Sudden flash floods wrought havoc in northern Nepal on Wednesday, washing away vehicles, damaging homes, roads and critical infrastructure near the Tibetan border. Authorities launched rescue and relief operations after floodwaters surged through parts of Rasuwa district, triggering evacuations along riverbanks. The disaster has disrupted transport links, electricity supply and raised fears of casualties as emergency teams race to assess the damage. The cause of the flood is said to be the collapse of a glacier on the Nepal side of the Himalayan mountains.

Phys.org reports that Geomorphologists Kristen Cook and Dan Shugar said initial images from Nepal were obscured by clouds and dust from the debris, so they could only see that part of a glacier had broken off from Langtang Lirung peak, near the border with Tibet. In clearer images from Thursday, they said they could see that the bedrock underneath the glacier had collapsed, taking the massive chunk of ice down with it and sending boulders and ice into the valley.

“It shows the whole area without anything hidden, and we could see that, yes, it looked like there was not only this glacier that had failed, but a much larger chunk of the bedrock of the mountainside itself that had given way,” said Shugar, associate professor at the University of Calgary. “You have this big bedrock failure that took part of the glacier with it.”

The death toll was in the mid 500’s by Friday midday, with 2500 missing or unaccounted for, and 93000 people affected, according to the Red Cross. Rescuers continue the search for at least 2500 people, many of them tourists, from places like India, the US, the UK, Australia and Canada, in areas where dozens of bridges and almost 40km or roads have been destroyed

The UK, the EU, India, the US and the Red Cross have all provided immediate aid or pledges of aid.

There is a fear of a secondary flood, as the flood waters have filled a lake at a site along the Tibet-Nepal border, prompting fears that it could burst its banks. Chinese authorities in Tibet say hundreds of people are missing and three deaths have been recorded there.

Tropical Cyclone SAUDEL in the north-west Pacific, with wind speeds forecast to be up to 210km/h, has been threatening the Northern Mariana Islands, Japan and China since early in the week. 13 million people are in the path of 120km/h winds. As of Friday, it had missed the northern tip of Philippines, and the southern tip of Japan, and was headed towards the coast of mainland China.

Einthoven University of Technology Student Solar Team has successfully completed the first practical tests of the solar ambulance Stella Juva in Kenya. The ambulance generates more solar energy than it consumes during medical use. This demonstrates that Stella Juva can operate independently without relying on an electricity grid or fuel. To test the delivery of health care powered by the sun, the student team drove to several remote field locations in Kenya.

Writing in medicalxpress.com, the Solar Team reports that Stella Juva was developed by 23 students with the aim of making medical care accessible to people in remote areas where reliable infrastructure, electricity and fuel are lacking. In doing so, Solar Team Eindhoven wants to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future while also making a social impact. For its development, the team collaborated with the international health organization Amref Health Africa.

Unlike a traditional ambulance, Stella Juva brings health care directly to people. The solar ambulance generates energy using solar panels on the roof and, while stationary, via extendable panels on the sides of the vehicle. This energy proves sufficient to drive and power medical equipment.

The team tested Stella Juva at various field locations in Kenya around the Narok region. The solar ambulance is approved for use on public roads, meaning it could be deployed on both paved and unpaved roads—the conditions in which the vehicle could ultimately be used. At one point, the team spent six hours traveling on challenging roads to reach a remote field location in Mosiro.

In total, the team covered more than 800 kilometers. Aside from a broken steering rod, which was replaced within half an hour, the vehicle hardly ran into any problems on the challenging route. This demonstrated that the solar ambulance is reliable and performs well under challenging conditions.

Stella Juva is equipped with medical equipment that is urgently needed by health organizations in remote locations, such as an X-ray machine, ultrasound, automated external defibrillator (AED) and cooling equipment for vaccines. During a two-day test with Amref Health Africa, the solar ambulance proved that it could have provided medical care to approximately 200 people.

While stationary, Stella Juva generated far more solar energy than it consumed while using all the medical equipment simultaneously. This showed that the solar ambulance can operate in an energy-independent manner, allowing health care workers to keep using medical equipment at all times.

“It is really great for the team to see the potential of Stella Juva in practice,” says team manager Mathijs van Gerven, “not only to drive sustainably, but also to be able to provide fully independent care. Especially in remote areas where energy is often scarce, this can make all the difference.”

Two interesting apps have been announced for your windows desktop on the Amateur Radio Weekly menu.

The first is “Spothole” for HF enthusiasts, which is an aggregator of amateur radio spots from DX clusters and outdoor activity programmes. It’s free for anyone to use and includes an API that developers can build other applications on. Go to spothole.app, and you will find a live constantly updating list of stations that are currently on the air, their frequency and mode, as well as the type of activity they are engaged in, such as POTA, or WWFF, and also the station that posted the DX. This is very convenient, and easy to use.

The other is DXChrono, which is a free web-based application designed specifically for amateur radio operators, shortwave listeners, and anyone interested in global time visualisation. It provides real-time visualisation of time zones, propagation conditions, and solar activity across the world map.

The application combines accurate time zone calculations with live solar data to help users understand optimal transmission times, greyline propagation, and worldwide communication patterns. For a full local shack display with DX Cluster, N1MM+, satellites, and more, see DXChrono Desktop.

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

A report in chroniclejournal.com, written by Darryl Greer says that a caver has been rescued after being trapped vertically underground at the Rat’s Nest Cave in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, in an operation that deployed volunteer-built underground radio technology for the first time. Search and Rescue Alberta says the man became pinned in a tight spot known as the “Psych Squeeze” around 11:30 a.m. local time on Saturday.

The Alberta/BC Cave Rescue team was called in, and hammer drills were used to remove rock, with the caver eased out in a process measured in “inches per hour.” Search and Rescue Alberta says the man was freed around 10 p.m. and he finally emerged from the cave around midnight, after an operation involving 13 cave rescuers, 10 firefighters and two Kananaskis Mountain rescue members.

The rescue group says a cave radio that transmits signals through rock was used in a live operation for the first time. The technology was developed by members of Alberta/BC Cave Rescue, which is part of Search and Rescue Alberta, in response to the difficulty of using traditional communication methods like phones, radios or GPS underground.

“By providing reliable text-based communications from deep inside caves to the surface, or between different locations in a cave, teams can now deploy with equipment that is purpose-built by the rescuers who will use them in the field,” Search and Rescue Alberta says in a news release.

It says the new radios are smaller and lighter than traditional analog cave radios, which use technology that can no longer be repaired.

The rescue team now has a cave radio system using technology known as QDX-M, capable of communicating through more than 500 metres of solid rock, the release says.

“Such units are not currently available commercially at an affordable cost, so the benefits of volunteer design and construction work by cavers with electrical engineering and amateur radio backgrounds has been considerable,” it says.

John Alexander, the CEO of Search and Rescue Alberta, said the Rat’s Nest rescue “is a display of what can be achieved when multiple emergency response agencies come together in collaboration, and of the incredible innovation and initiative taken by our 1,500 volunteer search and rescue professionals who defy odds and overcome barriers every day, so others may live.”

Thanks to Darryl Greer for his article.

Popular Mechanics is reporting this week that few things are more dangerous to living beings than radioactive material. The ionizing radiation emitted by radionuclides can damage tissue and alter human DNA, so in a way, it’s remarkable just how cavalier Western countries have often been in their choice of methods to dispose of this extremely dangerous waste.

Europe decided to dump more than 200,000 barrels of radioactive waste into the Atlantic Ocean between 1971 and 1982!

For the past two years, scientists from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) have used resources from the French Oceanographic Fleet to survey the North Atlantic nuclear waste disposal site. They’ve discovered thousands of barrels lying on the seafloor covered in sea sponges, anemones, and crabs. In 2025, the CNRS canvassed the 14,500-square-kilometre spill site with an autonomous robot capable of diving to a depth of 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) and used a multi-beam echo-sounder and synthetic antenna imaging sonar to map huge areas of the seabed. Although the robot mapped only 2 percent of the spill area, it successfully found 3,500 barrels of radioactive waste.

“The barrels alter the environment by providing a hard substrate that becomes colonized, potentially facilitating the transfer of radionuclides to living organisms,” two researchers involved in the project, Javier Escartin and Patrick Chardon wrote in The Conversation. “This is one of the first radio-ecological studies in the deep sea, requiring the implementation and development of new procedures and methodologies ranging from the definition of the sampling strategy to onboard radiation protection.”

While it’s too late to undo the damage inflicted on the environment by previous generations, having a deeper understanding of how these systematic episodes of pollution impacted the world will help future generations avoid making the same mistakes.

Thank you to Popular Mechanics for these excerpts from their article.

The ARRL, writing in their letter of Friday says that Hawaii was bracing for Hurricane Lala last week. The eye of the hurricane skirted Hawaii’s Big Island without making landfall but left heavy wind and rain damage. On Saturday, August 15, and Sunday, August 16, 2026, amateur radio operators throughout the state assisted emergency management agencies during the hurricane’s approach.

Several Big Island locations received over 90cm of rain, with Laupāhoehoe recording more than 1070 mm in just two days. The Nāhuku Lava Tube and Nene Cabin, one of two A-frame vacation cabins located just outside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in Volcano, received just over 920 mm of rain. Hurricane-force gusts up to 220km/h were recorded at Mauna Kea’s summit.

National Weather Service (NWS) radar for Saturday, August 16, 2026, at midnight UTC, showed the 80km approach of Hurricane Lala to South Point on the Big Island. South Point is the southernmost location in the United States. The greatest damage occurred at Naalehu in the Big Island district of Kau, where the runoff from the torrential rains on Saturday night devastated the community. Roads were blocked and damaged, which isolated and impeded response.

Torsten ZS1ABT reports that HAMNET assisted in event communications on Sunday 16 August (2026) at the Kogelberg Biosphere Trail Series Super League trail run.

ZS1ABT set up BASE radio at the Kleinmond Day Camp before sun rise, and was later joined by ZS1GA, ZS1SWN and ZS1HR.

ZS1CBY deployed west above the Palmiet lagoon with his 4×4 vehicle to provide communications relay to stations beyond line of sight of BASE.

106 runners completed the 23 km extra-long course, with only one runner dropping out due to injury.

Special thanks go out to the members of the Winelands ARC who cut their time short at the Hangklip lighthouse, as part of the International Lighthouse Weekend, to assist at this event.

Finally, remember that the 26^th August is International Dog Day, so please be extra specially kind to your furbaby on Wednesday!

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, sharing my private stash of biltong with my doggie, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

Greg Mossop G0DUB reports that a major magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) region of Indonesia early on Saturday morning. Preliminary reports indicate damage to buildings and disruption to normal communications infrastructure in several affected areas.

In support of ongoing emergency and disaster-response communications, amateur radio operators in Indonesia and throughout the Region are respectfully requested to keep the following frequencies clear and avoid causing interference to emergency traffic:

40 metres: 7.110 MHz

2 metres: 145.100 MHz

7.110 MHz is being used for HF emergency communications, while 145.100 MHz is being used for local VHF coordination in affected areas.

All amateur radio operators are requested to give absolute priority to emergency and disaster-relief traffic on these frequencies and to monitor without transmitting unless specifically requested to assist.

The IARU Region 3 Disaster Communication Committee, together with the relevant emergency communication coordinators and IARU Region 3 officials, remains on standby and is coordinating as necessary to support any requests for amateur radio emergency communication assistance.

We appreciate the cooperation and discipline of the amateur radio community during this emergency.

This report came via Greg from Ageng Aditya, YB1BTM, Disaster Communications Coordinator for IARU Region 3.

Redcross.org reports that, after their magnitude 7.4 earthquake of 10^th August, the Colombian Red Cross has been supporting the national response through coordinated emergency operations and specialized response teams. They have activated their National Crisis Room and telecommunications systems, mobilized 17 search and rescue teams – including 585 personnel and 19 canine units – coordinated with national authorities and remain prepared to deploy additional health and emergency response capacities as required.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has also activated its large-scale emergency readiness plan in Colombia and is coordinating closely with the Colombian Red Cross to assess needs, mobilize technical support and provide other assistance.

Meanwhile en.people.cn reports that China has released a five-year plan to spur the development of the safety and emergency equipment industry this week, stressing the role of leading enterprises in enhancing the country’s emergency response capabilities.

The plan, jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Emergency Management, aims significantly to raise the industry’s scale, technological capabilities, product quality and application levels by 2030, with output in key areas reaching 1.4 trillion yuan.

It also calls for breakthroughs in key technologies, the development of more application scenarios and the cultivation of internationally competitive leading enterprises by 2030.

China’s safety and emergency equipment industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with output in key areas surpassing 1 trillion yuan in 2025.

New technologies and equipment have been increasingly deployed in frontline rescue and relief operations. During this year’s flood season, drones and satellite communications systems were used to detect risks at dams and ensure communications during emergencies, making flood control and disaster response more precise and efficient.

In January, a guideline on promoting innovation in emergency management equipment set out targets for breakthroughs in more than 20 key technologies, the development of over 20 types of innovative equipment and the wider application of more than 30 types of advanced equipment by the end of 2027.

Popular Mechanics reports this week that, nestled between Hawaii and the western coast of Mexico, lies the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a 4.5 million-kilometer-square area of abyssal plain bordered by the Clarion and Clipperton Fracture Zones. Although this stretch of sea is a vibrant ecosystem filled with marine life, the CCZ is known best for its immense collection of potato-sized rocks known as polymetallic nodules.

These rocks, of which there are potentially trillions, are filled with rich deposits of nickel, manganese, copper, zinc, and cobalt. Those particular metals are vital for the batteries needed to power a green energy future, leading some mining companies to refer to the nodules as “batteries in a rock.”

However, a study reports that these nodules might be much more than simply a collection of valuable materials for electric cars—they also produce oxygen 4,000 meters below the surface where sunlight can’t reach.

This unexpected source of “dark oxygen,” as it’s called, redefines the role these nodules play in the CCZ. The rocks could also rewrite the script on not only how life began on this planet, but also its potential to take hold on other worlds within our Solar System, such as the moons Enceladus or Europa. The results of this study were first published in July 2024 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

“For aerobic life to begin on the planet,” Andrew Sweetman, deep-sea ecologist with the Scottish Association for Marine Science and lead author of the study said in a press statement, “there had to be oxygen and our understanding has been that Earth’s oxygen supply began with photosynthetic organisms. But we now know that there is oxygen produced in the deep sea, where there is no light. I think we therefore need to revisit questions like: where could aerobic life have begun?”

The journey toward this discovery began more than a decade ago when Sweetman began analyzing how oxygen levels decreased further into the depths of the ocean. So it came as a surprise in 2013 when sensors returned increased levels of oxygen in the CCZ. At the time, Sweetman dismissed the data as the result of faulty sensors, but future studies showed that this abyssal plain somehow produced oxygen.

Taking note of the nodule’s “battery in a rock” tagline, Sweetman wondered if the minerals found in these nodules were somehow acting as a kind of “geobattery” by separating hydrogen and oxygen via seawater electrolysis.

A 2023 study showed that various bacteria and archaea can create “dark oxygen,” so Sweetman and his team recreated the conditions of the CCZ in a laboratory and killed off any microorganisms with mercury chloride—surprisingly, oxygen levels continued rising.

This discovery adds more fuel to the already-fiery debate over what to do with these nodules. Mining outfits like the Metals Company, whose CEO coined the phrase “battery in a rock,” sees these nodules as the answer to our energy problems. However, 25 countries want the governing body—the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Council—to implement a moratorium, or at the very least a precautionary pause, so more research can be conducted to see how mining these nodules could affect the ocean. This is especially vital considering that the world’s seas are already facing a litany of climate challenges, including acidification, deoxygenation, and pollution.

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

First of all, Happy Women’s Day to all the girls out there! Thank you for all you do, to keep the world rotating.

The alert for Tropical Cyclone DOLPHIN in the NW pacific has been raised to an orange level, with further forecasts predicting it will move from the Marshall Islands in the general direction of China and Japan. Maximum wind speeds of 270km/h are still predicted, and the estimated population affected by category 1 (120 km/h) wind speeds or higher currently is 4.1 million.

The projected path of the storm seems to imply that DOLPHIN will travel in a NW direction between the Northern tip of the Philippines, and the Southern end of Japan’s South Island, bringing storms to Japan, but eventually smacking straight into the SE coast of China, where I expect the most damage to be done.

The planning meeting for the Koeberg Communications Exercise to take place on the 18^th August in Cape Town was held this week on the 7^th. A Disaster Ops Centre will be set up on the 18^th at Goodwood Disaster Risk Management Centre, once the start-of-exercise SMS is received from Disaster Management. HAMNET will be represented in the Strat Room downstairs with any extra ham onlookers upstairs in the overflow auditorium, which has audio and video connectivity to downstairs.

Danie ZS1OSS is our main liaison with DRM, and has suggested all ham attendees have handheld radios tuned to 145.250 MHz simplex, with earpieces, to minimize noise in either auditorium. In a real event HAMNET’s role could be to deploy members to the DOC, to the ZS1DCC radio room, and to vital locations with no communications such as at traffic roadblocks, a mass care centre location, or Koeberg itself. Our primary role is to help re-establish communications which may include taking MeshCore companion node with us.

No mass care centre will be set up for this exercise, but will be for the planned National Exercise in September.

Brian Jacobs ZS6YZ sent me a report yesterday saying that HAMNET Gauteng participated in the 2nd African Rover Moot, providing camp communications and showing off some of the communications equipment that is used to provide emergency communications.

Brian ZS6YZ and Willem ZS6WIM set up the HAMNET Gauteng Emergency trailer and from there provided camp communications for the duration of the Moot.

Last Sunday and Monday they showcased the equipment and discussed the importance of amateur radio in emergencies when commercial telecommunications systems are vulnerable and often fail.

These discussions continued throughout the week with a number of delegates spending time individually with the team to find out more about amateur radio, whether there are Amateur Radio Societies in their countries and who they should contact either to become Radio Amateurs or to arrange for Radio Amateurs to assist with JOTA/JOTI. This is important in light of the fact that the African Telecommunications Union also has an initiative to develop Amateur Radio in Africa.

Fruitful discussions also took place at an international level with Scout leaders present as to how Scouts in general and Radio Amateurs can come together to serve the youth and so mutually benefit both organisations.

The week’s activities culminated in a cultural day where dignitaries and visitors met the scouts and experienced the cultures of all the countries that attended the Moot.

HAMNET also had the opportunity to talk to other Service organisations and build relations resulting in an invitation to present Amateur Radio and Emergency Communications to these organisations.

Thank you for the report, Brian.

You may have heard that a piece of one of Elon Musk’s rockets that launched two private lunar landers to the moon last year, crashed into the moon this week. Phys.org says that the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri spacecraft flew over the impact site soon after the Falcon 9 upper stage inadvertently ploughed into the moon on Wednesday. Danuri made multiple passes, snapping photos from lunar orbit that were released by the space agency on Thursday.

The terrain is noticeably darker where the rocket hit and carved out a crater, sending dust and rock everywhere. Korean space officials said Danuri gathered before and after shots. Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched Danuri from Cape Canaveral in 2022.

NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to fly over the crash site next week to view the aftermath.

SpaceX sent the pair of private lunar landers to the moon last year. The upper stage from that launch is what crashed into the moon this week at 8,700 km/h, placed on an accidental collision course by solar activity and gravity, according to SpaceX.

This is the second manmade crater created on the moon. In 2022, a stage of a Chinese Moon mission crashed into the moon, but on the far side, and thus not visible to earth.

Hot of the press, so to speak, and received last night at 18h15, Ian Bradley ZS1BR sent me a report of the All Tar Rally held in Cape Town yesterday. He says:

“Reporting live from Killarney:

“Radio amateurs were again requested to assist at the annual All Tar Rally held at the Killarney Raceway where rally cars and track cars, or “challengers”, fight it out in unconventional stages.

“The initial two stages went off without a hitch, although several cars were knocked out with mechanical failures. A crash in the fourth stage required a recovery team as the car was blocking the track, but thankfully there were no injuries.

“Due to the large field of competitors, as well as a few minor incidents on the track and other delays, the final stage began just as the rain started. Thankfully this did not cause any additional issues and the final car crossed the line just after 17:00.

“This year we were assisted by three new amateur operators, namely George ZS1GLH, Jean ZR1JT, and Justin ZR1JJ, who filled in at the last minute. Special thanks to them and their ability to learn fast and under extreme pressure. We hope they weren’t intimidated or scared off, because not all rallies are quite as challenging!

“Thanks also go to Johann ZS1JM and Andre ZS1ATX at the track, as well as Davy ZR1FR and the rest of the team working in the background.”

And thanks to you Ian, for so conscientiously writing the report in your car, and still at Killarney.

This is Dave Reece, writing from an icy and wet Cape Town, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

GDACS is reporting that the death toll from the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck the southern tip of Japan on 28^th July has now reached more than 35. Raillynews.com says that entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins, infrastructure has crumbled, and people are still missing.

80000 households are without water, over 4500 are without electricity, and transportation modes and routes are totally disrupted. Sniffer dogs helped rescuers to make a sweep of a shopping mall wrecked by an explosion after the earthquake, causing collapse of the 1^st floor killing several and wounding even more.

It appears the Marshall Islands in the south China Seas are again being threatened by a strong tropical cyclone, this one called DOLPHIN, with potential wind speeds of 270km/h, and approaching the islands from the south east. On Friday, projections suggested that about 4500 people at that stage were in the path of 120km/h winds, or higher.

As part of the report mentioned in the HQ bulletin earlier about HAMNET members successfully tracking the intruders on UHF, Brian ZS6YZ, HAMNET National Director reminds us that the use of radio equipment, be they receivers or transmitters (or both) is regulated by law and ICASA. Most two-way radio equipment and its use is subject to strict licensing control.

On the internet, it is very easy to buy virtually anything online, and unfortunately, two-way radio equipment, which is controlled apparatus, is easily obtained and used in ways that infringe on other licensed users’ spectrum / frequencies.

The purchase of handheld VHF/UHF radios over Temu, Bangood and other Chinese retailers, without the right license (Amateur Radio ONLY), is highly illegal and will land you a date with the men with hand-cuffs. A R700 illegal radio will certainly lead to an expensive fine later on in Court if it is found in the hands of a person without the appropriate license. It is also illegal for any person/company to sell or program a two-way radio to anyone without the required ICASA dealers’ license.

He notes further that there is a massive problem in South Africa regarding unregulated imports of controlled equipment which pose risks to other licensed users and which enable criminals and syndicates, as they can use Amateur Radio equipment to illegally jam or listen in on other people’s radio networks.

Brian thanks ICASA and the volunteers from the Amateur Radio fraternity and SARL HAMNET Gauteng who led the operation to crack down on illegal use of Amateur Radio spectrum by commercial and private entities and who cause interference to other licensed users.

Thank you, Brian, for that news and important warning.

For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, there will be a total Solar Eclipse on Wednesday the 12^th August, visible from parts of Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, the Atlantic Ocean, Spain, and a small corner of Portugal.

During the eclipse, NASA will conduct several experiments along the path of totality. To study the Sun’s corona, a NASA-funded science team will chase the Moon’s shadow with a WB 57 high altitude research aircraft. At the same time, students participating in the NASA-supported Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project will launch scientific balloons in Iceland and Spain before, during, and after the eclipse to explore how temporary darkness affects Earth’s atmosphere.

Sfgate.com from British Columbia reports that a group of teenagers set out to hike the famed Howe Sound Crest Trail in early July, Google Maps suggesting the trek would take about five hours. Instead, the hike stretched deep into the night, leaving the group exhausted, dehydrated, injured and in need of a helicopter rescue.

Maria Masiar, training officer and search manager with Lions Bay Search and Rescue, said that the group was listening to a source that was inaccurate, and which led them along a series of poor decision points.

The Howe Sound Crest Trail is one of British Columbia’s most iconic alpine trails, following a rugged ridgeline overlooking Howe Sound just north of Vancouver. Although the approximately 32km route with a 2000 metre elevation gain can be completed by experienced trail runners in a day, search and rescue officials generally recommend hikers treat it as a two-day backpacking trip.

The teenagers, all 17 years old, believed Google Maps’ estimate that the route would take about five hours. The printed directions they were carrying, which were shared publicly by Lions Bay Search and Rescue, gave simple instructions for two legs of the trail, but didn’t account for the terrain or elevation.

“[Google Maps] was calculating the time that you’re walking a straight road on pavement,” Masiar said. “When you get into outdoor terrain that calculation no longer holds true.”

Expecting only a short outing, each hiker carried about half a liter of water and limited food. There are no reliable water sources along the trail, meaning hikers must carry enough supplies for the entire route. As the group climbed, they began suffering from dehydration and muscle cramps but continued onward despite falling dramatically behind schedule.

Eventually, the group made the decision to turn back and abandon making it to the end of the trail — and as the sun began to set and the group started to descend, fatigue took its toll.

According to Masiar, members of the group had already stumbled and fallen several times while trying to race the coming darkness and only one hiker had a headlamp. Eventually, another hiker slipped about 3 metres off a boulder, injuring his coccyx badly enough that he could no longer continue. Search and rescue crews responded, ultimately evacuating him by helicopter.

While headlines about the rescue focused on Google Maps, Masiar said the bigger issue is that many inexperienced hikers don’t realize the app was never intended to be a backcountry navigation tool.

Thank you to sfgate.com for that alarming story.

Those of you who appreciate pets will be happy to know that International Cat Day falls on the 8^th of August, and International Dog Day on 26^th August. The ARRL Letter of 30^th July says that an international group of operators from Latvia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Netherlands, India, and Germany, will be on the air throughout the month in a mutual celebration of International Cat Day and International Dog Day.

The combined special event stations will be active from 1^st to 31^st August 2026 to call attention to the needs of abandoned, abused and homeless pets around the world.

In the United States, a team of operators will be on the air as KØDOG, operating throughout the country at different times. Additional dog-station call signs will include YL1DOG, GB4DOG, VU2MGS, DLØDOG and PDØØDOG. Cat stations will be calling CQ as DLØCAT, GB4CAT and DAØCAT. All operators will be on the HF bands using CW and SSB. Please honour your furbabies by looking for these stations on the air during August.

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, hastily teaching my dog to send CQ by CW, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.