safety practices have led to deaths and serious illnesses across the country, which resulted in the classification as a National Disaster. As per legislation, the primary responsibility to coordinate and manage this disaster lies with the National Executive.

The classification of a National Disaster follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on Friday, 15 November, where he outlined the plans to get all spaza shops in the country registered within 21 days.

Unregistered spaza shops that do not meet health standards are set to be closed.

Ramaphosa’s plan comes after 890 incidents of food-borne illnesses have been reported nationwide, with Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal (the two most populated provinces) reporting the most.

I have received a report from Brain Jacobs ZS6YZ, deputy National Director of HAMNET, telling me of the search that was conducted on Wednesday of this week for an ELT beacon that had been detected in the region of the Wonderboom Airport.

Brian ZS6YZ and Anja ZS6SJC live close to the Airport, but were unable to hear the beacon from their home, so they then drove to the airport, where the signal was audible but not very strong. It seemed to be coming from the Technical Area on the West side of the airport. Brian and Anja obtained permits of entry and started a systematic search for the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT).

Brian and his daughter followed the signal and narrowed it down to the South West corner of the Technical Area, so split up and proceeded down either side of a row of hangars, where suddenly it was clear that the signal was very strong. Both Brian on one side and Anja on the other side of the hangar confirmed a building as the source of the signal.

They found one of the hangar doors to be open, and proceeded into the building, removing the antennas from their handhelds to attenuate the signals. There they found an aircraft where the beacon was located.

Brian alerted the team from ARCC in their ATNS marked vehicle, the owner was identified, the beacon switched off, and some stern words conveyed.

The Mountain Club of SA – Search and Rescue Gauteng had also been mobilised, because they wanted to try out their new ELT detection device, but unfortunately their inexperience led to them getting bogged down by reflections amongst the metal hangars.

Brian invited the members of MCSA to the next HAMNET Gauteng ELT training session, to build their experience and capabilities with their new equipment.

Thanks to Brian for the report and to him and Anja for successfully finding the source of the noise.

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.