Writing in downtoearth.org.in, Kiran Pandey says that, while internal displacement in Africa has tripled in 15 years amid a spate of conflict and violence, there’s a six-fold increase in the number of internally displaced people whose lives have been disrupted by disasters, according to a new report.

The report, released by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) noted that the number of people living in internal displacement as a result of conflict and violence in Africa has increased from 10.2 million in 2009 to 32.5 million in 2023. 

However, in comparison, the displacements caused by disasters have risen more sharply, increasing nearly six-fold between 2009 and 2023. The number of times people were forced to flee disasters each year increased from 1.1 million displacements in 2009 to 6.3 million in 2023. 

This surge in 15 years is largely driven by climate-related events such as floods and droughts, highlighting the growing impact of environmental disasters on displacement patterns across the continent.

Flooding, which impacts every region of the continent, is responsible for over 75 per cent of these displacements, while droughts contribute to an additional 11 per cent. 

For example, 69 per cent of the disaster-displacements in eastern Africa were due to floods. 

Most of those have taken place during the Gu season between March and May, and the Deyr season between October and December.

In western Africa, floods accounted for 99 per cent of disaster-displacements. Most of such displacements occurred between June and September. Such trends revealed in the report call for an effective preparedness plan to deal with such events, during the rainy season. These include early warning, land use planning and water management. 

Climate change is making weather-related hazards more frequent and more intense, acknowledged the IDMC. 

This has also been evident from the climate attribution studies published by the World Weather Attribution in recent years. It is also amplifying other factors that make communities more vulnerable to disaster displacement, increasing the risk of future movements. 

Nigeria reported the highest number of displaced people, totalling 8.7 million, with nearly three-quarters affected by two significant floods in 2012 and 2022. These events accounted for over 70 per cent of all flood-related displacements in the country.

According to the report, two cyclones—IDAI and FREDDY—were the most significant disaster-related displacement events in Africa over the past 15 years, impacting communities in Southern Africa.

The displacement trends over the past 15 years highlight the urgent need for effective implementation of conventions and policies at the regional level. 

In 2009, the African Union adopted the Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa which is also known as the Kampala Convention. 

This was the first—and remains the only—legally binding regional instrument that addresses all causes and phases of displacement. It demonstrates the commitment of African nations to tackle the issue and set international standards for its management. 

Sobering thoughts indeed concerning our continent and climate change.

For those of you who may have heard of, and been wondering about the bugs in the encryption algorithms used to secure emergency radio communications, urgentcomm.com says that the algorithms will now soon be released to the public domain, with the aim of encouraging code review and bug hunting.

The news comes after multiple vulnerabilities were found in TETRA, short for Terrestrial Trunked Radio, which is a radio voice and data standard mainly used by emergency services, such as police, fire brigade, and military, as well as in some industrial environments. The bugs were found by Midnight Blue Labs earlier this year, and the research was presented at Black Hat USA, showcasing additional zero-day vulnerabilities that could allow anyone to spy on or manipulate transmissions.

This decision to go public is a complete 180-degree turn for standard-maintainer ETSI, which originally pushed back against any claims of vulnerabilities within TETRA when they were initially found, claiming that the work to enhance the standard was already underway.

Since then, a technical committee overseeing the TETRA standard met in October to decide on making the algorithms open to the public. Ultimately, the group came to a unanimous decision to make all of the TETRA Air Interface cryptographic algorithms open-source.

With a bit of luck, the clever fellows or girls will find the bugs, fix them, and thereafter ensure safe and intact emergency comms using TETRA!

Writing on his own blog, gadgeteer.co.za, Danie ZS1OSS refers to the FCC authorization to be given to a wireless cell carrier to connect directly with Starlink satellites, and says that satellite connectivity on smartphones can be an incredibly important safety feature, and both phone makers and carriers are working to expand its availability. Now, Starlink’s direct-to-cell service that will be used by T-Mobile has FCC approval.

Danie says further: “The big promise of direct-to-cell satellite service is that you will be able to connect to a satellite just like you currently connect to a cell tower, with your current smartphone, whenever you find yourself in a dead spot. It’s like putting a cell tower in space that you can access at all times.

“So, this is actually a huge event. Any ordinary cell-phone user, stuck in some rural area (or at sea) where these satellites have coverage, could establish communications as if there was a cell-phone tower in range.

“It will be very interesting to see how these pan out in terms of more congested areas, and how operating costs compare. I’m thinking too here of some of the extreme electricity load shedding that South Africa experienced, where cell towers had no grid power for up to 6 hours at a time. South African operators have also had very expensive backup batteries stolen on a regular basis from their terrestrial sites.

“When one factors all this in, how do a few satellite units compare? Even for rural communications, due to the reach of the towers, how many towers and interconnectivity infrastructures are required to cover a 200 square kilometre area vs by satellite?”  Good Question!

Thanks for the comments, Danie, and for permission to use the report.

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

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.

I am starting to sound like a stuck record. The news of the world contains only natural disaster reports, but we’ll start in South Africa, which has declared a national disaster after floods and storms caused widespread damage in the country, allowing the government to free up funds for relief and reconstruction.

Disruptive rains, floods, strong winds and hail from October 22 to 29 affected the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Limpopo, North-West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces, Elias Sithole, head of the National Disaster Management Centre, said in an official notice on Wednesday. That caused damage to property, infrastructure and the environment, and disrupted the provision of basic services, he said.

The floods left at least 10 people dead and hundreds more displaced in the Eastern Cape alone, Johannesburg-based broadcaster eNCA reported.

The declaration of a national disaster assigns primary responsibility for the coordination and management of the clean-up to the national government, Sithole said.

The announcement comes almost a year after South Africa proclaimed a climate-related national disaster following floods and storms in three coastal provinces in September and October 2023.

In addition to last month’s storms, the country had unseasonal snow in September that closed a major highway for two days, and a major snowfall in November for the first time in 85 years.

Poor old Cuba has been struck again, this time by an earthquake, of magnitude 6.8, just off the South coast at a depth of 14km. No tsunami was generated, but 51000 people were exposed to severe shaking.

And hot on the earthquake’s heels, comes a warning for Tropical Storm SARA, which is threatening Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Mexico. Cuba has only just said goodbye to RAFAEL, with maximum measured wind speeds of 194km/h.

Carlos CO2JC, he of IARU Region 2, said on Thursday that “During the early hours of today, the low pressure area in the central Caribbean Sea became a tropical depression and later Tropical Storm SARA. At 18:00 UTC its centre was located NE of Cabo Gracias a Dios, on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras and 330 km ESE of Guanaja Island, Republic of Honduras. SARA is moving west at a rate of 19 km/h. Since this (Thursday) morning, it has been raining in towns in eastern Honduras, especially in the regions of Gracias a Dios and Colon.

“In the next 24 to 48 hours, Tropical Storm SARA is expected to move along a similar track, slowing down its speed, very close to the coast of Honduras. During its movement over the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea it may gain a little more in organization and intensity.

“For this reason we have received a request from the emergency coordinators of Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua to protect the following emergency frequencies:

“40m band: 7080 kHz, 7143 kHz, 7198 kHz

“2m band: 146.520 MHz, 147.300 MHz (+600KHz offset)

“Earlier today we learned through Juan de la Cruz Rodriguez Perez (YN1J), that they are listening on Echolink “CONFERENCE ZONE YN“, linked to the Node YN1J-L and remain alert for any help that can be provided.”

Thank you to Greg G0DUB for passing on those frequencies to avoid.

Not to be outdone, Philippines has 4 orange or red alerts for Tropical Cyclones bearing down on it. Cyclone YINXING is threatening Philippines with 231km/h winds, Cyclone USAGI has maximum wind speeds of 185km/h, Cyclone TORAJI has positively boring wind speeds of 148km/h, and MANYI, still a way off, has wind speeds of 231km/h. So far this hurricane season, Philippines has been struck by eleven tropical storms, and is, for the third year running, the most disaster-prone country in the world. The resilience of the Filipino people must be extraordinary, as they have hardly picked up the pieces from last week’s cyclone, or several from last year’s season, before being struck by the next one. Just how many times can one rebuild one’s house?

In 2018, on August 12^th to be precise, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe, designed to fly towards the sun, using Venus gravity assist flyby’s to adjust its trajectory into a final orbital configuration, which will bring the spacecraft closer to the sun than any human made object has ever been.

After its November the 6^th flyby, Parker will be on course to swoop within 6 million kilometres of the solar surface, the final objective of the historic mission first conceived over 65 years ago. No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker’s data will be charting as-yet uncharted territory. In this hyper-close route, Parker will cut through plumes of plasma still connected to the Sun. It is close enough to pass inside a solar eruption, like a surfer diving under a crashing ocean wave.

“This is a major engineering accomplishment,” said Adam Szabo, mission scientist for Parker Solar Probe at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion, will occur on Dec. 24, 2024, during which mission control will be out of contact with the spacecraft. Parker will send a beacon tone on Dec. 27, 2024, to confirm its success and the spacecraft’s health. Parker will remain in this orbit for the remainder of its mission, completing two more perihelia at the same distance.

Personally, I’m a bit concerned that the solar probe will be cooked to a cinder in the sun’s corona, without being able to send back any useful science, but this doesn’t seem to be bothering the mission scientists, and I guess they have done their sums. Anyway, it is the 27^th December we must wait for, to get that beacon tone to signal its health.

Thanks to science.nasa.gov for extracts from their report.

In a good example of lateral thinking, scientists decided to ask Gophers (or burrowing rodents) to rescue the ecology of a volcanic eruption. This started with the eruption of Mount St. Helens in May of 1980, which caused staggering ecological damage. Faced with a devastation that would take the local environment a substantial amount of time to recover from, scientists were open to unorthodox ideas that might speed the process along.

Specifically, as laid out in the University of California’s report, the thinking was “by digging up beneficial bacteria and fungi, gophers might be able to help regenerate lost plant and animal life on the mountain.” So, just two years after the devastating eruption, that’s exactly what scientists did. They gathered up some gophers, brought them to the eruption site, and let them do their gopher thing.

And, six years after the gophers were placed on two specific plots of pumice for a single day, there were 40,000 plants thriving.   Nearby areas, that didn’t get the gophers, took much longer to recover. 40 years later, the microbial community fostered within those plots, specifically mycorrhizal fungi, are still allowing plant life to thrive in the area.

So, the interaction between burrowing animals, turnover of the soil, and the interactions between Mycorrhizal fungi and soil bacteria, should never be underestimated.

Perhaps the habitual digging by my Jack Russell should not be condemned after all.

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

On this Sunday closest to Remembrance Day, HAMNET salutes and remembers with respect those members of the Ham Fraternity who lost their lives in the world wars or in the commission of amateur radio activities during disasters of one sort or another.

 “At the going down of the Sun, and in the morning, we shall remember them”.

Tropical Cyclone KONG-REY eventually resulted in very heavy rainfall over Taiwan, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 185km/h, resulting in 3 fatalities and injuries to more than 690 people.

Another hurricane, this one becoming a category 3 storm, and called RAFAEL, started threatening western Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and central-western Cuba this week.. On 5^th November, it was registered as a category 1 storm, with winds blowing in the 150km/h range, and threatening 230000 people in its path. RAFAEL left Cuba’s 10 million residents without power, but, by the 7^th, had moved away from Cuba and was heading northwest towards the Gulf of Mexico.

Carlos CO2JC, again advised that, taking into account the approach and better organization for tropical storm Rafael, as well as the rains that have already affected areas of the central and eastern regions, they decided, in coordination with the National Staff of Civil Defence, to activate the National Emergency Network of the Cuban Radio Amateur Federation, starting at 16:00 EST (20:00 UTC) on November 5, 2024.

Carlos said that they will use 7110 kHz (primary) and 7120 (alternative) as working frequencies for shortwave (HF), and also, if the conditions of the stations allow it at night, 3720 kHz and 3740 kHz. In addition, the VHF frequencies of the different municipalities and the installed repeaters will be used live. In the capital, 145.550 MHz will also be used as a provincial emergency frequency.

Again, they requested the international ham fraternity to keep away from those frequencies, and allow emergency traffic to take precedence.

The ARRL said that the Hurricane Watch Net, the VoIP Hurricane Net, and WX4NHC, the amateur radio station at the National Hurricane Centre were activated until the night of the 6^th, local time, before being stood down.

And the Philippines was also clobbered by a category 1 tropical cyclone called YINXING, affecting about 22000 people in its path on the 5^th November. By the next day, GDACS was issuing a RED alert for the cyclone over the Philippines, with 1.6 million people facing the 120km/h winds, but maximum wind speeds forecast to reach 231km/h.

By Tuesday of this week, the death toll from the most severe natural disaster Spain has ever experienced stood at 221. 69 people are still missing, while 36000 people needed rescuing. 98% of areas without electricity have now had their power restored. Luckily the flood waters are subsiding progressively, but a return to normal life in the affected Provinces will take a long long time.

South Africa has also not escaped extreme weather, with several districts of Limpopo province, north-eastern South Africa experiencing heavy rain and hailstorms, causing floods and severe weather-related incidents that resulted in casualties and damage.

According to media, four people died across the worst-affected districts of Sekhukhune, Mopane and Vhembe. By the 7^th November, rainfall had subsided, although skies were still overcast.

Danie ZS1OSS, has sent me a formal report on the Annual Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Exercise, which I’ll quote properly now. He writes:

“The Annual Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Exercise was held on 24 October 2024. The purpose of the exercise is to prepare for the unlikely scenario where there may be a radiation leak from the power station, which necessitates the evacuation of residents and animals from the surrounding areas. Such an exercise involves Eskom staff, the City’s Disaster Risk Management Services, SA Police Service, SA National Defence Service, City Fire and Traffic Departments, Provincial Departments such as Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Human Settlements, the Robben Island Museum, the SPCA, Golden Arrow and MyCiti bus services, various media liaison organisations, and also HAMNET.

“HAMNET’s role is defined in its own emergency communications plan for Koeberg and similar disasters. Members are deployed to the DOC (Disaster Operations Centre at Goodwood) where the situation is monitored. If there are critical communication breakdowns, then HAMNET will operate the dedicated radio room for this purpose at the Disaster Risk Management Centre at Goodwood, and will deploy additional available members to where they are required to restore communications with the DOC.

“The exercise itself goes through the stages of initial containment, and escalates up to emergency levels where bus services are deployed to evacuate the public to mass care centres for decontamination. The location of the Mass Care Centres takes into account which direction the wind is blowing from Koeberg. Some aspects are simulated so this year the Koeberg emergency sirens were not activated and no residents were physically evacuated, but the Mass Care Centres were established where they need to be, and traffic roadblocks were put in place without hindering the traffic flow.

“The different Categories of Emergency are defined as:

• Unusual Events – unplanned incidents take place
• Alerts – requiring activation of all Koeberg emergency personnel
• Site emergencies – serious radiological hazards on site
• General emergencies – serious radiological hazards to the public

“For each category, additional actions are triggered and monitored as part of the exercise.

“After the completion of the exercise at 12:13 the instruction to stand down was sent out. There was a debriefing session held to discuss any lessons learnt and improvements that need to be made. As with all previous exercises there is always one or more lessons learnt, and this year was no exception. But this is exactly the purpose of holding regular exercises, so that role-players all get accustomed to what they need to do, how they work together as a team, and to improve what they will be doing the next time.

“This exercise was itself also a preparation for the Biennial Koeberg Nuclear Power Station National Nuclear Regulator Exercise to be held on 19 November 2024.

“Present from HAMNET Western Cape this year were Danie ZS1OSS and Shawn ZS1LED.”

Thank you, Danie and Shawn, for your conscientious support of these exercises, and the report.

Our radio station ZS1DCC is upstairs from the Disaster Operations Centre at Goodwood, and all equipment is permanently on and running, to be used at a moment’s notice if the Disaster plan calls for it.

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

It is Spain’s turn to receive the first mention in this week’s bulletin. Jose A Mendez EA9E, Spain’s National Emcomm Coordinator writes of what they call a “DANA”, which is Spanish for an isolated depression at high levels, and which recently affected the east and south of the country, bringing a year’s worth of rain to the region in 6 hours. We still call an isolated depression at high levels, a “cut-off low”.

This has resulted in flooding, river overflows and damage to infrastructure. The most affected communities include areas in the east and south of the country, such as the Valencian Community, Murcia and Andalusia. 

Emergency services are working to care for affected people and to recover damaged areas. Evacuations are also being carried out in high-risk areas. In addition, a meteorological alert has been activated in several provinces, and the population is advised to follow the instructions of local authorities.

In the areas affected by the DANA, telecommunications have been disrupted due to flooding and damage to infrastructure. It is common for mobile phone coverage and internet service to be down in emergency situations.

Operators are working to restore services as quickly as possible, but recovery times may vary depending on the severity of the damage and weather conditions. Local authorities usually provide updates on the telecommunications situation and the population is advised to stay informed through radio or media that do not depend on the internet. The REMER (Civil Protection Radio Emergency Network) is pre-alerted in the affected areas. The VHF-UHF repeaters are working correctly and providing coverage in the affected areas.

On Friday evening, I gathered that the death toll from the flooding was standing at 158.

And the red alert issued last Sunday by GDACS for Tropical Cyclone KONG-REY showed it to have arisen in the Guam region, and, travelling northwest, was skimming the top of the Philippines, and aiming squarely at Taiwan. Maximum expected wind speeds were in the 210km/h region, and it was expected to arrive in Taiwan on Wednesday the 30th. The storm was then expected to move along the southeast coast of mainland China, before threatening Japan. 15 million people were threatened with winds speeds in excess of 120km/h.

And from sciencenews.com this week, I have discovered that the very new field of Forensic Entomology is being used to investigate the worrying field of rhino poaching.

In 1988, police officers in Australia came for Ian Dadour. Not because the entomologist was under arrest, but because they needed his expertise. Investigators asked Dadour to estimate the ages of maggots found on a human body to help them gauge when a homicide victim had been killed. Dadour went on to teach this and other entomology-based forensic methods to the South African Police Service. Today, officers are using these tools to investigate another type of crime: rhino poaching.

South Africa is home to thousands of rhinos, including critically endangered black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) and near-threatened white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum). Poachers kill hundreds of rhinos every year, usually for the animals’ horns. The country’s police force adopted forensic entomology into its poaching prevention arsenal in 2014, training officers to collect insect evidence found at wildlife crime scenes.

The process works the same with rhinos as it does with humans, says Dadour, now of Source Certain, an Australian company that verifies the origin of agriculture and seafood. Officers collect adults, larvae and eggs of carrion insects such as flies and beetles from the victim. Carrion insects are quick to find and lay eggs on a dead body — often descending in under an hour — which then hatch and develop at a predictable pace. In that way, they act as a biological clock.

Forensic entomologists can estimate how long a body has been dead based on what insects are present and the life cycle stage of the insects’ offspring. That estimate is called a minimum postmortem interval. The method is most accurate before and during active decay; because, as decomposition progresses, accuracy drops. “When the conditions are right, it can be very useful,” says Martin Villet, a forensic entomologist based in Cape Town, South Africa. Investigators can use the data to track down killers, and prosecutors can use it as evidence in the courtroom. 

Dadour and Melanie Pienaar — a forensic entomologist at the South African Police Service — wanted to document which insects were used to investigate rhino deaths. They examined 19 cases of rhino poaching that were investigated in part using forensic entomology. Their analysis of the cases, which occurred between 2014 and 2021, involved tallying the various insect species present at each stage of decomposition, comparing the minimum postmortem interval estimates and factoring in the average ambient temperature during each time period.

Of the 119 insects collected from the rhinos, blowflies (Diptera) and beetles (Coleoptera) were the most abundant and useful for calculating the minimum postmortem interval for each rhino, the team reports October 9 in Medical and Veterinary Entomology. Some bugs (Hemiptera) were also present, but weren’t as helpful for these calculations.

Dadour has trained wildlife officers to use the technique outside of rhino poaching, for example when keeping tabs on endangered Australian marsupials called numbats (Myrmecobius fasciatus). It can also be used in animal cruelty cases.

However, forensic entomology isn’t widely used to investigate wildlife crimes,  Dadour says. For South Africa’s rhinos, at least, it and other anti-poaching measures have helped populations slowly increase, he says.

Thanks to Sciencenews.org for this evidence of progressive thinking in the fight against the threat of extinction facing the South African rhino.

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

We start with the usual list of alerts for a litany of tropical storms that are threatening the Caribbean, the east coast of India, and the South China Sea, with all its coastal countries.

By Sunday last week there were orange alerts out for tropical depression NADINE, in the bay of Mexico, and threatening Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua. Wind speeds of 83km/h at that stage.

There was also an orange alert out for tropical cyclone OSCAR, also at the mouth of the Caribbean, affecting Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas and Cuba. Maximum wind speeds measured there were 139km/h.

Its passage over south-eastern Cuba caused heavy rainfall and resulted in casualties and damage. Media reports, as of 22 October, six fatalities across the San Antonio del Sur community, Guantanamo province. Several municipalities received more than 300 mm of rain, causing heavy flooding, severe damage to infrastructure and the blocking of roads and highways. Cuba kept schools closed and non-essential workers at home until today Sunday as a precaution.

That same Sunday Greg G0DUB relayed a message from Carlos, CO2JC who is IARU region 2 Emcomm coordinator, reporting that, on October 18th shortly after 11:00 EDT (15:00 UTC) a breakdown occurred that caused the total disconnection of the national electrical power system throughout the country. For that reason and at the request of the Ministry of Communications, we activated the National Emergency Network of the Federation of Radio Amateurs of Cuba from 16:30 EDT (20:30 UTC) of that same day. The network has been active in all provinces but in different ways, depending on the communication needs in each territory and also suffering from the lack of batteries.

In addition to this situation with the electricity deficit in the country, we have the proximity of Hurricane Oscar, which will be affecting the eastern region of the archipelago today, so the emergency networks in these provinces have greater activity.

We remind you of the emergency frequencies of the amateur radio service in Cuba in the 40 m band: 7110 kHz (primary) and 7120 kHz (secondary). However, most of the communication is being carried out on local VHF frequencies.

We appreciate the protection of these frequencies and the cooperation of all colleagues.

Thank you, Greg and Carlos. Please note these frequencies and stay away from them.

On Monday GDACS warned of a tropical depression named TWENTYTWO, (and later renamed to TRAMI) in the Northwest Pacific, with winds of about 110km/h, and threatening Philippines, Taiwan and China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand

There was also a warning on Tuesday, for tropical cyclone KRISTY, active in the East Pacific, close to the west coast of Mexico, but not affecting the population yet. Wind speeds of 185km/h had been measured.

Finally, on Wednesday, an orange alert was issued for tropical Cyclone DANA, with maximum wind speeds of 102km/h, active in the Bay of Bengal, moving north west, to threaten India only. By Thursday GDACS had raised the alert level to RED, forecasting winds of up to 130km/h on the eastern coast of India.

While all of these storms seem to be relatively mild, there is no way of predicting how they will turn out.

In the meantime, the SA Weather Service was talking about severe weather in KZN, Gauteng, and the eastern part of the Eastern Cape, affecting the areas from Sunday onwards. This had an effect on the Amashova race in KZN, which I will mention further down.

The Western Cape Repeater Working Group made a very successful visit to our main Emcomms, 145.700MHz, on Constantiaberg in the Western Cape this last Tuesday. We use the repeater to transmit our weekly HAMNET bulletin for the Western Cape, but for the last few weeks, we have experienced intermittent transmissions, with lots of chopping and loss of signal.

The group went up to the Sentech site, and, accompanied by Sentech officials, climbed to the first platform where our rather battered antenna was found to have had its matching stub chafed away by movement in the wind. Then when it rained, water got in to the matching stub and the signal died completely. Our chaps were able to replace the antenna with a new one, waterproof it effectively and confirm that SWR’s down in the repeater room, using the antenna and its hardline coax, were 1.2:1 or less. All is now fixed, and our bulletins can carry on unimpeded. Thanks to the members of the WCRWG.

Thursday saw a simulated Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Disaster Exercise, run from the Disaster Risk management Centre in Goodwood. Usually the exercise involves accidental release of radioactive clouds, and the exercises differ according to which way the wind might blow the cloud. HAMNET was represented by Danie ZS1OSS and Shaun ZS1LED, who sat in and monitored, but were not called in for any comms requirement.

From Keith Lowes ZS5WFD, we hear that HAMNET-KZN deployed twelve members in wet and misty weather conditions to provide communication for the Amashova Durban Classic Cycle Race held on Sunday 20th October 2024

A Level 6 Weather Warning for Disruptive Rain had been issued by the S.A. Weather Service on Saturday.  This seems to have had a major impact on participants as out of 3148 entrants, 1474 did not start the race although they had registered.  This was likely due to family members not prepared to take unnecessary risks with potholes hidden underwater and slippery road conditions.

This year saw a new 132Km stage being included which started at 05H30 outside the Nelson Mandela Capture Site Museum in Howick, travelled through Hilton and joined up with the 106Km event in Pietermaritzburg. This stage attracted 272 entrants.  Due to wet and misty conditions the stage was declared a “Neutral Zone” and cyclists were escorted by a race lead vehicle into Pietermaritzburg.

The 38Km from Hillcrest and 65Km from Cato Ridge started at 05H00 whilst the 106Km from Pietermaritzburg started at 06H00.

Communications were via the 145.7625 Highway and 145.750 Midlands Club repeaters with the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) at Suncoast Casino in Durban being manned by Keith ZS5WFD. Willem ZS5WA was situated in the Pietermaritzburg JOC situated at the Fire Station.

Operators were situated at Six Water Points along the route with One  Roving Patrol crewed by Deon ZS5DD and Troy ZS5TWJ which had full route access. They used APRS to plot their position on the route which I was able to monitor on the APRS.fi website.

An initial report of a cyclist down on the M13 Freeway at Kloof was reported by Shaun ZS5SM at 05H48. Shaun responded from his Water Point with 2 medics to the scene.  At 05H55 he reported “On scene at M13/Village Road Kloof —CPR In Progress” Advanced Life Support paramedics and an ambulance were dispatched by Durban JOC.  These units arrived at 06H05, but despite their best efforts, the 79-year-old gentleman was declared deceased on the scene. According to competitors who stopped to assist and administer CPR, they suspect he suffered a heart attack and subsequently lost control and crashed into the centre median of the freeway. The scene was left in the care of SAPS Pinetown and Metro Police.

“Rover 1” reported a cyclist down on Old Main Rd Monteseel at 08H23, SAPS Search and Rescue Unit was on scene at 08H30. Patient had a suspected fractured collar-bone and was uplifted by ambulance at 08H41.

Approximately 35 medical cases were logged in the Durban JOC ranging from cuts and bruises, cramps, broken nose, fractured collar-bone, hyperthermia and suspected heart attack.

Thank you to the HAMNET-KZN team on behalf of the organizers and myself, who braved the miserable weather to ensure the successful outcome of the event. We extend our sincere condolences to family and friends of the cyclist who passed away.

With apologies for a gravelly voice, this is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

In a strange turn to last week’s research telling us that Emma Kindstrom had proved that the pain signal from hair-pulling travelled the fastest of all pain signals, we have received an email from Emma, telling us she was delighted to see our mention of her research in the HAMNET Bulletin, because she is in fact also a radio amateur! So I am now going to append her call-sign to last week’s paragraphs, and tell you she is Emma Kindstrom, SA5NOX. Thanks for the email, Emma.

GDACS notified us of a magnitude 6 earthquake at a depth of 10km in the province of Malatya, Turkiye, at 07h46 UTC on Wednesday the 16^th. This is in roughly the same area as the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes of 20 months ago, in which 56000 people lost their lives. A population of over 100000 was exposed to severe shaking, and about 200 injured souls reported on, but luckily so far no fatalities reported.

The ARRL letter of Thursday the 17^th says that a team of 161 amateur radio operators from five Midwest states assisted the 2000 medical personnel volunteering for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 13, 2024. Some 52,000 runners entered the event that featured a chilly, windy, day and saw many personal best times and a world record time for the women. More than 100 countries were represented.

This is the 16th year that amateur radio operators have partnered with the medical teams to help coordinate responses, arrange for medical re-supplies, and provide situational awareness for the organizers. This year, Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) was used by the pre-finish team, a group of 25 hams who are staged with medical personnel on a line about every 200 yards on the last mile of the course. The medical people had automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and other supplies, while the hams radio for ambulance support. DMR allowed the hams to have two channels on one frequency and permitted them to manage the traffic better when patient load was higher.

There were more than 35 newly-trained ham radio operators, and all were new to the event as well. Online training events were offered and then the new operators were paired with more experienced personnel for the event. Organizers said that amateur radio is important to the marathon, but it is just one small component of a very complex event that requires 10,000 volunteers to be successful. Amateur radio has a unique role and works alongside the other many specialty service groups required to support an event of this magnitude.

“We are grateful to the many hams who have shared their expertise, time, and resources over the years,” said Robert Orr, Volunteer Lead for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. “This event has shown that ham radio is very much alive and doing well.”

The big weekend for Scouts around the world is here. The ARRL also notes that Jamboree On – The – Air (JOTA) and Jamboree On – The – Internet (JOTI) is the world’s largest Scouting event. The three-day event has run from October 18 until today, using amateur radio and the internet to connect Scouts worldwide for a full weekend of on-air and online activities that promote friendship and global citizenship. In 2023, JOTA/JOTI had a record 600,000 registered participants, a 40% increase compared to 2022, and included 7000+ Scout groups and tens of thousands of individual participants from 149 countries.

When Scouts contact each other by amateur radio, the stations are operated by licensed amateur radio operators. Many Scouts and their leaders hold licenses and have their own stations, but the majority participate in JOTA through stations operated by local radio clubs and individual radio amateurs. Some operators use television or computer-linked communication. This technology offers Scouts the exciting opportunity to make friends in other countries without leaving home.

Participating using JOTI, Scouts of any age can take part, from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and Venturers. Scouts may participate at home with the help of an adult, or they can participate in a Scout group at a council event. JOTI is an economical way to participate in an international jamboree and participation fulfils requirements for Tiger and Arrow of Light adventures, the Citizenship in the World merit badge, and the International Spirit Award.

Thanks to the ARRL for both these sets of inserts.

A nearby star system has just served as the proving ground for a new technique to search for signs of extra-terrestrial life.

As detailed in a study set to be published in The Astronomical Journal, astronomers have developed a method that allows alien hunters to listen for much smaller bandwidth radio signals, resembling what we use to communicate with our own spacecraft.

To test it, they set their sights on the TRAPPIST-1 star system, which is only 41 light years away. At its centre is a cool red dwarf, surrounded by seven rocky, Earth-sized exoplanets, three of which orbit within their star’s habitable zone, which means they could harbour water and support life.

While they didn’t pick up on any alien techno-signatures, they successfully demonstrated that their technique worked. If applied elsewhere in the cosmos, it could be used to pick up on communications that weren’t intended to reach deep space.

“Most searches assume a powerful signal, like a beacon intended to reach distant planets, because our receivers have a sensitivity limit to a minimum transmitter power beyond anything we unintentionally send out,” said study lead author Nick Tusay, an astronomer at Penn State University, in a statement about the work. “But, with better equipment, like the upcoming Square Kilometre Array, we might soon be able to detect signals from an alien civilization communicating with its spacecraft.”

If an alien civilization was like ours, they might be sending plenty of radio signals between their system’s planets, perhaps to off-world probes and rovers. These communications would be made over narrowband radio signals, which require less power to send out. Because they’re smaller, however, they’re also much harder to detect at great distances.

To compensate for this, the team waited for what’s known as planet-planet occultations to occur. This is when one planet passes in front of another from our perspective on Earth (like a solar eclipse), providing a rare chance to catch radio “spill-over” of a signal being sent from the further world to the nearer one.

In hopes of snagging one of these communications, the researcher used the Allan Telescope Array, a large series of radio telescopes, to scan TRAPPIST-1 for an impressive 28 hours — the longest single-target search in the star system.

During this window, around seven possible planet-planet occultations were predicted to have occurred, producing around 2,200 candidate radio signals that coincided with the astronomical events.

None of these turned out to be the work of little green men. The fact that they were able to identify promising signals at all, however, is proof enough that their technique could pick up on day-to-day radio signals in other stellar neighbourhoods.

“The TRAPPIST-1 system is relatively close to Earth, and we have detailed information about the orbit of its planets, making it an excellent natural laboratory to test these techniques,” Tusay said. “The methods and algorithms that we developed for this project can eventually be applied to other star systems and can increase our chances of finding regular communications among planets beyond our solar system, if they exist.”

This is Dave Reece, ZS1DFR, struggling to get a WhatsApp message to his daughter 15km away, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

I had hardly put my proverbial pen down last weekend, when news of the next flood started to arrive. Central Europe, Bosnia in particular, was almost being swept away in heavy flooding. Alen, E71AR, Bosnia Emcomm Coordinator, reported on Saturday the 5^th of unprecedented floods in Bosnia, and parts of Herzegovina, and emergency frequencies of 3.612 and 7.150 MHz being utilized, as well as their central repeater 2000m above sea level, on 145.675, with a 103.5 CTCSS tone.

Neighbouring Croatia was monitoring their repeater, and providing Web SDR support from across the border. Rescue teams were already active in the field, and support was received from Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia.

By Tuesday, GDACS reported 18 fatalities, dozens of people still missing and an uncertain number of injured people across the area of Jablanica town, Konjic town and Donja Jablanica village (in the Herzegovina-Neretva canton, approximately 70 km south-west of Sarajevo city). The Government of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared a state of emergency on 5^th October for the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By Sunday, GDACS was issuing an Orange Alert for Tropical Cyclone MILTON, which had arisen very suddenly in the middle of the Bay of Mexico, with maximum wind speeds of 194Km/h, and aimed at Florida’s waist as it travelled North East out of the Bay and into the Atlantic. At least 6.5 million people were in the path of 120km/h winds.

By Monday the Alert Level had been raised to RED, and wind speeds of 231km/h were being forecast. Greg, G0DUB, our Region One Emmcomm Coordinator, had monitored requests from Carlos, CO2JC, Region Two Emcomm Coordinator, to keep the emcomm frequencies of 7.268 and 14.325MHz clear to facilitate emergency traffic there.

Greg also reported that, due to the proximity of Hurricane Milton to Mexican territory, the Mexican Federation of Radio Experimenters A.C. was asking for protection of their emergency frequency 7.128 MHz currently in use.

The hurricane was expected to move near or over the northern Yucatan Peninsula on Monday and Tuesday before crossing the Gulf of Mexico to approach the west coast of the Florida Peninsula on Wednesday.

By Tuesday, MILTON was expected to increase in strength to a category 4 Hurricane, making landfall over the central Florida peninsula, just south of the Tampa city area, on 9^th October late in the afternoon (UTC), with maximum sustained winds of up to 213 km/h.

Heavy rainfall was forecast over the northern Yucatán peninsula on 7-8^th October, and very heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surges were forecast over the whole Florida peninsula starting from 8^th October.

In the following days, MILTON was classified as a category 5 to 6 Hurricane, on a scale of 1 to 5, it was so strong. By Wednesday afternoon, wind speeds of 287km/h were being forecast. Inhabitants of the west coast of the length of Florida were being advised to evacuate the area, particularly, with advisements that their survival could not be guaranteed during the passage of the storm.

MILTON made landfall at 8.30pm local time on Wednesday evening, with life-threatening storm surge, powerful winds and flooding rains. By Thursday morning, the ARRL was reporting more than 3 million residents of Florida without power.

As of 11^th October, more than 12 deaths had been identified, there were more than 83,000 evacuated people in 149 shelters, and 27 counties were under evacuation orders across the Florida peninsula.

The actual Hurricane was preceded by many tornadoes, springing up unpredictably, and affecting the breadth of the Florida panhandle, and causing widespread destruction and deaths. There were 19 confirmed tornadoes in Florida by the time Milton made landfall on Wednesday. Some 45 tornadoes were reported throughout the day.

The American ‘Hurricane Watch Net’ was activated on Tuesday, using 14.325MHz and 7.268MHz through to Thursday to collect and forward storm reports to the US National Hurricane Centre as well as handling any Emergency or Health & Welfare Traffic. The VOiP Hurricane net was also active until at least Thursday afternoon.

I am starting to feel like a stuck record, as I report these severe weather instances repeatedly, and wonder where and when the next one will strike.

Meanwhile, the sun, not to be outdone in this race to claim the most notoriety for the most severe geographic and meteorological disturbance, threw us a curved ball as it blasted us with a Geomagnetic Storm, when we didn’t really expect it.

Having provided us last week with an X9 class Solar Flare, the sun did not dish us the expected associated geomagnetic storm last weekend. Yes, the Planetary K index was up at 4 or 5 over the weekend, and HF conditions were poor, but nothing like what had been forecast.;

Instead, the sun created an X1.8 class solar flare on Monday or Tuesday, with an associated Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), which generated a severe (G4) geomagnetic storm on Thursday, which impacted Earth at 15h15 UTC on Wednesday the 10^th. The K index almost made it to the maximum of 9, signalling a G5 storm, the maximum of 8.5 being recorded midnight UTC on the night of 10-11^th October. The K index sagged very slowly, and finally reached a more bearable level of 4 at 18h00 UTC on Friday evening. Until then the shortwave (HF) bands were to all intents and purposes closed, and unusable!

I think all we need now is a pestilence of locusts, and 2024 will have reached rock-bottom! It’s enough to tear your hair out.

Which is not a good idea, actually, because sciencenews.org tells us this week that scientists have found the sensors that signal the painful zing of a hair pull. And this pain message can rip along a nerve fibre at about 100 miles an hour, placing it among the fastest known pain signals.

Laboratory tests showed a hair pull to be about 10 times as painful as a pinprick, neuroscientist Emma Kindström of Linköping University in Sweden and colleagues found. The pain of the pull relies on a large, propeller-shaped protein called PIEZO2, further tests showed. A hair-pull-signal moves along nerve fibres much faster than other sorts of pain, Kindström says, traveling in bursts along an insulated conduit called an Aβ nerve fibre. Other kinds of pain signals, such as a burn from a hot stove, travel more slowly along different kinds of fibres.

So, if you must get your own back on your sister, the hair-pull is the way to go.

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, thankfully bald as a coot, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

Hurricane HELENE has turned out to be second only to Hurricane KATRINA, in terms of casualties reported in the US this century. By Friday evening, HELENE, which swept up from Florida, through northern Georgia, South and then North Carolina, and even had a touching effect on Tennessee, had claimed 200 lives. Flooding was particularly severe in western North Carolina

It is expected that damage to roads, power, water and sewage reticulation, will take a while to restore to all the affected areas, and rebuilding communities a lot longer.

In its Letter for 3^rd October, the ARRL says that widespread devastation has damaged the power grid and roads, and many residents are without cell phone service and other utilities. For several days, radio communications were the only means of passing information. Ham radio continues to play a significant role in this situation.

In North Carolina, all official emergency radio communications are done through NC AUXCOMM. NC Division of Emergency Management Senior External Affairs Specialist Brian Haines says hams are deployed. “Amateur radio operators are working side by side with first responder communications personnel all over Western North Carolina. Needless to say, we are interested in highlighting all they are doing but at this point they are heavily involved in response efforts, which is where we need to focus,” he said.

Winlink, which provides email over amateur radio, has been used significantly in the recovery. ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, says the recent FCC removal of symbol rate restrictions has allowed a streamlined response using modern technology. “Winlink is an example of how modern tools work well within the Amateur Radio Service. Not having to petition the FCC for a waiver of the old rules allowed Winlink to be used immediately during this emergency,” he said. ARRL had advocated for the change, which was implemented in 2023.

Significant stories of the response from individual hams are emerging, particularly from those who have created pop-up nets to pass health and welfare traffic. Using mountaintop repeaters that have robust power backups, HF frequencies, and Winlink, ham radio operators are putting their time, talents, and personal gear to good use.

By last Sunday, GDACS was issuing Orange Alerts for Tropical Cyclone KRATHON, arising in the northwest Pacific, and threatening Philippines, Taiwan and the coast of mainland China, with maximum wind speeds of 213km/h, and with 6,885 million people threatened by a cone of winds with speeds of at least 120km/h.

On Monday, a RED Alert was issued for Taiwan, as KRATHON veered away from a course directed at Philippines, and moved due North, expected to strike Taiwan between Wednesday and Thursday, as it moved northeast over the island.

I received a report from our rally support group, written by Ian Bradley, ZS1BR, regarding the Klipdale Rally which took place last Saturday the 28^th September. Ian writes:

“With weather warnings issued for high winds and rain, radio operators headed out to Klipdale, somewhere between Stormsvlei and Bredasdorp, to assist with communications for the Klipdale Rally. With the wind already howling Control was established at Rûens Kollege just before 09:00. However, the antenna and mast became horizontally polarized twice (i.e. it fell over) before some large concrete blocks were found to add some extra weight [to the base]. Communication was all done via the Jonaskop repeater (145.675MHz), and, despite the distance, was easily accessed with a handheld radio in most cases.

“Operators were placed at the start and end of each stage, as well as with the Clerks of the Course. Cell phone coverage was particularly patchy around Klipdale so good radio communications was key, as the officials were rarely at HQ for very long.

“The first stage of the rally was delayed slightly as the high winds had displaced many of the route markers which the Zero Car had to fix before clearing the stage. Once given the green light, the first stage was opened at 10:40 and the somewhat sparse field of 11 competitors took off at two-minute intervals.

“No serious incidents occurred; however, the first two stages did claim several cars, knocking the number of competitors down to eight for the remaining stages. While clearing the final stage, the Zero Car also suffered a breakdown when a coolant hose ruptured. (In passing, we do wonder whether the early breakdowns were planned so that the teams could knock off and be back home in time for the rugby! HI.)

“The final stage completed at 15:30 and we quickly packed up and headed home just as the first drops of rain started to come down.

“Special thanks to Johann ZS1JM, Andre ZS1ATX, Jannie ZS1JFK, Thys ZS1WV, Okko ZS1OKO, Rassie ZS1YT, Johan ZR1JL, and Davy ZR1FR.

“We encourage you to volunteer your time and expertise,” says Ian, “even if you are new to amateur radio or sports communication, to assist in making these events safer, while also making some noise on the air and honing your skills.”

And special thanks to Ian for his own efforts during the rally, and for writing the report.

I end off with a report about the X9.0 major solar flare which was detected around sunspot region 3842 at 12h18 UTC on Thursday the 3^rd. This is the strongest X-ray event of the current solar cycle.

A coronal mass ejection with a halo signature became evident later on Thursday, and is aimed directly at us, because 3842 was directly facing earth at the time. The CME was expected to take about 48 hours to reach earth, which meant a geomagnetic storm flaring up yesterday (Saturday), with high planetary K indices, which tend to blank out shortwave radio propagation severely. Don’t be surprised if your HF radio reception sounds like solid static.

A second M6.7 solar flare erupted from sunspot group 3843 on Thursday evening, UTC, but was directed slightly west of our planet, and is expected to deliver only a glancing blow to our magnetosphere.

On the positive side, a geomagnetic storm such as this can result in wonderful auroral displays, and areas like southern Africa might experience auroras similar to those experienced a few months ago. There’s no harm in hoping!

This is Dave Reece, ZS1DFR, eating a carrot and sitting outside in the dark, attempting to improve his night vision, reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

Gosh, hurricane season this year is turning out to be a kind of gift that keeps of giving, in a negative way. After discussing Tropical Cyclones in the South China Sea and Hurricanes in the Caribbean and on the west coast of Mexico, we now see evidence of a devastating Category Four Hurricane, called HELENE, having struck Florida, Georgia and South Carolina since Friday.

Coming straight up from the southern Caribbean, it has also caused a lot of rain and wind in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, over Belize and most of Cuba. Florida’s flooding by this category four hurricane has wind speeds greater than 200km/h and has caused mandatory evacuations to be announced in multiple counties, where very heavy rainfall was forecast for this weekend. Thirty fatalities had been reported by Friday night, and more can be expected. Five and a half million people have been in its direct path and 2.2 million customers don’t have power across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

The Hurricane Watch Net was activated at 10h00 Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday and its operations were closed on Friday at 11h00. During this time, members of the hurricane watch net collected and forwarded over 100 surface reports to the National Hurricane Centre. Frequencies used were 7.268MHz and 14.325MHz.

The west coast of Mexico has also been experiencing its own hurricane, called JOHN, which, as a Category Three Hurricane, is threatening about 150000 people with winds of up to 194km/h. It crossed the Pacific coastline of Mexico on Friday evening and has caused catastrophic flash flooding and mudslides in portions of Southern and Southwestern Mexico. , By the time it has dissipated, up to 20 inches (500mm) of rain may have fallen in some states of Mexico.

When Hurricane John initially made landfall it left 100,000 residents and businesses without power, uprooted trees and power poles while ripping off roofs. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 16km from the storm’s centre and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 200km. By Friday night, 5 fatalities had been reported in Guerrero state.

Weather forecasters are predicting more very cold weather in KZN this coming week.  iol.co.za says that KwaZulu-Natal’s disaster management teams have been placed on standby amid reports of possible snow over parts of the province next week.

Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, said early forecasts indicate the province will experience extremely cold temperatures today and on Monday and Tuesday of this week. This will potentially result in snowfall in some areas around the Drakensberg Mountains, and include parts of the Harry Gwala, uThukela, uMgungundlovu, and Amajuba Districts.

He said that while this forecast is preliminary, further updates are expected in due course. He urged residents to monitor weather forecasts through reliable sources. I hope the N3 isn’t closed off again, like two weekends ago.

A quick paragraph from a report issued by Yoshiki Enomoto, ICOM executive and board member, after the Hizbollah explosions, confirms that their V82 radios and batteries were last shipped in October 2014. He said there are at least as many counterfeit versions circulating today as were sold before that. He said further that, in all pictures released of damaged radios, they seemed to be missing a holographic seal which guarantees ICOM’s authentic product. He and his company were therefore 99.9% sure that their products were not involved in the middle-east explosions of the previous week.  I’m sure you’ll agree this is good news.

Continuing in this handheld vein, I’m sure you’ll also agree that you are not much good as an emergency communicator without a handheld radio, or Handie-Talkie, as they are usually described. In his blog of 22^nd September, Bob K0NR says that Motorola trademarked the name Handie-Talkie and used that nomenclature for many years with its line of portable radios. However, this trademark has expired, so now Handie-Talkie is a generic term.

Bob goes on: “But the HT-220 was not the first Handie-Talkie, so I started poking around to find out how this name originated. Back in World War II, the SCR-536 was a portable “hand-held” transceiver developed in 1940 by Galvin Manufacturing (later Motorola, Inc.)  I put “hand-held” in quotes because, by today’s standards, it was a Hand FULL. But most people consider the SCR-536 to be the first modern, self-contained HT transceiver. The Wikipedia article for the SCR-536 describes the radio quite well. The radio put out about 360 mW of RF power on 3.5 and 6.0 MHz (Oops, I mean 3500 to 6000 kilocycles) using Amplitude Modulation (AM). The circuitry relied on smallish vacuum tubes, creating quite a design challenge. Motorola has a page on its website that talks about the origins of the radio. IEEE Spectrum also published an excellent article: The SCR-536 Handie-Talkie Was the Modern Walkie-Talkie’s Finicky Ancestor. The January 2005 issue of QST has an interesting article by Gil McElroy, VE3PKD, ‘A Short History of the Handheld Transceiver’. It provides more history and insight into this fun topic.

“A few years later (1942), a backpack portable radio was introduced, called the SCR-300. I always assumed that the backpack-style radio would have come first and the more compact radio SCR-536 would be later. (Actually, there were previous backpack radios, such as the SCR-194). This new backpack-style radio was referred to as a Walkie-Talkie. According to the manual, the SCR-300 was “primarily intended as a walkie-talkie for foot combat troops”. I suppose the emphasis was on how you can walk and talk, with a radio on your back.

“The radio weighed a heavy 35 pounds, and used Frequency Modulation (FM) on 40 to 48 Megacycles. The SCR-194 that predated the SCR-300 might be considered the first walkie-talkie. However, the SCR-300 and the SCR-536 seem to get all of the glory, probably due to their impact on the war effort.

“Fast forward to today and we see that the HT and Handie-Talkie nomenclature is common in the amateur radio world. The term “walkie-talkie” has morphed to something quite different and is used generically to describe a handheld radio. This term covers a wide range of radios, from low-cost Family Radio Service (FRS) radios to higher-quality professional radios. This is quite different from the original Walkie-Talkie, a backpack radio weighing 35 pounds.”

I hope Bob K0NR will forgive me for borrowing parts of his blog, and leaving out some military aspects, which are not relevant to this report. Thank you, Bob!

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, with at least three Handie-Talkies in his shack, only two hands to operate them with, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.