HAMNET, in the Western Cape was kept very busy all morning yesterday (8th Feb), assisting and shepherding cyclists around 4 different cycle races out of Durbanville, on the occasion of this year’s 99er Cycle Tour.
Some 4300 participants took part, riding either a 95Km race to Malmesbury and back, this being a seeding race for the Cape Town Cycle Tour later in the year, or a 76km shorter race in the direction of Wellington and back, or a 45km short race round the outskirts of Durbanville, or finally an 80km off-road race, called the Trilogy, because most of it was on farm cycle tracks, some was on gravel road, and bit of it on tar.
The weather started off cool and cloudy, but rapidly cleared up, developing into a beautiful mild warm day with a bit of a cool breeze.
Thirteen separate stations were activated, 9 of them being mobile roving operators, all equipped with APRS tracking, and 2 pairs of stationary mobiles supervising bikes going through narrow bridge constructions, and stopping oncoming traffic from the far side, while groups were crossing the bridges.
A good deal of experimentation with smart beaconing by the trackers to get an adequate number of position reports through to the JOC, was undertaken, as well as the successful addition of a second temporary digipeater beyond Malmesbury, where the Cape Town digipeaters do not receive tracking reports well, and the tracking went superlatively. We usually install a primary temporary digipeater on top of the Meerendal koppie which we hiked up on Friday afternoon to install, and had line-of-sight comms with the second digipeater outside Malmesbury. It is to be fetched again today, during a second hike up 440 metres of altitude.
The JOC was manned by our two directors, Michael ZS1MJT, and his deputy Sybrand ZS1L, with help from Sharon who very kindly kept the written log of all the comms on a spreadsheet. We now have this very swanky horse-box type HAMNET Comms Trailer with a side that can be lifted up to create an awning, and equipped with everything that opens and shuts, and batteries and solar power to run the whole event without being connected to anything.
Our JOC was positioned next to the METRO Disaster Bus, which is always used as a medical JOC, where a doctor fields calls, and dispatches medics or ambulances, an ambulance dispatch officer, a road traffic official, as well as the dispatch manager for the sweep vehicles with trailers to pick up drop out cyclists.
There was one pile up, of a large group on the medium race to the R44 to Wellington, where a lot of bicycles went down, and there were quite a lot of minor injuries, and then one other unfortunate cyclist who hit a cat’s eye in the road and overturned, breaking his collarbone and wrist of the same arm, as well as sustaining a huge gash on the forearm, that required hospitalization to be cleaned up and stitched closed. Otherwise, no serious trauma was reported, and most riders made it home by the cut-off time of 12h30 CAT.
Our thanks go to ZR1JL, and ZS1’s MJT, L, ATX, LED, JFK, YT, JM, TAF, REY, CO, S, OSK, NOS, EZ, UP, OSS, BR, and DFR, the latter supervising the additional digipeater just off the N7 beyond Malmesbury.
I think we all slept very well last night after an early start to the day!
Countryandpolitics.in reports from India that The Bharat Scouts and Guides (BSG) Diamond Jubilee Jamboree, held in Manapparai, Tamilnadu, from January 28th to February 3rd, 2025, witnessed a surge of interest in amateur radio.
The event, which brought together approximately 20,000 Scouts and Guides from across India and beyond, featured a Ham Radio Pavilion that proved a major attraction, particularly among students. The Rajapalayam International Radio Communicators Club (RIRCOM), VU2IRD, was invited by the BSG National Headquarters to set up and operate the Ham Radio stations.
RIRCOM provided HF, VHF, and even LEO Satellite Communication demonstrations, showcasing the diverse capabilities of this fascinating hobby and service. A special call sign, “AU75BSG,” was issued by the Ministry of Telecommunications, WPC Wing, New Delhi, to Mr. Ramesh Kumar, VU2JFF, Trustee of RIRCOM, for the event.
The Ham Radio Pavilion became a hub of activity as Scouts and Guides engaged with the demonstrations. Many students were captivated by the operations, learning about radio technology, communication protocols, and the potential of ham radio for both recreation and emergency communication.
Participating in the ham radio activities allowed Scouts to earn an intellectual-based activity award, further incentivizing their involvement.
The scout movement in India recognizes the value of ham radio and encourages scouts to explore it. Ham radio offers scouts opportunities to:
Develop communication skills;
Learn about radio technology, protocols, and morse code;
Enhance problem-solving abilities: set up and operate a station requiring technical skills and troubleshooting;
Serve the community, as ham radio skills can be invaluable during emergencies and community projects; and
Promote global citizenship, connecting with scouts and hams worldwide, which in turn fosters understanding.
Bharat Scouts and Guides organize training courses and events, including basic courses, practical training, jamboree on the air (jota), and disaster preparedness training.
These activities offer scouts numerous benefits, including skills development, personal growth, community engagement, and global awareness.
RIRCOM has been providing voluntary service activities since 1993, including disaster communication, crowd management, ham radio training and awareness, and technical workshops in schools and colleges.
Their presence at the BSG diamond jubilee jamboree highlighted the importance of amateur radio within the scout movement and its potential to inspire the next generation of communicators and community leaders.
Finally spaceweather.com notes that what goes up, must come down – which could be a problem when you’re launching thousands of satellites. Since 2018, SpaceX has placed more than 7,000 Starlink satellites into Earth orbit, and now they are starting to come down. In January alone, more than 120 Starlinks deorbited, creating a shower of fireballs.
“The sustained rate of daily reentries is unprecedented,” says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics who tracks satellites. “They are retiring and incinerating about 4 or 5 Starlinks every day.”
Planners have long known this would happen. First generation (gen1) Starlink satellites are being retired to make way for newer models. “More than 500 of the 4700 gen1 Starlinks have now reentered,” says McDowell.
When Starlinks reenter, they disintegrate before hitting the ground, adding metallic vapours to the atmosphere. A study published in 2023 found evidence of the lingering debris. In February 2023, NASA flew a wb-57 aircraft 60,000 feet over Alaska to collect aerosols. 10% of the particles contained aluminum and other metals from the “burn-up” of satellites.
This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, probably more concerned about the pollution of our atmosphere than are the satellite builders, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.