Hamnet Western Cape has been busy this week. Our first report comes from Michael ZS1MJT our Regional Director for HAMNET, who writes that the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) requested HAMNETs assistance at 11h47 on Saturday 17^th October, in locating a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) which had been detected as active in the area around Phillippi, Cape Town. HAMNET members were activated and from the locations received, tried tracking the beacon in the Kommetjie area and in the direction of Phillippi. No beacon was heard from either location.

After an hour of waiting at a high site to hear the beacon, a decision was made to move closer to the GPS coordinates received from ARCC. Driving round the area on the R300, we were able to hear the beacon with a strong signal as we approached the Heinz Park area. Some direction findings gave good landmarks to start the search. South African Police Services were called in, and we were then able to start searching in the area we identified as most obvious.

As most of the structures in the area are made from corrugated iron, there were a lot of reflections, and we drove and walked around the area as the signal was extremely strong. As dusk approached, we called off the search and headed home.

On Sunday morning, 18^th October, we resumed the search with some more triangulation. This time, all triangulation pointed to a particular double-storey building and we again requested the services of SAPS before entering the area. We went straight to where the signals were strongest and started on foot. Unfortunately, SAPS requested that we make it quick as they had some more urgent calls to attend to. We requested a drive around the block and were then able to locate the beacon. It was found in the glove compartment of a vehicle.

Once we retrieved the unit, we were able to switch it off and then inform ARCC as to the serial numbers and details of the unit.

I would like to thank SAPS for their help in escorting us to the area, ARCC for their patience during the search and Shawn, ZS1LED for his help and time in making this search a success.

Thank you, Michael, for the report and your personal efforts.

Danie ZS1OSS, our HAMNET liaison with Disaster Risk Management in the Western Cape, notes that part of the compliance requirements for the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station (KNPS), 20 km North of Cape Town CBD, includes an annual exercise with all disaster management agencies to show evidence of preparedness for any incident that may require evacuation of residents within varying radii and direction of Koeberg. The purpose of the exercises is:

* for the various agencies to practise the roles they each play

* to test their equipment and processes; and

* to practise their teamwork with the other agencies.

An annual station exercise is held in which only the local agencies take part, under the control of the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre (DRMC). Eskom’s KNPS feeds in the simulated situation as it unfolds, along with the prevailing weather conditions, while practising its own containment measures. The wind determines which way any simulated radiation plume may be travelling, and disaster management agencies need to plan accordingly. So if the wind is blowing from the NNW side, then a Mass Care Centre (MCC) cannot be set up on the southern side of KNPS. Sites are already identified for MCCs on the northern, eastern and southern directions from KNPS.

On Tuesday 20 October 2026, a biennial NNR exercise was held. This exercise is overseen by the National Nuclear Regulator, and the scenario is controlled by them. So our local teams have no idea when it will actually commence, or even which way the wind will be blowing, until the NNR feeds that information into the exercise. The NNR also determines what sort of incident will be simulated at KNPS. So Eskom and all disaster management agencies have to take their cue from the NNR. Local and international observers also attend NNR exercises.

The wind was simulated to be blowing from the NNW at about 20 km/h and the radiation plume meant that firstly we would have to deploy the new Mass Care Centre at Mamre, which was north of KNPS. Then the evacuation area expanded, and a second MCC was to be opened at Malmesbury to handle the overflow. The second MCC was simulated, which meant it was not physically set up, but each agency had to go through the motions and communicate what they would be doing.

Then came the ultimate curveball… we were informed that the simulated radiation plume was now threatening the area where the Disaster Operations Centre (DOC) was, and we’d have to relocate the DOC as well. We simulated this as well, but that meant estimating the travel time to a backup location at Stellenbosch, and during this time we could only use phones or whatever we’d have in our vehicles.

Although HAMNET has a fully equipped dedicated radio room at the Goodwood DOC, we also have a mobile trailer equipped with VHF and HF radios, digital communications, and APRS location tracking. So in our case we would deploy this trailer with us, as part of our relocation to the backup DOC.

This was definitely one of the more eventful exercises we’ve all had to participate in. But the whole point of exercises is to be prepared and to know how to work together with others. It is all about teamwork and knowing what everyone else does, and what resources are available across the teams. After every exercise there is also a debriefing session with all agencies, where we share challenges we had, and suggestions for improvement. Not a single debriefing has gone by without a few changes or improvements being suggested, and in this way our preparedness improves with every exercise.

Thank you, Danie. It was an interesting disaster-game, and intriguing to watch the heads of each agency present interacting and bringing the impromptu exercise to a successful close.

The stand-down SMS was received from the Duty Coordinator at 14:21 CAT.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) reports that the worldwide map of Transient Array Radio Telescopes has expanded with Madagascar being the latest African recipient of the groundbreaking and innovative instrument.

The installation took place during a five-day conference and workshop taking place between 8 and 12 June 2026, held by the Universite d’Antananarivo, that resulted in the installation of a Transient Array Radio Telescope (TART), the first instrument of its kind in Madagascar.

The TART is an open source radio telescope originally developed by Dr Tim Molteno from the University of Otago and the Electronics Research Foundation (ERF) in New Zealand, and students at the University of Otago’s Department of Physics. The TART is a radio-telescope with the capability to observe the entire sky continuously and optimized to detect satellites, near-earth objects and transient events including high-energy cosmic rays. The telescope is also designed to serve as a platform for the development of new imaging algorithms.

As part of an effort to install TART telescope in all the African SKA Partner countries, this workshop followed installations in Namibia (2025), Zambia (2025), Botswana (2025), Hammanskraal, South Africa (2025), Ghana (2025), Mauritius and Kenya (2024).

The initiative to place TART telescopes in SKA African Partner countries was started in 2023 and is a joint effort of the University of Otago, Rhodes University, SARAO, the DARA programme and the Electronics Research Foundation.

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

The ARRL reports that Amateur radio operators from Florida’s Santa Rosa, Nassau, Lake, Pinellas, and Leon Counties played an important role in supporting emergency communications efforts during and following Hurricane Isaias, helping ensure that critical communication capabilities remained available throughout the storm.

In Santa Rosa County, volunteer amateur radio operators staffed the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and the evacuation shelter at the Milton Community Centre. These volunteers provided a communications link between the shelter and the EOC, relaying situational updates and maintaining readiness to support emergency communications should traditional systems become unavailable.

Amateur radio operators across the state also supported auxiliary communications efforts, providing additional capabilities to maintain contact with the State Emergency Operations Centre in Tallahassee if conventional communication networks experienced disruptions.

“While traditional communications systems have become significantly more reliable over the years, amateur radio continues to serve as a dependable auxiliary communications resource,” said Arc, W4CPD, Santa Rosa County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Program Manager. “When disaster strikes, our volunteers are trained, prepared, and ready to step in wherever we’re needed. It’s another layer of resiliency that helps protect our communities.

“During tropical weather events impacting Florida, our Auxiliary Communications team provides volunteer operators to monitor amateur radio communications at the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee,” Arc explained. “This ensures that if someone is unable to reach emergency officials through traditional means, we have another way to receive and relay critical information. We always hope we’re not needed, but we’re glad to be there just in case when all else fails.”

In the Pacific, Tropical cyclone CHAMPI has been issued a RED label, specifically threatening Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands as a category 5 storm, with current wind speeds of 80km/h, and projected to increase to 260km/h, threatening a population of 175000 people. At the time of writing, it had not crossed Guam yet.

Capechamber.co.za says that the Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management Centre (WC: PDMC) has warned that accelerating climate variability and intensifying severe weather events are placing increasing strain on the province’s emergency infrastructure and municipal response systems. 

Releasing its annual findings, the Centre highlighted that while institutional frameworks and multi-agency coordination have matured significantly, persistent capacity constraints and erratic environmental patterns demand a fundamental shift toward predictive, data-driven resilience.

Reflecting on the mounting pressures facing the region, Head of the Provincial Disaster Management Centre, Dr Colin Deiner, cautioned: “While significant progress has been made, challenges remain, particularly in relation to capacity constraints and the increasing frequency and intensity of disaster events. Addressing these challenges will require continued focus on building skills, strengthening systems, and enhancing coordination across all levels of government.”

The report’s overarching conclusion emphasises that the province is navigating an increasingly volatile environmental baseline. Summarising the year under review, the report warns: “Despite these achievements, the reporting period has also highlighted persistent and emerging challenges, particularly related to increasing climate variability, capacity constraints, and the need for enhanced data integration and interoperability. These challenges underscore the importance of sustained investment in institutional strengthening, innovation, and collaboration.”

To counter these compounding risks, the WC: PDMC has advanced several strategic interventions during the reporting period, including the development of a pioneering provincial flood hazard model in partnership with Stellenbosch University, enhanced early-warning dissemination protocols via the South African Weather Service (SAWS), and expanded municipal training initiatives.

And channelafrica.co.za says that a three-day conference on disaster risk reduction and resilience in Africa concluded on Thursday.

The meeting was organised by the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the government of Mozambique and the Southern African Development Community.

The meeting, under the theme ‘Scaling Proactive Governance and Strategic Investment for Disaster Risk Reduction and a Resilient Africa’, also brought together financial institutions, development partners, academia, civil society, and the private sector.

Daniel Chapo, Mozambican President provided the impact of the natural disasters in the continent.

“Floods, tropical cyclones, and droughts accounted for about 90% of the total damage caused by disasters in Africa. The number of occurrences increased from 602 to 738 events, which caused more than 74 000 deaths at the level of our continent.”

Chapo, spoke about the Mozambican experience.

“At the country level, we have more than 1 500 local disaster risk management committees. This is our front-line army, which warns communities in local languages, uses megaphones, and community radios, so that people can leave the danger zones before the phenomenon happens.”

The event took place at a time when Mozambique faces difficulties in accessing climate finance to respond to the impacts of extreme events, in a country highly vulnerable to climate change.

Finally WSAR in the Western Cape reports that an evening run along the Pipe Track on Table Mountain ended with a rather unusual rescue near Spring Buttress on Thursday night, after an overly enthusiastic dog discovered that not all mountain adventures are worth pursuing.

The dog and his owner were enjoying an afternoon run when the pup spotted a tahr (which is a mountain goat) and decided that a chase was simply too good an opportunity to pass up.

Unfortunately, the tahr had a distinct home-ground advantage.

The agile mountain resident disappeared down the steep mountainside, with the determined hound in hot pursuit. Almost 80 metres below the trail, the dog suddenly realised that his four-legged opponent was considerably better equipped for the terrain, and that the chase was well and truly over.

There was, however, one small problem. Getting down had been considerably easier than getting back up!

The dog’s owner followed a short distance down the slope before wisely deciding against going any further.

Spotting his adventurous companion stranded on a small ledge below a cliff, he called the emergency number – 021 937 0300, for assistance.

A small team of Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSAR) rescuers was deployed to the scene.

Using a rope system, a rescuer was lowered to the ledge, where the stranded hound was happily secured inside a rope bag and hoisted back up to the trail.

The operation was successfully concluded at 22h45 on Thursday evening, with everyone safely back on the trail.

While the tahr presumably continued about its evening entirely unaware of the excitement, we suspect one adventurous hound may think twice before challenging a mountain goat to another downhill race!

A big thank you is extended to the rescuers who gave up their Thursday evening to bring this adventurous pup safely back to his owner.

It doesn’t say so in the report, but I’ll take a small bet with anyone that was a Jack Russell!

Written versions of this bulletin will be available after the transmitted version, on the SARL website and on the “About the SARL” menu > SARL HAMNET > scroll down to WEBSITE and click on HAMNET Emergency Communications. It is also available on two facebook pages, namely “HAMNET – SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE”, or “SARL Hamnet”

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

Our weather and geology news starts with a magnitude 7.7 earthquake which struck Panama at 17h56 UTC on Friday evening. The epicenter was 10km from the town of Pitaloza Arriba. A tsunami warning was issued, but subsequently cancelled because the quake struck dry land rather than under the water. As of Saturday night no news of casualties had been received, but the quake was felt across the nation by around 4.5 million people, and lasted for a minute, with over 80 aftershocks measured the same day. Shipping through the canal was not affected by the quake.

The Panamanian quake was at least the fourth quake this year in Latin America surpassing 7.0 in magnitude, after devastating back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela’s Guaira in June, and a powerful earthquake in western Colombia in August.

Tropical Cyclone Isaias developed in the Bay of Mexico, and moved North East in the direction of the Gulf coast of the US, crossing the coastline on the West coast of the Florida pan-handle on Friday/Saturday as a category 3 storm with winds of up to 180km/h. Large parts of Florida were evacuated in anticipation of the storm.

The ARRL reported on Friday that the Hurricane Watch Net was up and running on both 14.325 and 7.268 MHz due to propagation conditions. Hurricane Isaias had increased in strength to Category 3 with maximum sustained winds of 200 km/h, making it a major hurricane as it continued to head toward the Florida panhandle and Alabama coast. Landfall was expected overnight Friday night.

Brian Jacobs ZS6YZ from HAMNET National tells me that he assisted the Gauteng Scouts with their Kim Shield Challenge that took place in the Crocodile River Reserve to the west of Centurion in Gauteng on 11-13 September. As not many resources were needed, he participated on his own, ensuring that there was good communications amongst the more that 30 bases spread over the reserve that needed to be visited by the participating Scout Patrols.

He deployed and monitored a portable repeater with the antenna attached to the 6m mast attached to his vehicle. For security the repeater was deployed before 06h00 in the morning and taken down again after the last patrol had checked into the base camp. There were over 600 scouts and more than 130 adult helpers participating in the event, and he worked closely with Mark Pollock ZS6MJP who was responsible for the communications from the Scout’s side.

He also notes that HAMNET Gauteng and some members from the East Rand Club will be assisting the Scouts at Arrowe Park with the JOTA/JOTI event next weekend from 16-18 October. They are expecting more than 400 scouts to participate from Arrowe Park and there will be many other scout groups from all over Gauteng also participating in their own JOTA/JOTI events at their scout halls.

Apart from the usual radio activities allowing the scouts to make contacts over HF, VHF and DMR, HAMNET will also be monitoring the BACAR-14 launch and flight and will try to receive and decode some of the payloads as well as communicating via the transponders that will be flying with the balloon. The whole idea is to show the scouts some of the interesting activities that wait for them when they do their Amateur Radio Operator badge.

There will also be a special Fox Hunt event on Saturday evening where HAMNET will explain to the scouts the significance of fox hunting or radio direction finding and how we can locate emergency locator beacons using the basic techniques. The Scouts will then have the opportunity to hunt for both a VHF and a UHF beacon that will be hidden on the Arrowe Park camp grounds.

A whole SATOps display will also be operational, including ADB-S signal reception, weather satellite reception and SSTV reception.

HAMNET is also responsible for ensuring that all the Scouters and activity coordinators can communicate with each other throughout the weekend.

Thank you, Brian, for these items of news from your region. This is an appeal to other Regional Directors to consider sending news of their regions for inclusion in the bulletin, to show that Division 6 is not the only active HAMNET region.

Danie, ZS1OSS has drawn my attention to a South African map application, called LastBar. His website says that “LastBar is a map of where mobile phones have signal and where they do not, made by the phones of the people who use the App. When you are stuck with no bars, it gives you the distance and the direction to the nearest place where your phone will work, and to the nearest water and shelter. It needs no connection to do so.”

This is an interesting South African app that is intended specifically for those who venture into areas where there is no cellphone signal coverage. This app will point you in the direction where you will most quickly find a signal, depending on which network you use. That may be a nearby hill, but could be any location where signals were confirmed from. He remembers being in a wilderness retreat once for a work session, and the only place you could just get a signal, was at one of the tennis courts. This app would typically point you to such a location. An emergency call can be made from any phone network, so in that type of scenario, the app will navigate you to where any phone network is reachable.

But it is more than just finding a location with a signal. The map also shows water, shelters, huts and caves, clinics and hospitals, police, fuel and peaks, using OpenStreetMap. Tap one for its address and a number to call, where there is one.

The app works without any Internet. What your phone measures shows on your own map at once, with no internet needed. Readings wait on your phone and go up by themselves when a connection returns.

It is not an open source app, but the privacy policy seems to cover all the bases with just the essential information being collected, and anonymised. There is no account that needs to be registered and your name, phone’s IMEI, or SIM details are never sent either.

The free version will include ads (and we all know what that means, as there will then be basic ad tracking) so the better option is to go for the paid version which excludes any adverts. It is available for both Android and iOS.

Thank you Danie.

Written versions of this bulletin will be available after this transmission on the SARL website on the “About the SARL” menu > SARL HAMNET > scroll down to WEBSITE and click on HAMNET Emergency Communications. It is also available on two facebook pages, namely “HAMNET – SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE”, and “SARL Hamnet”.

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

Michael ZS1MJT from HAMNET Western Cape has sent me a paragraph about the Rola Ford Motor Rally, held round and about Caledon in the Western Cape yesterday. In cool and cloudy conditions with a slight breeze, the race started from Rola Ford’s showrooms at 09h05.

Nine radio operators were deployed around the course, at various starts and ends of the 5 stages, and 16 vehicles took part, although 5 cars didn’t finish the course due to mechanical failures. He says there were no major calamities, as the radio operators radioed start and end times through to the JOC, as each car completed a stage.

The final stage ended with the arrival of the last car at 14h05, in a fine drizzle. The day was enjoyed by the operators and the spectators who had positioned themselves at all the major vantage points.

The operators were Ian ZS1BR, Andre ZS1ATX, Rassie ZS1YT, Davy ZR1FR, Hughie ZS1YS, Schalk ZR1SWB, Pieter ZS1PJG, Reg ZS1ADC and Michael ZS1MJT.

Thanks Michael for the report.

From the Cape Town section of the Mountain Club of South Africa, we learn that, in September 1889, a party of hikers on Table Mountain was caught by the infamous “Table Cloth” and forced to spend a cold night on the mountain.

The incident helped set the ball rolling towards the formation of the Mountain Club of South Africa in 1891. From the very beginning, one of MCSA’s objectives was to organise search and rescue parties to assist fellow mountaineers and members of the public in difficulty.

More than 130 years later, Search & Rescue remains a fundamental part of MCSA.

Today, MCSA Search & Rescue comprises five volunteer teams across South Africa, involved in hundreds of operations each year. Teams provide specialist support to government agencies and, when required, take the lead in organising and carrying out search and rescue operations in remote, wilderness and mountainous environments.

From that cold night on Table Mountain in 1889 to the highly trained volunteer teams operating across South Africa today, helping people in the mountains has been part of MCSA’s purpose from the very beginning.

Universetoday.com asks us where Earth’s center of mass is? The answer seems trivially obvious. It’s right in the middle of the planet. Ah, but that kind of thinking won’t get you a paper in the Geophysical Journal International. It’s also not a trivial question. Knowing Earth’s center of mass down to the order of millimeters reveals some interesting facts about our planet.

To measure Earth’s center of mass accurately, we must look to space. Satellites don’t just orbit Earth; they orbit the exact center of Earth’s mass. Any small shift in that center of mass means there is a shift in orbital trajectories. All you have to do is measure the orbits precisely. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, this was done using satellites known as LAGEOS. These spherical satellites were covered in reflective panels so that ground-based laser observatories could measure their positions over time. These allowed us to determine the center of mass to within a centimetre or so.

This new study improves this accuracy by using GPS data to account for tiny shifts in the locations of ground-based observatories. It also adds data from a host of low-orbit satellites to improve accuracy even further. The result reduces our uncertainty to less than a millimetre.

Part of the results is as we expected. The Earth is not a static mass. During the winter season of the Northern Hemisphere, snow and ice builds up in the polar region, which means there is more mass there. The warming and cooling of oceans shifts their densities. The rainy season of the Amazon moves water to its delta. All of this causes Earth’s center of mass to move seasonally.

The surprise is that this shift is smaller than we thought. The results of this study find a seasonal drift that is about half of earlier estimates. This means that there is less water and air moving between hemispheres. The two regions aren’t as interconnected as we assumed. The team also observed longer-term shifts in the center of mass due to geological effects such as volcanic activity and earthquakes. These shifts can also affect things such as Earth’s rotational speed.

Precise measurements such as these not only help us understand geological changes; they also help us better locate our location on Earth. It has an impact on everything from transportation and shipping to the orbital drift of satellite constellations. It’s also remarkable to think that we can pinpoint the middle of the Earth with such accuracy.

And heraldousa.com reports that Scientists have detected a radio signal transmitted from thousands of light-years away for the first time, from the exoplanet ‘Beta Pictoris b’,

The study was published on Sept. 15 in arXiv and was led by astrophysicists Kevin N. Ortiz Ceballos, Edo Berger and Yvette Cendes.

Researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Oregon said that, until now, an “auroral radio emission” has never been detected on a planet outside the solar system.

To ease many minds, the radio signal from the exoplanet ‘β Pictoris b’ is not of human origin but a natural process recorded on planets, according to Avi Loeb, who led the research.

“The same radio-emission mechanism operates in the solar system and does not indicate a technological origin,” he said.

According to the specialists, the auroral radio emission is produced “by the electron-cyclotron maser instability” [whatever that is] and comes from a “gas giant” planet that is twelve times larger than Jupiter.

The frequency of the emission is determined by the intensity of the planet’s magnetic field.

While this is not the first time astrophysicists have detected a radio signal from a planet in the solar system, it is the first time one has been recorded on an exoplanet.

“Although auroral radio bursts are observed on planets in the solar system and on some ultracool dwarfs, no radio detection had previously been unambiguously traced to an extrasolar planet rather than its host star,” the study states.

The detected frequency from the planet β Pictoris ranges from 0.85 to 3.5 GHz, with a magnetic field of 1.25 kilo-Gauss or greater.

This is a significant finding for science, as it allowed for the direct measurement of the magnetic field intensity of the exoplanet.

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