Since Monday the 2^nd, GDACS has been carrying warnings about a new Tropical Cyclone in the North West Pacific, with a name that will resonate well with radio amateurs.

Tropical Storm YAGI arose on the 1^st, over the northern islands of Philippines, and then started moving towards China. Later on the 2^nd, a RED alert level for Philippines and China was issued, with expected high wind speeds of 210km/h.

By Wednesday the Vietnamese border with China was included in the warning as well as Laos, and estimated maximum wind speeds of 241km/h were forecast.  Nearly 14 million people were in the path of 120km/h winds.

On Saturday the GDACS newsletter said that, following YAGI’s passage over northern and eastern Philippines in combination with the south-west monsoon, 16 people had died, 13 others had been injured and 17 were still missing. Moreover, almost 550,000 people had been affected and almost 48,000 displaced across eight regions of the country.

YAGI was expected to continue westward over the South China Sea on 4-6 September, further strengthening, and to make landfall between northern Hainan Island and south-eastern Guangdong province, south-eastern China on 6 September, with maximum sustained winds up to 240 km/h. It was expected yesterday to cross the coast of Northern Vietnam in the Hanoi region as well, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 185km/h.

In the same report Brian Jacobs ZS6YZ sent to me last week, he reported on an agreement that has been signed with the Brakpan Aero Club which manages the Brakpan Airport (FABB) on behalf of the City of Ekurhuleni. The agreement allows HAMNET Gauteng full access to the Airport facilities. This allows the HAMNET container with their cache of equipment to be moved to Brakpan Airfield. A space has been allocated for the container and Ekurhuleni Disaster Management has also requested that their logo be added to the HAMNET container.

HAMNET also has permission to use the extensive area on the airport for training. The first training event on 14 September will be a fox hunt with a twist, amongst the hangers, so that the members who have not yet been involved in a PLB or ELT recovery can get some practice in an environment where reflections of the signal can cause confusion while hunting for the device.

Very good news, that, Brian, and I’m glad the HAMNET container has been centralized to a place where it will always be accessible.

The City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre (DRMC) says that volunteers play a critical role in disaster mitigation efforts.

DRMC has relied heavily on its crop of volunteers in the past year to amplify its response to fires, floods and other public safety risks in Cape Town. The metro has experienced a surge in severe weather conditions in the past two years, including damaging winds and record high rainfall, that has resulted in flooding and property damage, and accelerated the extent of both wildfires and structural fires.

This has resulted in an increased demand on the services of the Disaster Risk Management Centre, and its dedicated crop of volunteers, to help those in need.

DRMC has 419 registered volunteers, working in teams in various parts of the metropole. They are activated through the Disaster Operations Centre via their unit coordinators to assist officials in affected communities for the duration of an incident or event.

During the period April to June this year, volunteers spent 18 471 hours assisting DRMC officials – this equates to more than 769 days of voluntary service.

The appointment of volunteers is entrenched in the Disaster Management Volunteer Regulations Framework, which allows the City to establish volunteer units and by doing so, empower communities effectively to respond to disaster relief efforts.

Thanks to iol.co.za for this report.

HAMNET Western Cape has signed a memorandum of understanding with the DRMC, and has a dedicated radio station (ZS1DCC) at the Goodwood Headquarters, with UHF, VHF, APRS, HF, Winlink, VarAC, and Echolink, as well as Marine monitoring capability, and a 5 GHz microwave link directly with a similar station (ZS1DZ) at the Provincial Emergency Management Centre at Tygerberg Hospital, which manages provincial disasters and their communications. The 5 GHz link is independent of all other means of communications between ZS1DCC and ZS1DZ, and completely private.

Here’s something with applications in amateur radio. Phys.org reports that researchers at ETH Zurich have managed to make sound waves travel only in one direction. In the future, this method could also be used in technical applications with electromagnetic waves.

Water, light and sound waves usually propagate in the same way forward as in a backward direction. As a consequence, when we are speaking to someone standing some distance away from us, that person can hear us as well as we can hear them. Ten years ago, researchers succeeded in suppressing sound wave propagation in the backward direction; however, this also attenuated the waves traveling forwards.

A team of researchers at ETH Zurich led by Nicolas Noiray, professor for Combustion, Acoustics and Flow Physics, in collaboration with Romain Fleury at EPFL, has now developed a method for preventing sound waves from traveling backward without deteriorating their propagation in the forward direction.

In the future, this method, which has recently been published in Nature Communications, could also be applied to electromagnetic waves.

Among other things, Noiray studies how self-sustaining thermo-acoustic oscillations can arise from the interplay between sound waves and flames in the combustion chamber of an aircraft engine, which can lead to dangerous vibrations. In the worst case, these vibrations can destroy the engine.

Noiray had the idea to use harmless self-sustaining aero-acoustic oscillations in order to allow sound waves to pass only in one direction and without any losses through a so-called circulator. In his scheme, the unavoidable attenuation of the sound waves is compensated by the self-oscillations in the circulator synchronizing with the incoming waves, which allows them to gain energy from those oscillations.

The circulator itself was supposed to consist of a disk-shaped cavity through which swirling air is blown from one side through an opening in its centre. For a specific combination of blowing speed and intensity of the swirl, a whistling sound is thus created in the cavity.

“In contrast to ordinary whistles, in which sound is created by a standing wave in the cavity, in this new whistle it results from a spinning wave,” explains Tiemo Pedergnana, a former doctoral student in Noiray’s group and lead author of the study.

From the idea to the experiment, it took a while. First, Noiray and his co-workers investigated the fluid mechanics of the spinning wave whistle, and then added three acoustic waveguides to it, which are arranged in a triangular shape along the edge of the circulator.

Sound waves that are fed in through the first waveguide can leave the circulator through the second waveguide. However, a wave entering through the second waveguide cannot exit “backwards” through the first waveguide, but can do so through the third waveguide.

“This concept of loss-compensated non-reciprocal wave propagation is, in our view, an important result that can also be transferred to other systems,” says Noiray. He sees his sound wave circulator mainly as a powerful toy model for the general approach of wave manipulation using synchronized self-oscillations that can, for instance, be applied to metamaterials for electromagnetic waves.

In this way, microwaves in radar systems could be guided better, and so-called topological circuits could be realized, with which signals can be routed in future communications systems.

Hmm – wonder whether this technology could be used in a flaming argument with your Significant Other, in which neither of you can hear what the other is saying! It might defuse the situation very quickly.

To be honest, radio aficionados have been using circulators for a long time. I wonder why it took so long to apply the process to sound.

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

Good grief! September already! Time really does fly while you’re having fun playing radio..

Bad news from theguardian.com says that Japan’s strongest typhoon of the year has made landfall in the country’s south-west, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 252 km/h, strong enough to destroy homes.

The meteorological agency said Tropical Cyclone SHANSHAN, referred to in Japan as Typhoon No 10, made landfall on the island of Kyushu at around 8am on Thursday the 29^th August. The power company said 254,610 houses were already without electricity.

The meteorological agency predicted 1,100mm of precipitation in southern Kyushu in the 48 hours to Friday morning, around half the annual average for the area, which comprises Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures.

Authorities issued a rare special typhoon warning for most parts of Kagoshima, a prefecture in southern Kyushu. Residents in at-risk areas have been urged to remain on high alert, with transport operators and airlines cancelling trains and flights.

Japan has issued special typhoon warnings only three times in the past. The first came in July 2014, when a strong typhoon brought record-breaking waves to the southern prefecture of Okinawa before moving north, killing three people in landslides in Nagano prefecture.

In October 2016, authorities issued a similar warning for Okinawa’s main island. The typhoon moved north over the sea west of the southernmost main island of Kyushu.

The most recent special typhoon warning came in September 2022 – the first time the warning had been issued outside Okinawa prefecture, according to public broadcaster NHK. 

The potential for major damage is high given SHANSHAN’s sluggish speed. The storm is moving northwards at just 15km/h, the meteorological agency said.

There have already been reports of deaths in landslides – a major hazard in mountainous areas – while tens of thousands of people have been advised to evacuate.

“Typhoon SHANSHAN is expected to approach southern Kyushu with extremely strong force through Thursday,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters earlier. “It is expected that violent winds, high waves and storm surges at levels that many people have never experienced before, may occur.”

The agency also issued its highest “special warning” for violent storms, waves and high tides in parts of the Kagoshima region, with authorities there advising 56,000 people to evacuate.

The warnings indicate the “possibility that a major disaster prompted by [the typhoon] is extremely high,” Satoshi Sugimoto, chief forecaster of the meteorological agency, told a news conference.

Thanks to theguardian.com for these excerpts from their article.

I have reports from two South African sources for you this week.

Brian Jacobs, ZS6YZ, Deputy National Director of HAMNET tells me that HAMNET Gauteng were invited by Ekurhuleni Disaster Management to attend the Weather and Climate Information Services Early Warning Systems for Southern Africa (WISER-EWSA) Co-Production and Testbed preparatory Co-design Workshops that were held in Katlehong from 13-16 August 2024. Brian ZS6YZ, Leon ZS6LMG and Johan ZS6DMX attended the workshops and were also requested to do two presentations.

Leon presented on the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. CAP allows a warning message to be consistently disseminated simultaneously over many warning systems to many applications, such as Google Public Alerts and Cell Broadcast. CAP increases warning effectiveness and simplifies the task of activating a warning for responsible officials.

Brian did a presentation on Amateur Radio, and HAMNET, and also gave the local community some information about what to do if an aircraft happened to crash in or near the community so that they are aware that the scene is effectively a crime scene. As a result, everything needs to be preserved as evidence for the accident investigators from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA).

It was a very informative workshop and, while Brian and Leon have in the past been involved in SA Weather Service workshops, it again helped to strengthen relations with the Weather Service, and Ekurhuleni Disaster Management. Further, the opportunity to introduce Amateur Radio and HAMNET to the community also helps when HAMNET is requested to work in the community, while assisting Ekurhuleni Disaster Management with emergency communications.

Thank you Brian, for that update. More from him in next week’s bulletin.

Then Ian Bradley ZS1BR, has sent me a report on the All Tar Motor Rally, held at Killarney race track in Cape Town at the beginning of August. He says:

”Radio operators were greeted by an unusually chilly morning with some having to scrape frost off their vehicles before heading to the racetrack at Killarney! Control was established at the New Pits by 08:00 with a dual band magmount antenna stuck to the metal roof of the building giving us good comms across the track. Due to the proximity of all stages, we were able to run on VHF simplex for the duration of the rally. However, some QRM on our primary frequency forced us to move to our backup frequency partway through the day.

“As always, operators were placed at the start and end of each stage, as well as a couple of floating radios to fill in any gaps. Andre, ZS1ATX had the best seat in the house, being situated with the commentators in the tower.

“The first stage of the rally was underway by 09:10 with 41 competitors heading out at one-minute intervals. The field was split between regular rally cars and “challengers” which were a mix of track and road cars who would not normally be able to compete in regular rallies.

“If the sheer number of vehicles weren’t enough to keep operators’ hands full, a serious accident occurred during the second stage. Medics and recovery vehicles were quickly dispatched to the scene and the stage paused. A second incident occurred in the third stage, bringing it to a halt while the driver and navigator were carefully extracted and transported to hospital.

“All manner of breakdowns, from blown turbos to flat tyres, whittled down the field to 29 cars, with some skipping stages to undertake repairs. No further incidents hampered the day however, and the race was brought to an end just as the sun started to dip below the horizon.

“Special thanks to Roger ZR1AKK, Davy ZR1FR, Johan ZR1JL, Andre ZS1ATX, Jannie ZS1JFK, Johann ZS1JM, and of course to Ian himself, ZS1BR”

Ian encourages amateurs to volunteer their time and expertise, even if new to amateur radio or sports communication, to assist in making these events safer while also making some noise on the air! Thank you, Ian for your usual comprehensive report.

From a sunny and mild Western Cape, this is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

Adding to the list of tropical storms making their presence felt in the Caribbean, or the northwest Pacific, there is now a red alert out for Tropical Storm SHANSHAN, with maximum wind speeds of 213km/h. The storm is off to the east of Japan, but the estimated population affected by category 1 storm winds of at least 120km/h in Japan, is 22.4 million.

The storm is travelling due north-west at the moment, about 1000km off the southernmost tip of Japan, but is forecast to turn north-east on Monday and then strike the northern part of the southern island of Japan on Tuesday at about 8pm our time. It is expected then to travel up the length of the south island as a category 3 or 4 cyclone. I would expect lots of damage and some casualties.

In a report to me, Michael ZS1MJT says that HAMNET Western Cape was asked to provide a reliable communication network for the Wildrunner Trail Series run to be held at Kleinmond on Sunday 18 August 2024.

The race start was at the day camping facility, close to the beach. A beautiful sunrise welcomed the crew and weather conditions were perfect for such an event.

Two HAMNET operatives (Michael ZS1MJT and Sybrand ZS1L) met at 07h00 and set up a base at the start. Once the base was ready to operate, Sybrand drove to a designated position on the course to relay messages. As the race progressed, Sybrand moved to other positions to relay messages to and from other aid or marshal stations deeper in the mountains.

The Wildrunner frequencies were used for most communications and a simplex HAM frequency for communications between Sybrand and Michael was activated.

The first runners set off at 08h00. By 13h30, the final sweep returned to the arena and operators were allowed to stand down.

The event concluded without incident and the organizers were extremely grateful for our proficient service and message conveyance.

Thanks, Michael, for news of another successful operation.

Our next activation will be for the Helderberg Challenge Run, to be held on September the first.

In an interesting historic look at the opinion of Rajiv Gandhi, VU2RG, Prime Minister of India in the 1980’s, and the prime minister responsible for India’s liberalization and global “tech savvy” reputation, the nationalheraldindia.com notes that “Rajiv Gandhi realised the potential of radio hams. He himself cultivated the hobby, and his vision was to open up communications to the people through amateur wireless stations set up through a national network in 1.6 million villages.

“Even before he became prime minister, he organised an exhibition in 1981 at Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi on ‘Communication: Past, Present, Future’. His mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited the exhibition and was shown how to make contact over amateur radio with several ham stations set up in cyclone-prone areas of Andhra Pradesh.

“Amateur radio should be promoted as a hobby in national interest and to promote scientific temper among the youth. Communication and information technology would help in disaster mitigation, [Rajiv Gandhi] was convinced.

”Arya Ghosh, a life member of the National Institute of Amateur Radio, told the Hindu that on the last day of his life, Rajiv Gandhi made his last call on ham radio from the city of Visakhapatnam while on board an aircraft.”

He seems to have been a very enlightened technophile, bearing in mind that this was in the second half of the 1980’s.

From medicalxpress.com, I read that a team of neuroscientists, brain specialists and psychiatrists, led by a group at Cambridge University in the U.K, has found evidence suggesting that minor brain injuries that occur early in life may have health impacts later on.

In their paper published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the group describes how they analysed and compared MRI scans from hundreds of people participating in the U.K.’s Prevent Dementia study.

Prior research has suggested that some forms of dementia could be related to some types of brain injuries. In this new effort, the research team, hoping to learn more about the impact of concussions or other minor brain injuries on dementia, looked at MRI scans of 617 people between the ages of 40 to 59 who had volunteered to take part in the Prevent Dementia study and who had undergone at least three MRI scans. They also studied their medical histories, focusing most specifically on whether they had had brain injuries anytime during their life.

The research team noted that 36.1% of the volunteers reported having experienced at least one brain injury that was serious enough to have caused them to be unconscious for a short period of time—such injuries are classified as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

Looking at the MRI scans, the researchers found higher than normal instances of cerebral microbleeds (1 in 6 of them) and other symptoms of what they describe as evidence of small vessel disease of the brain. They also found that those patients with at least one TBI were more likely to smoke cigarettes, had more sleep problems, and were more likely to have gait issues and to suffer from depression. They also noted that the more TBIs a person had, the more such problems became apparent.

Another thing that stood out, the team notes, was that those people who had experienced a TBI when younger had a higher risk of memory problems than did patients with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure or diabetes, a possible clue about their likelihood of developing dementia.

The researchers conclude by suggesting that more work needs to be done to learn about the long-term impacts of TBIs, particularly regarding memory retention problems and possible associations with the development of dementia. They further suggest that their work hints at the possibility of unknown health consequences years after people suffer head injuries.

Now this is serious stuff, because the brain injuries they are referring to are minor concussions experienced by young soccer players heading the ball, or young rugby players that go off the field for a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) or young skateboard riders who fall and are dazed, none of whom is actually rendered fully unconscious.

One simply cannot underestimate a head injury or the long-term implications of one.

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

On Monday of this week, GDACS started carrying news of Tropical Cyclone AMPIL, active in the North West Pacific, and threatening the west coast of Japan, with wind speeds of up to 185km/h.

By Thursday, a RED alert had been issued for Japan, as AMPIL strengthened, developing winds of 210km/h. Five million people were faced with winds of at least 120km/h. Tokyo itself was the most at risk, with the eye of the storm passing just east of Tokyo on Friday at about 12h00 UTC.

And Tropical Cyclone ERNESTO announced itself in the Caribbean on Tuesday, threatening the Dominican Republic, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Dominica and Bermuda, and especially bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds to the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

It was forecast to generate heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surge over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The ARRL, in its Thursday newsletter, reported that “Ernesto had moved out of Puerto Rico. The island suffered flash flooding, storm damage, and widespread power outages on Wednesday as Ernesto moved past. Half of all residents were without power, with flooding and damage especially pronounced in the eastern part of the island. Angel Luis Santana Díaz, WP3GW, Public Information Coordinator for the ARRL Puerto Rico Section, reports that amateur radio operators there are on the KP4FRA repeater system reporting situations in different municipalities.

“Fred Kleber, K9VV / NNA2FK, Section Manager of the ARRL Virgin Islands Section, reports Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VIETMA) activated its emergency operations centres on Tuesday night. Power is out to all customers on all islands with lines down and trees blocking some roads. Kleber estimated that full power restoration may take 1 – 2 days. All U.S. Virgin Island (USVI) repeaters are operating except for one, and the British Virgin Islands BVI.73 repeater is on the air as well.”

Techspot.com is reporting this week that major efforts to explore the Moon’s surface and build permanent human outposts will require precise timing technology. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is proposing a new “lunar time” system designed to make life much easier for astronauts – whether on the Moon or elsewhere in space.

While traditional atomic clocks are pushing the boundaries of time measurement precision with science fiction-like technological breakthroughs, those organizing the future of space exploration are focused on a more practical, yet otherworldly, issue. Atomic clocks on the Moon tick faster than those on Earth, gaining an additional 56 microseconds every 24 Earth hours.

This well-known discrepancy could jeopardize efforts to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, as precise time measurement is essential for surface navigation, network communication, and more. On Earth, GPS satellites have atomic clocks synchronized to a common time reference, allowing receivers to determine position and time by measuring the delay in signals from multiple satellites.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is now proposing a GPS-like system for the Moon, featuring a new master “Moon Time” that would serve as the timekeeping reference for the entire lunar surface. Instead of having clocks gradually fall out of sync with Earth’s time, the Moon would be synchronized to a single “time zone” adjusted for its reduced gravity, the agency explained.

As confirmed by Einstein’s theory of relativity, time is not a uniform phenomenon and is influenced by gravity. The Moon’s gravity is weaker than Earth’s, causing clocks to tick slightly faster. The plan conceived by NIST researchers includes a “highly precise” network of clocks placed at specific locations, both on the Moon’s surface and in orbit.

This lunar network would function as a GPS-like navigation system, providing precise measurements for landing attempts and vehicle-based surface exploration. Without this technology, astronauts working at a permanent lunar outpost could easily lose their way. According to NIST physicist Bijunath Patla, “the goal is to ensure that spacecraft can land within a few metres of their intended destination.”

The new navigation system is designed to support NASA’s efforts to return humans to the Moon. The Artemis program aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon while preparing for further exploration of Mars and beyond. According to Patla, the framework proposed by NIST could eventually enable exploration not just beyond the Moon, but even beyond the solar system.

I hope some or all of you are involved in the International Lightship and Lighthouse Weekend for the rest of today, either involved at a lighthouse with your club or favourite group, or trying to make contact with some of them. I think, though I am not sure, that more lighthouses are being activated in Division One than in any of our other coastal divisions, but there are usually about 500 lighthouses and lightships activated around the world, so hopefully, if propagation allows it, you will be able to make contact with some of them.

In the Western Cape, today also sees the running of the Kleinmond Trail Run, organized by Wildrunners, and part of their series of trail runs. HAMNET has been asked to assist, and we have two operators, one at base, and a 4×4 vehicle at a critical spot on the course, and using CalTopo mapping software to keep track of things. Michael, ZS1MJT will be at the base, and Sybrand, ZS1L will be up on the course. I hope to give you a report back next week.

Sciencenews.org reports that, for the second time, the World Health Organization has declared that Mpox, formerly called Monkeypox, is a global health emergency.

In 2022, global spread of the virus, which causes rashes, fevers, muscle aches and other symptoms, led to the first emergency declaration. That version of the virus, called Clade II, is still causing a small number of cases around the world, including in the United States.

Even as clade II cases decline globally, infections with Clade I Mpox have shot up in Congo. Nevertheless, the first Mpox emergency ended in 2023. The sometimes deadly Clade I virus has now spread to previously unaffected countries in Africa and reported cases have surged beyond levels seen in 2022 or 2023. Children have been particularly hard hit.

Following the committee’s advice, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on August 14 that the outbreak is now a public health emergency of international concern. “It’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” he said.

It will never be an epidemic or pandemic like Covid-19, but, in that it is a virus infection, treatment will be difficult, and spread will be easy.

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

In South Africa, we still have the disaster watch in progress over KwaZulu Natal, with extreme temperatures and very dry conditions. EWN news says that dangerous fires are expected across large parts of the province today (Sunday).

And the never-ending wet weather in the western parts continues. Three retention dams burst their banks in a chain-reaction type disaster, in the Swartland area of the Western Cape this week, and a fourth dam’s wall is looking vulnerable as I write this. The communities of Dassenberg, Chatsworth and Riverlands have been flooded, roads and other amenities washed away, and large numbers of animals washed away or drowned.

The dailymaverick.co.za reported yesterday that 14 people were hospitalized, 444 are receiving humanitarian support and 224 people are being housed at a local church and a community centre. The Riverlands town is without potable water, and the Swartland and Drakenstein Municipality will temporarily provide water to the community until water supply is restored. Electricity infrastructure to the area has also been destroyed.

And it goes without saying that the humanitarian relief organisation Gift of the Givers, which was called by the Swartland Municipality and local disaster management team in the early hours of Thursday morning to provide assistance in evacuating people and supplying aid, is still on the site and will remain there for the next week.

The SPCA from the Cape of Good Hope and the Swartland has been active in the area, desperately looking for missing farm and domestic animals. With all animal feed washed away, and grazing areas covered in sludge, there is an immediate need to supply food for the remaining animals once recovered. Donations are gratefully received by the SPCA in these areas.

Reporting on Tropical Cyclone DEBBY, a category one hurricane which swept across Florida before turning to cross the Carolinas, the ARRL newsletter of 8^th August says that the storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend area just after 11pm local time on 4^th August.

The following day, it was downgraded to a tropical storm, with sustained winds of about 120km/h. The national Hurricane Centre’s ham station WX4NHC was activated, as were the Hurricane Watch Net and the VoIP Hurricane Net, as Debby deprived 248000 homes and business customers of electricity.

GDACS says that, after DEBBY’s passage, media reported six fatalities, five across the Big Bend region (northern Florida) and one more in southern Georgia. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported 294 people evacuated to 36 shelters and evacuation orders for 12 counties throughout Florida.

DEBBY was forecast to make its second landfall over the central coast of South Carolina (near to the area of the Charleston city) on 8 August very early in the morning (UTC), with maximum sustained winds up to 83 km/h and as a tropical storm. Very heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surges were forecast over South and North Carolina, and the tropical storm warning issued by NOAA is still in force over most of this area.

Grace Chen, reporting from Malaysia in thestar.com, says that members of a local amateur ham radio society took part in a mass disaster communication simulation exercise to transmit messages across 30 hills and mountain peaks nationwide.

The event was organised by the Malaysian Amateur Radio Transmitters Society (Marts) that was set up in 1952.

Its president Mohd Aris Bernawi said the exercise was to establish the locations where two-way radio communication can be carried out in the event landlines, Internet and mobile phone communication has to be shut down due to large-scale disasters.

“The floods in Pahang and Selangor in 2014 and 2021, respectively, rendered landlines and other digital networks unusable due to the need to shut off electricity.

“Radio communication can also be useful when there are large-scale forest fires where electricity and communication cable lines are located,” said Aris.

Among peaks chosen for the exercise was the National Planetarium in Kuala Lumpur, using the call sign 9M2RPN.

Marts member Hamdan Abu, who coordinated the locations, chose the planetarium because it was located more than 150m above sea level.

“Height is not the only criterion. No buildings should interfere with transmissions,” he said.

Hamdan, who took three months to look at locations, said members had also spent another three weeks training for the final day of the simulation exercise.

Six Marts members set up a tent beside the planetarium entrance during the day-long exercise, using different frequency bands to simulate road closures, weather conditions and rescue efforts, which their counterparts stationed on other peaks, would then transmit and relay.

Siti Nusilah Hassan said that the act of relaying a message during the simulation drill required a certain level of precision to preserve clarity.

“We will state the number of words, and during transmission, either by voice or Morse code, we will read out even the punctuation marks.”

To ensure accuracy, the receiver of the message must confirm receiving the same number of words as stated, she added.

Siti Nusilah, a sales and marketing executive with a textile company, said she became a ham radio enthusiast in 2017 after reading a news article on how knowledge in two-way radio communication could become an asset during emergencies.

She was joined at the planetarium by army sergeant Taufiq Sanapi, safety executive Ahmad Husaini Marzuki, 4 school lab assistant Ramlah Mamat, and Mohd Albar Mohd Noor, an executive director of an event management company. (Certainly a varied set of backgrounds those volunteers came from)

Thanks to The Star for these excerpts from their report.

I note with excitement again, the Sunspot Number registered on Saturday morning, of 382, which, together with a Solar Flux Index of 306, is the highest I’ve ever known about. Unfortunately the numbers are never constant, and so an average figure for the week, as quoted by Hannes Coetzee in the HQ bulletin, is far more accurate, and likely to predict the propagation possibilities.

By the way, if you don’t already know of the website, consider having a look at www.solarham.com run by a Canadian ham, VE3EN, who puts together all the possible indices of solar weather on one page, with daily and sometimes hourly updates, as solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and geomagnetic storms change our communications patterns. There are also animations showing how CME’s affect the earth. Remember – a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s www.solarham.com.

Once again, from a very grey and drab and wet Western Cape, this is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

Since the 30^th July, reports have been coming out of India regarding heavy monsoon rainfall which triggered a series of landslides in the Wayanad district of the Kerala state, in Southern India. According to SPHERE India, as of 30 July, 270 people had died, 378 were still missing, 214 had been injured and more than 8,500 people had been evacuated in 85 relief camps. The rainfall is ongoing, and so further infrastructure damage and loss of life can unfortunately be expected.

Interestingly, a variety of agencies in the media are claiming the landslides could have been avoided. The monsoon rains certainly couldn’t have been. Apparently 140mm of rain fell in a single day. According to a panel convened to study the disaster, a changing landscape, with the evolution of tourist resorts in the name of eco-tourism and [also] indiscriminate quarrying, has more than altered the topography and endangered safety. Such is the degradation that on the northern side of Wayanad, especially in Thirunelli and Mananthavady panchayats, the ground has cracked at many places and wide faults that trigger landslips have emerged. It is not surprising therefore that slices of hillside were easily shed to tumble into valley areas.

And the Global Disaster Alert Coordination System (or GDACS) noted a magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck the east coast of Mindanao Island in the Philippines just after midnight our time on Saturday morning early. The quake was situated at a depth of 26km, and exposed a population of 230000 people to possible injury. At the time of compiling this report, I was unable to find news of casualties.

Here’s a clever application of modern usage of those ubiquitous drones we read so much about. Techxplore.com reports that an international team of infectious disease researchers with the World Mosquito Program, working with colleagues from WeRobotics, has developed a way to release large numbers of mosquitoes infected with a mosquito-killing bacteria into the wild much more efficiently than current methods.

In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group describes the container that was designed to hold and carry the mosquitoes and then to release them slowly over a wide parcel of land.

Jacob Crawford, with Verily Life Sciences LLC, has published a Focus piece in the same journal issue outlining the requirements necessary for effective aerial release devices and pointing out the benefits that automation could provide.

Mosquitoes carry a variety of viruses such as those that cause dengue fever. Scientists and health officials have been working to find ways to reduce their population numbers in places that are vulnerable to such infections. One such approach has been finding bacteria that infect and disable or kill the types of mosquitoes that cause disease and then finding ways to infect the mosquitoes with the bacteria.

The most common approach is to breed large numbers of the mosquitoes, infect them and then manually release them into the wild. But such an approach, it has been found, is inefficient, difficult, and oftentimes dangerous. In this new effort, the research team has found a way to use drones to get the job done.

The work by the team involved designing a container that could hold multiple small loads of infected mosquitoes and then release them at desired intervals. It also had to be small and lightweight enough to be carried by a drone.

The result was a small white box capable of holding 160,000 mosquitoes, divided into multiple compartments with a release mechanism that could be used to release the mosquitoes held in a given compartment on-demand.

The drone can fly to a given spot, release approximately 150 infected mosquitoes and then move to another spot—over and over until all the mosquitoes have been released. The box also has a climate control feature and a means for sedating the mosquitoes until it is time for their release.

In field trials conducted in Fiji, the team found that the system worked well in uniform distribution compared to manual release. In a second field test, they found that use of the drone to distribute infected mosquitoes effectively spread the disease and greatly reduced mosquito numbers in the given area.

Personally Ithink this is fiendishly cunning of the researchers! Thanks to techxplore.com for that piece of news.

Members of the Rally support group in the Western Cape, which includes HAMNET members volunteered to assist with the All Tar Motor Rally held yesterday the 3^rd at Killarney Racetrack.

In beautiful blue-sky weather, 41 cars started the 7 stage rally, with at least 6 radio operators managing the JOC or the starts and finishes of the various stages. Johann Marais ZS1JM acted as Chief Radio Marshal for the race. I am reliably informed that several cars came off the racetrack in more pieces that they started in, but a good time seems to have been had by all the radio operators, and the comms for the race proceeded efficiently. Well done to you fellows!

Finally a report from spaceweather.com says that the monthly average sunspot number for July 2024 was 196.5, according to the Royal Observatory of Belgium’s Solar Influences Data Analysis Centre. Solar Cycle 25 wasn’t expected to be this strong. When it began in Dec. 2019, experts predicted it would be a weak cycle like its immediate predecessor Solar Cycle 24. If that forecast had panned out, Solar Cycle 25 would be one of the weakest solar cycles in a century.

Instead, Solar Cycle 25 has shot past Cycle 24 and may be on pace to rival some of the stronger cycles of the 20th century. Already in May 2024 we experienced a century-class geomagnetic storm with auroras sighted in the South Pacific, central America and southern Africa.

Is this Solar Max? The jury is still out. Sunspot numbers may continue to rise in the months ahead and, based on the behaviour of previous cycles, we can confidently expect high solar activity for at least 2 to 3 more years.

Here’s hoping!

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

The Tropical Cyclone on the lips of everybody in the region of the South China Sea is called GAEMI, and reports have been issued on a daily basis since Monday the 22^nd. It arose due east of the northern islands of the Philippines, and has been taking a slightly curly course north-westward, brushing past the Philippine island of Luzon, and then smacking the northeastern half of Taiwan directly on Thursday the 25^th. Winds of up to 220km/h have been experienced as GAEMI hits landmasses.

From there it was aiming for the Chinese mainland, due to arrive on Friday, and carrying on directly north-west over the inland territories before weakening. 24 million people were said to be in its direct line of attack, and, by Friday afternoon, 2 ships had sunk, one with a huge amount of industrial fuel oil on board and causing a major oil slick about 7 km long, just a few kilometres from the coast of Philippines and near Manila. Evacuations in Taiwan and neighbouring areas numbered about 25000, while 629000 people in the Philippines had been displaced by Friday. Heavy rain to very heavy rainfall and strong winds are still forecast across the whole of Taiwan, south-eastern China, southern Ryukyu Islands and north-western Philippines. Typhoon warnings are still in effect over Taiwan and south-eastern China. 

And focustaiwan.tw says that this year’s Han Kuang military exercises have been cut short as troops were mobilized to assist in disaster relief in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi, the Ministry of National Defence (MND) said on Thursday.

Multiple drills scheduled between noon on Thursday and Friday — when the five-day exercises were originally scheduled to conclude — have been cancelled, and table-top war games will be conducted instead, the MND said.

Troops previously assigned to participate in the drills will now assist local governments in disaster relief to ensure people and their properties remain safe, the MND added.

An article in thehindu.com, says that twenty amateur radio operators from various parts of Thrissur have expressed their willingness to join the rescue operation under way at the site of a landslip at Shirur in Karnataka.

In a letter to the authorities concerned, they offered to render technical and communication support in connection with ongoing rescue operations at the site, where a trucker from Kerala is missing among three others.

“We are a group of WPC (wireless planning and coordination) licensed operators, who have been associating with district disaster management authority in Thrissur. We have successfully operated during 2018 floods in Kerala and landslip rescue operations in Pettimudi. Since 2009, we have been providing communication support to district emergency operations centre, Thrissur, in coordinating various departments for smooth functioning of Thrissur pooram, the largest gathering in South India. We can operate under stressful situations with utmost precision and accuracy,” they pointed out.

They urged the State authorities to give them permission to assist the Karnataka government’s rescue team.

It is great to see the radio amateurs volunteering without being asked for help.

Further advances in Laser Communications are reported on in theverge.com, which says that NASA researchers have successfully tested laser communications in space by streaming 4K video footage originating from an airplane in the sky to the International Space Station and back.

The feat demonstrates that the space agency could provide live coverage of a Moon landing during the Artemis missions and bodes well for the development of optical communications that could connect humans to Mars and beyond. NASA normally uses radio waves to send data and talk between the earth and space but says that laser communications using infrared light can transmit data 10 to 100 times faster than radios.

Engineers fitted an airplane with a portable laser terminal, then flew it over Lake Erie and sent data back to the centre in Cleveland. The data was then transmitted through a terrestrial network to NASA’s New Mexico test facility, where scientists controlled the process of beaming data up to the agency’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) satellite 22,000 miles away. The LCRD then relayed it to the ILLUMA-T (Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal) on the ISS.

All rather convoluted really, but I hope you get the gist. A moon landing in 4K video would be a huge improvement on the grainy TV pictures when Neil Armstrong jumped off the bottom rung of his ladder in 1969.

In another Hackaday article, Al Williams asks if shortwave is on life support.

 He says: “Between World War II and Y2K, shortwave listening was quite an education. With a simple receiver, you could listen to the world. Some of it, of course, was entertainment, and much of it was propaganda of one sort or another. But you could learn a lot. Kids with shortwave radios always did great in geography. Getting the news from a different perspective is often illuminating, too. Learning about other cultures and people in such a direct way is priceless. Getting a QSL card in the mail from a faraway land seemed very exciting back then.

“Today, the shortwave landscape is a mere shadow of itself. According to a Wikipedia page, there are 235 active shortwave broadcasters from a list of 414, so nearly half are defunct. Not only are there many “dead” shortwave outlets, but many of the ones that are left are either not aimed at the world market or serve a niche group of listeners.

“You can argue that with the Internet, you don’t need radio, and that’s probably correct in some ways but misses a few important points. Indeed, many broadcasters still exist as streaming stations or a mix of radio and streaming

“So, while a 14-year-old in 1975 might be hunched over a radio wearing headphones, straining to hear NHK World Radio, these days, he is likely surfing the popular social media site of the week. You could easily argue that content on YouTube, Instagram, and the like can come from all over the world, so what’s the problem?

“The problem is information overload. Faced with a shortwave radio, there were a limited number of options available. What’s more, only a small part of the band might be “open” at any given time. It isn’t like the radio could play games or — unless you were a ham — allow you to chat with your friends. So you found radio stations from Germany to South Africa, from China and Russia, to Canada and Mexico. You knew the capital of Albania. You learned a little Dutch from Radio Nederlands.

“Is there an answer? Probably not. Radio isn’t coming back, barring an apocalyptic event. Sure, you can listen to the BBC on your computer, but you probably won’t. You can even listen to a radio over the network, but that isn’t going to draw in people who aren’t already interested in radio, even if it really looks like a radio.”

What a pity!

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR on another soggy Cape day, reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Chile close to the Bolivian border on Friday morning the 19^th July at 03h50 Central African time, exposing a population of about 140000 to Magnitude 7 shaking. By Friday evening, no reports of casualties had trickled through yet

You will have noted that two South African provinces were declared disaster areas this week, and for opposite reasons. KwaZulu Natal had parts of the province given disaster status as a result of extreme heat and uncontrollable fires, which claimed some lives amongst firefighters and the public, and the weather hasn’t abated there yet, so disaster management teams and firefighters remain on alert.

And the Western Cape was declared a disaster area as a result of very high rainfall, and damaging winds and storm surges, after a succession of cold fronts battered the Cape. As I mentioned last week, the informal settlements scattered along river banks and in low-lying areas were generally washed away, and this week, starter kits of materials with which to rebuild houses were issued out to many destitute residents.

And rain-wise, this week was no better. I live in a central Peninsular area, where rainfall is usually milder than the classical wet areas, like Newlands and Rondebosch, but even I broke my previous records for the most rain in one calendar month, since I started keeping records in 2001. Since Wednesday the 3^rd of July, I have recorded 271 mm of rain, soundly beating my previous record of 247 in August 2013. And we still have another 10 days of July to get through. In the last six days, I have recorded 144mm, but I’m sure places like Newlands, the Tygerberg and the catchment areas of the main dams serving the Western Cape will have experienced 2-3 times as much. I believed those same dam’s increased their levels by 20 percentage points this week alone.

I give thanks that our rain doesn’t all arrive in one day, like KZN experiences, and bridge wash-aways and loss of life is not as marked. Meanwhile, the inland high ground is threatened with snowfalls, particularly over the Ceres, Cedarberg and Koue Bokkeveld area, as well as the Sani Pass and Giant’s Castle portion of the Drakensberg, and the south-eastern tip of Lesotho. Winter ain’t over yet!

BBC.com pertinently asks the question: Do tornadoes or hailstones do more damage?

The world is devastated by 1000’s of tornadoes each year. Yet, in 2023, heat claimed more than double the fatalities caused by tornadoes, surprisingly, and hail can account for 60-80% of insured losses from thunderstorms – more than tornadoes do.

To those who have only experienced mild hail, the icy sprinkles may seem harmless by comparison. But hail can unleash a torrent of chaos. In June, a plane travelling from Spain to Austria had its nose cone ripped away and its cockpit windows smashed after flying into a hail storm. In 2018, softball-sized ice pummelled a Colorado zoo, killing two birds and injuring 14 people. And, although rare, hail can be fatal to humans too, with eight deaths recorded in the last 70 years.

Tornadoes get a lot of publicity, but hailstorms can span kilometres and last hours, and do far more general damage. Their reach and frequency means hail storms are a particular challenge for the insurance industry. According to Ian Giammanco, a meteorologist and managing director of standards and analytics at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), only about 10% of all hail-producing thunderstorms cause damage – but those that do, wreak havoc, with hail accounting for “more than $10bn in the Americas in insured losses every year since 2008”.

At just 2.5cm hail can start to damage vegetation, Giammanco says. By 3.8cm, it can dent cars and older, shingle roofs. By 5cm it cracks car windshields and damages most building materials typically used in US construction. Bigger than 5cm, hail has the potential to crack plywood decking and at 10cm it can come through your roof.

Climate change is strengthening storm updrafts, according to an upcoming paper by Prof Vittorio Gensini and colleagues. Updrafts work like a hairdryer pointing upwards, Gensini explains; the stronger the thrust of air, the larger the ice-ball you could balance at its top. Therefore as the updrafts become stronger, bigger hailstones can be created. However, the warming climate is also causing more, smaller hailstones to melt before they hit the ground, he counters. 

Unfortunately, the two threats – hail and tornadoes – commonly are found close together. The strongest, rotating and tornado-forming thunderstorms – known as supercells – are produced by the same atmospheric conditions that are also likely to create hail. 

So in essence, you get whacked on the roundabouts as well as on the swings!

Very exciting this week was the monitoring of the sunspot number, which on Thursday, Friday and Saturday reached a staggering figure of 275 (gathered together in groups of course), only 10 sunspots less than the record of 285 measured during the peak of solar cycle 19, in March 1958, the best solar cycle ham radio has ever experienced. I personally listened to one of my Elmers working Hawaii (KH6) on 2watts USB on 20 metres from ZS5-land at that time! Let’s hope it happens this cycle too. Folks, turn on your radios and listen around!

In a short paragraph written for Hackaday by Jenny List, she wonders whether hackers are the future of amateur radio.

She says “If amateur radio has a problem, it’s that shaking off an image of being the exclusive preserve of old men with shiny radios talking about old times, remains a challenge. Especially, considering that so many amateurs are old men who like to talk a lot about old times. It’s difficult to attract new radio amateurs in the age of the Internet, so some in the hobby are trying new avenues. Dan, KB6NU went to the recent HOPE conference to evangelise amateur radio, and came away having had some success. We agree with him, hackers can be the future of amateur radio.

“In the slides from his talk, he goes through all the crossovers between the two communities from Arduinos to GNU Radio. We don’t need persuading; in fact we’d have added UHF and microwave RF circuitry and pushing the limits of the atmosphere with digital modes such as WSPR to the list as our personal favourites. It seems he found willing converts, and it’s certainly a theme we’ve featured before here at Hackaday. After all, unless it retains its interest, amateur radio could just die away.”

I’m not sure that amateur radio will just die away, but I do agree that the hacker mentality will certainly add to the enterprising spirit needed to keep amateur radio interesting to the new ham. What do you think?

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting from a soggy Cape Town for HAMNET in South Africa.

Over last weekend, Tropical Cyclone BERYL, which had weakened as it drifted west-north-west towards Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, changed its mind, turned sharp right and swept across about 50 of Texas’ lower counties. A state of disaster in that half of Texas was declared last Friday, as the storm brought the potential for damaging winds, heavy rainfall and a storm surge that could push waters up by a couple of metres along the Texas coastline.

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination Centre (GDACS) summarizes the final statistics arising from the hurricane as including 28 fatalities in various countries and many thousands of affected or displaced persons. What was unusual about Beryl was how early in the hurricane season such a severe storm arose, and how quickly it transformed from a storm warning to a stage 5 hurricane. I hope this is not a forewarning of things to come this season.

In other parts of the US, extreme temperatures were being measured. In Arizona’s Death Valley, the record for the highest temperature ever recorded there was broken this week, at a touch over 53 degrees Celsius! And apparently some people were foolish enough to congregate there just to be able to experience the heat, in the knowledge that their vehicles might overheat, and blow a head gasket, trapping them in the life-threatening temperatures. There doesn’t appear to be any medication for madness!

Meanwhile, the South African weather services were warning of a series of cold fronts, striking the south western Cape coastline in quick succession, and bringing heavy rains, very strong winds, and flooding to low-lying areas.

And, as you have most probably seen, the Municipality of Cape Town, plus Stellenbosch and Overberg municipalities were devastated by huge amounts of rainfall, of the order of 200-300 mm of rain between last Sunday the 7^th and today. Masses of homes were flooded, families had to be evacuated away to dry community halls and rescue centres, roads and embankments were washed away, trees were uprooted, and infrastructure like clean water supply and electricity devastated.

It is not over yet. Another 40mm of rain is forecast between today and the end of this coming week, before the cloud and precipitation leaves us. I don’t think the Western Cape experiences those flash-flood type storms that strike the border areas with Mozambique and in KZN for example. We don’t experience such loss of life, but the effect of the weather and the very cold winter months make surviving in a wet home, with nothing dry to keep warm under, or even wear, very unpleasant, and contribute to a different type of disaster that takes many weeks to recover from.

Unfortunately the citizens in the areas who suffer the most are the informal dwellers, who have to be content with self-built non-waterproof shacks on low-lying ground, and it doesn’t take more than a rise of 50cm in the water table to flood all the dwellings. Disaster Management Agencies in the province run round in circles, helping in area after area, just in time for the next cold front to strike, and the next informal settlement to be flooded.

We hope to see the end to this rash of cold fronts during the course of the coming week. Of course, maximum temperatures don’t get much above 14 degrees, and humidity remains in the 80 to 90 percent range, so nothing dries, even though it is not raining. Very dismal indeed.

HAMNET Western Cape has been on standby, and nets on HF have continued, to make sure that outlying hams are safe, and also to make sure message traffic can be passed if areas get cut off. So far, we have not been needed. Luckily, in this weather, people are not foolish enough to try hiking up Table Mountain, so searches and rescues have been down to the minimum. The Table Mountain Cable Car system is not running anyway, as it undergoes its annual maintenance in July, so people realize that if they walk up Table Mountain, they’re jolly well going to have to walk down again, and a slippery mountain is a treacherous mountain!

The cold Antarctic air that always comes in after a major cold front in the Western Cape, is responsible for snow alerts for the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape, and Free State, as well as very cold conditions in the northern Provinces, as well as for the strong winds and veld fire warnings in KZN, which has their disaster management agencies also on high alert.

Meanwhile, Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman, of “Gift of the Givers” has repeated his call for a single organization countrywide to manage disasters. He says that, with disaster management on many tiers in each province, and often on different tiers in each province, it becomes very difficult to know how best to respond, and who to approach for the right kind of governmental response, or disaster funding in each province. Things are too fragmented, he says.

Often he has wondered “who is in charge?”, and notes that with many agencies with varying degrees of capability, it is easy for responsibility to be passed on to someone else, thereby shifting “blame” when reactions to disasters are being orchestrated.

The ARRL has distributed a paragraph saying that, at Ham Radio 2024, the International amateur radio exhibition, last week in Friedrichshafen, Germany, the Software Defined Radio Academy (SDRA) celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Founded in 2014, the SDRA has become a new platform for the exchange of knowledge surrounding software defined radio. In the early years, the academy’s lectures were recorded with primitive camera technology, but today a video team takes the recordings to a completely different level. The SDRA’s YouTube channel now has 150 uploads, 4850 subscribers, and many more views of the videos.

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

Last Saturday the 29^th of June, messages started arriving of the first big Tropical Cyclone of the season in the Caribbean rearing its head. Named BERYL, it was travelling virtually due West and threatening Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and eventually Mexico with winds of up to 270km/h. The alert level was classified RED.

By Wednesday, the Hurricane Watch Net had been activated at the National Hurricane Centre, to watch BERYL, now classified as a Category 4 storm, saying that it was expected to make landfall in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico by Friday. WX4NHC was monitoring 14.325MHz and 7.268MHz as its primary frequencies.

2.3 million persons were in its expected path. Jamaica declared a 7 day state of disaster from Wednesday to cover the expected duration of severe weather over the island and imposed an island-wide curfew between 06h00 and 18h00 local time on Wednesday to reduce the likelihood of unnecessary injuries during the severity of the storm.

By Friday, GDACS had tallied up seven fatalities, five persons missing and 500 evacuated to shelters in Jamaica.

Greg Mossop G0DUB of IARU Region One issued a long list of emergency HF frequencies being used by amateurs in most of the Caribbean Islands, too long a list to quote here. He asks for IARU Region One stations to exercise restraint, and listen carefully on 80, 40 and 20 metres for any stations low down in the noise before using these bands. You may be interfering with emergency communications.

BERYL weakened as it moved towards Mexico, where it was classified as a Category Two hurricane. Still bad enough!

And in Cape Town, Michael ZS1MJT, our Regional Director has announced that Disaster Risk Management has asked HAMNET members to be on standby this weekend, as Level Six warnings were issued for severe weather today Sunday in the peninsula and along the Southern Cape coast. We ran an hourly net on 7110 kHz from yesterday afternoon the 6^th July, starting at 15h00 and interfering with the rugby until 19h00!

Ahead of this weather, the previous cold front brought icy conditions with it, likely to bring snowfalls over the mountainous regions of the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape, and extending into parts of the Northern Cape and Free State. Definitely time to unpack your long-johns for later use.

In another of his very comprehensive reports about the Scottburgh to Brighton Surf Ski Marathon, Keith Lowes ZS5WFD, Regional Director for HAMNET KZN says that they could not have wished for better weather conditions last Sunday the 30th. There was a light South Westerly blowing, and surf conditions were less than 1 metre.

Race Control was managed by Deputy Provincial Director Duncan ZS5DGR and Jitesh ZS5JM situated in Athlone Park Amanzimtoti at the QTH of Steve ZS5SH.

A team of 17 Hamnet-KZN operators were deployed to manage the safety of the event over the 46Km route.  Roeloff ZS5RPC reported that twelve single ski’s started at “Scottburgh” at 06H30 followed by fourteen doubles at 07H00.

It was compulsory for all competitors to have the App “SafeTrx” active on their cellular phones secured in a waterproof pouch.  This was monitored by the NSRI for any emergency activation.  I am pleased to report that NO activations were received. Eight inflatable rescue boats (IRB’s) and two Jet Ski’s monitored the competitors from a safe distance to minimise the risk of exhaust fumes impacting the paddlers.  The IRB’s were in contact with each other with newly purchased vhf commercial radios.

Next stop was “Green Point” which was under the watchful eye of Assistant Provincial Director Sid ZS5AYC and his team of Louis ZS5LS and Craig ZS6CHT. “Umkomaas” was covered by Mark ZS5JE and Paul ZS5PAH; “Winkelspruit” saw Geoff ZS5AGM and Val ZS5VAL positioned on the upper level of the Surf Lifesaving Club, giving them a great vantage point to view the race. A compulsory check-in at “Amanzimtoti” was monitored by Ben ZS5BN with race numbers being relayed to him from a rescue boat off-shore at a marker buoy.

Two single and two doubles started the short course (23Km) from Amanzimtoti at 08H00. “Windy Corner” in Athlone Park was covered by Wayne ZS5WAY. “Dakota Beach” Isipingo saw Shaun ZS5SM and Kathy ZS5OL keeping a good look-out.

It is safe to say that the busiest position was that of Rob ZS5ROB at the Bluff “V Cutting” who had his hands full reporting descriptions of ski’s passing his position to the Finish at “Brighton Beach” which was under the control of Provincial Director Keith ZS5WFD and Deon ZS5DD.

All communications were on 2 metres, using 145.550 Simplex with operators making use of portable masts with either directional or vertical antennas.

The winner of the Long Race – Double Ski – finished in 3 Hr 38 minutes whilst the first Single Ski finished in 4 Hr 09 minutes.

The race officials extended a sincere vote of thanks to HAMNET KZN for our valuable assistance in once again ensuring the successful running of the event.

Thank you Keith for ensuring that HAMNET KZN’s flag continues to fly high!

Indy100.com reports this week that scientists have just identified mysterious shapes flying above the Earth but, they say, don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that aliens are about to strike.

Using an imaging instrument called the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD), the experts uncovered strange X and C shapes, which have been cropping up in surprising places at surprising times.

The researchers found the structures dancing around the ionosphere – the area where Earth’s atmosphere meets space – and say that the discovery could help improve radio communications and space weather forecasts.

The ionosphere – which sits roughly 80 to 644 kilometres above the planet’s surface – becomes electrically charged as sunlight strikes it over the course of the day. This creates plasma bands of charged particles that are further influenced by Earth’s magnetic field, as Science Alert notes. And it is these bubbles of plasma that form the X and C shapes that have been observed.

This study and the GOLD data serve as further proof of how innovations in scientific research and technology are helping us to discover more about Earth and the Universe as a whole.

Astrophysicist Jeffrey Klenzing from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, who wasn’t directly involved in the study, pointed out: “The fact that we have very different shapes of bubbles this close together tells us that the dynamics of the atmosphere are more complex than we expected.”

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