GDACS continued to issue Orange Alerts for Tropical Cyclone FYTIA, crossing the waist of Madagascar from west to east all of this last week, with increasing estimations of population threatened by the high winds. It was forecast to cross the coast of Madagascar on Saturday, a week ago, with very heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surges along the coast of the central and northern parts.

With maximum sustained winds of 180km/h, it barreled across the country, exiting on Monday the 2^nd, leaving behind 7 fatalities, over 20000 displaced people, and 8 destroyed schools in amongst the 10800 damaged houses. Heavy rainfall was expected to continue until this Thursday just past.

Did you know that Japan is the country that experiences the heaviest snowfalls on earth? I didn’t know that. Well, scmp.com reported on Wednesday that parts of Japan have experienced “disaster-level” snowfall in recent days, with authorities reporting at least 29 dead and 290 injured in accidents since January 20.

The prefectural authorities requested help on Sunday after 183cm of snow fell within 24 hours, 2.7 times the average annual snowfall in the Magonai district of Aomori city. It was the first time in 21 years that the military had been tasked to help residents deal with a snow-related emergency in the Aomori region.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has warned of a strong winter pressure pattern over much of Japan. Heavy snow has been reported along Japan’s north coast, from Saga in Kyushu in the far south all the way to the most northerly tip of Hokkaido.

“The amount of snow and the low temperatures that we are seeing so far this winter are generally more extreme than we would expect,” said Takahiro Oyama, a researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies’ Centre for Climate Change Adaptation.

Thank you to scmp.com for parts of their report.

Danie, ZS1OSS, of HAMNET Western Cape, tells me that he and Michael ZS1MJT, our HAMNET Divisional Director attended a Multi-Hazard Joint Operations Centre (JOC) meeting on Thursday, convened by Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management. The session follows a national directive to activate Multi-Hazard JOCs across South Africa. The strategic objective of this Multi-Hazard JOC is to establish a single, integrated provincial coordination centre that enables prioritized decision-making, efficient allocation of scarce resources, and coordinated multi-sectoral response to mitigate the impacts of wildfires, water security risks, and animal health incidents, while ensuring effective governance, accountability, and communication.

During the proceedings, official word was received that a National State of Disaster has been declared regarding water scarcity for the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Northern Cape. This declaration serves to unlock emergency funding and grants authorities additional powers to expedite critical decision-making and response actions.

The Multi-Hazard JOC also included the various provincial departments, City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management, City of Cape Town, and the various District Municipalities. Thursday’s session was very much a situation report on the status of the focus areas per district municipality and the Metro. It was encouraging though to see that some preventative measures as well as longer term strategies were also touched on.

Right now HAMNET will have no immediate role to play, but we will monitor the situation, especially from a communications perspective. It is expected that the meeting will convene weekly on Tuesday mornings.

Thank you Danie, for keeping your eyes and ears open, and sending me these snippets.

And, as mentioned above, the government has classified yet another national disaster in South Africa, this time flagging drought conditions and water provision. This could impact the provinces of the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and Northern Cape.

The provinces have already been on high alert about dry conditions for some time, with many municipalities, metros and provincial departments warning of impending ‘day zeros’, when water cannot be provisioned for use, ie, the taps run dry.

On Saturday the 7^th, HAMNET Western Cape helped the organizers of the 99er Cycle Tour, in the outskirts of Durbanville, make the races successful and safe. There were 4 routes as I told you last week, one of which was an off-road race, which we didn’t monitor.

We had 13 radio operator teams, 9 roving the various parts of the route, and 4 managing the narrow bridges on the long 95km route, where oncoming cars meeting speeding cyclists would have caused disasters. All rovers used APRS trackers, and we supplied Byonics All-in-One trackers to 5 segment marshals, the back markers of all 4 races, and the front marker of the off-road route, leading the way on a motorbike.

As a continuation of a particularly hot and humid week in Cape Town, Saturday’s forecast was for partly cloudy skies, winds of less than 30km/h from the SSW, and temperatures of 20 to 28 degrees.

The front riders of the long race set off at 06h00, and the last riders of the short route were sent off at 08h25.

An APRS digipeater was set up on the highest local hill on the farm Meerendal, and another at a high beacon site just outside Malmesbury, to ensure good coverage of most of the route.

All proceeded smoothly, and our operators excelled themselves at patrolling, reporting in minor injuries and riders withdrawing due to bicycle trouble, and generally being at all the right places at the right times.

There were no major calamities or injuries, and the last riders were back at the finish by 12h30.

Thank you to ZS1’s MJT, L, JFK, AXT, YT, JM, CBY, BAT, GA, CO, S, LED, NOS, EZ, UP, OSS, BR, and ZR1JL, who singly or in pairs went about making the race safe. The organizers say every year that they feel safe, knowing that HAMNET is quietly roving the route in the background, and providing immediate assistance when it is needed

A particularly active sunspot group, labelled Active Region 4366, has released over a dozen solar flares in the last week, some of them very big, but strangely none of them having much influence on the earth’s magnetosphere, when the associated coronal mass ejections finally got here.

Many M-class flares were recorded, and about 5 X-class flares, of which the strongest was an X8.1 during the time Region 4366 has been marching across the visible face of the sun, potentially able to wreak havoc on the top layers of our ionosphere, with all the usual electrical effects. Luckily, very little was detected, and even the auroral lights haven’t been very impressive either.

And on Wednesday at 14h13 CAT, the sun fired off another powerful solar flare, this time an X4.2, briefly disrupting radio communications across parts of western Africa and southern Europe as intense radiation flooded Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Things could certainly have been worse.

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

Under the bad weather section, I can report that heavy rainfall, strong winds, storm surges and very low temperatures have been affecting the United Kingdom (mainly western and south-western England, Scotland and Northern Ireland) over the last few days, causing several severe weather-related incidents, floods and coastal floods that have resulted in casualties and damage. The severe weather was caused firstly by the storm INGRID and after that by the following storm CHANDRA, both officially named by the UK Met Office.

And in the USA, very heavy snowfall, very low temperatures and strong winds have been affecting north-eastern and eastern USA (from New England southward to the Mid-Atlantic States) and southern USA over the last few days, causing several severe weather-related incidents resulting in casualties and damage. Media report, as of 27 January, 31 fatalities and 34 injured people, and 1,490 evacuated people in 141 shelters.

Severe weather continues in Mozambique and Brian ZS6ZY, leader of the USAR communications team reports that he and Johan ZS6DMX left for Mozambique with our Emergency Response Team to aid in rescue activities, but, owing to complicated bureaucratic issues, he and Johan were held back and diverted to Mpumalanga and Limpopo areas of our country, which are in almost as much peril from heavy rain as Mozambique is.

GDACS has been reporting on a Tropical Cyclone named FYTIA, which formed over the northern Mozambique Channel on 29^th January in the afternoon, and started moving from west to east toward Madagascar as a tropical storm. On 30^th January, it was just offshore of the town of Vilamasta, with maximum wind speeds of 116km/h. It was expected to make landfall over Vilamasta late on Friday, with maximum sustained wind speeds of up to 179km/h, moving slowly across the “waist” of Madagascar on Saturday as a tropical storm.

A RED alert for the storm was issued by GDACS on Friday afternoon, warning that 120000 people would be in the path of the winds of at least 120km/h, and that the storm would have a high humanitarian impact on the population of central Madagascar.

As a result of my request to the divisional directors to supply me with news I can use here, Keith Lowes ZS5WFD of HAMNET KZN has told me about a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) that needed locating after it had been stolen in KZN. It was first traced to Wiggins/Cato Manor, but then switched off.

When it came back on again the next day, Keith deployed himself, together with Metro Police Search and Rescue. Using his Airband receiver, and the AMSAT-SA handheld Yagi, he searched unsuccessfully for the beacon, which had been transmitting intermittently. Help from Justin ZS5JW, Jitesh ZS5JM, Norman ZS5JY, Brian ZS5BR, and Ben ZS5BN was unsuccessful in triangulating the low power signal well enough to get a bearing.

By 13H00, the beacon signal had disappeared, and the ARCC Operations Chief Gregory Critchley stood the team down.

Keith says: “Although we were not able to recover the unit, it was a good exercise and an opportunity to strengthen our working relationship with the Metro Police Search & Rescue Unit.” Of course, the HAMNET group was also able to test and assess their equipment and direction finding capabilities.

It can be extremely difficult to pinpoint a signal like this when it is emanating from suburbs, because of all kinds of signal reflections off buildings and foliage, which confuses your direction finding immensely. Thanks Keith, for the report.

Gideon ZS4GJA, HAMNET Regional Director for HAMNET Vaal has sent me a report of last Sunday’s FastOne Cycle Race. He writes that HAMNET Gauteng, Vaal and Free State took part in a joint venture to provide communications for the race which was held on 25 January in Meyerton and surroundings. It consisted of a cycle race over 106 km and a shorter route of 62 km, organized by the Rotary Club of Vanderbijlpark to raise funds for their projects throughout the year. This year was the 20th race and about 2000 cyclists took part. The weather was perfect for cycling. 

HAMNET actually started with preparations for this event last year.  Boxes with a dual band radio, tracking device and a battery were built by HAMNET Gauteng. These made the installation process a breeze, where in the past it took a few hours to install all the trackers and radios into the ambulances and sweep vehicles.  This year it was done in less than an hour and a half. HAMNET also had to provide lead vehicles and back markers for both distances due to the shortage of traffic officials.

HAMNET set up a JOC with representatives of the Rotary, Ambulances, Road Rangers and the security company to coordinate the race and make sure that all injuries were attended to and bicycles were picked up. There was a radio amateur at each water point to make sure there were communications with the JOC.

A spinoff from the race is that HAMNET will have to make sure that all the Road Rangers motorcycles have trackers in future in order for their coordinator to know where they are on the route due to problems they experienced with cell phones.

This event was once again proof that HAMNET does have a place in the communications world and that different HAMNET regions can co-operate without any problems.

Thank you, Gideon.

Next Saturday the 7^th February sees the riding of the well-known 99er Cycle Tour out of Durbanville sportsgrounds in the Western Cape. This is a selection of 4 cycle races, three of which are on roads, and the fourth of which is a combined tar, gravel and off-road race for the mountain bikers.

The long 95km race, the 76km medium race and the short 45km route have different start times, as does the off-road race, but they all end at the combined finish in the streets of Durbanville, with a final cut-off at 12h30.

HAMNET Western Cape is fully involved, with nine mobile rovers patrolling various parts of the routes, reporting on various cut-offs, and monitoring their sections for accidents or riders who wish to bale out. There will be another four radio stations, stationary on each end of two narrow bridges on the long route. A station at the end of each bridge receiving oncoming cyclists will notify his partner on the far side, so that the traffic police can stop cars which might otherwise meet the riders on the narrow bridge.

Michael ZS1MJT HAMNET Western Cape Regional Director, and Sybrand, ZS1L, his Deputy, will use the HAMNET Communications trailer as our JOC, parked next to the Medical JOC at the race start and finish.

There will be two temporary APRS digipeaters installed to cover the race terrain, and mobile rovers will use their own trackers, while important race marshals, and the back markers of all four routes will use our HAMNET All-In-One trackers to be followed and identified on the route. Our APRS tracking will also be visible to the medical team in their JOC, to aid them in the identification of trouble spots.

A report on this race should be available during next week’s bulletin.

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, happy to have some real communications news to bring you, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

I’d like to begin this bulletin by pointing out what must be very obvious to most of you – the lack of news in these bulletins relative to amateur radio emergency communications in South Africa. I assure you I am very aware of this deficit.

It stems from the absence of communications news relative to disaster or sporting events in this country. I spend 2 hours every week scouring news sources for information which pertains to communications, without much success.

As a result, these bulletins are filled out with science, space or biological reports which may be of interest to you. I will continue to do so, if no specific reports emanate from the HAMNET divisions.

Riaan Greeff ZS4PR, Divisional Director of HAMNET for the Free State Province has questioned the degree to which amateurs should, but don’t, ensure their intercommunicability with other nearby hams with a view to conveying news of local happenings, or disaster management.

He says that “the Free State SARL members and the new radio amateurs in the Free State, are invited to make contact with him (Riaan ZS4PR HAMNET Director Free State).  2026 will be a year of training, and refreshing member’s knowledge about their function within the HAMNET structure, general radio preparedness and the effective integration with other HAMNET groups.  To date there are just over 20 active radio amateurs on the HAMNET membership list.  The majority of amateurs are in the Vaal region. 

“It is surprising to see how many radio amateurs are involved with other groups of safety and protection, but are not members of HAMNET.  As radio amateurs, our core advantage is to be able to ensure we set up communication in the case of disasters and emergencies.  Yet we do not do this. We as radio amateurs are not called upon when an industrial accident occurs. We are not called upon when fire or flooding hits our regions.”

He goes on to inform Free State hams about facilities and networks which are already running, and welcomes any ideas or suggestions for improvements to the way HAMNET functions in Division 4. He also invites interested parties to join the Free State WhatsApp group with a view to joining in the training. Thank you Riaan!

And Andrew Gray ZS2G, Divisional Director of HAMNET Eastern Cape has been reporting in the last 3 days of the electricity calamity befalling his area. There is a huge electricity outage which may take 2 weeks to sort out, as two towers in the Bethelsdorp-Greenbushes 132kV overhead powerline supply to the Nelson Mandela Bay municipal powerline collapsed, apparently due to vandalism combined with adverse weather conditions.

Andrew reminds his division that without electricity, water-pump stations that feed municipal areas will most likely be out, adding to the inconvenience and suffering in the area. Two weeks is a long time to be without guaranteed power, and commerce and industry will suffer severely.

A 79-year-old Sutherland man says he faces the prospect of moving home or losing decades of specialist radio research after plans were lodged for a 528-panel solar development at a nearby water treatment works.

The Northern Times reports that Scottish Water is seeking to install the large ground-mounted solar array and associated infrastructure at its Savalbeg Water Treatment Works, around a mile north-east of Lairg.

The proposed installation would sit within 100 metres of the home of Clive O’Hennessy, an amateur radio researcher and licensed radio operator living at Savalbeg.

Mr O’Hennessy moved to Savalbeg with his wife in August 2000, having been long-time visitors to the Lairg and Rogart area. He chose the location for its isolation and quiet environment.

He is now living alone at home following the passing of his wife last year, with his sons and their families based in South Wales.

Speaking about the proposal, Mr O’Hennessy said: “This application has been implemented without any consultation or even consideration to its neighbours.

“[It] will be within 100 metres of my house and I only found out about it by a comment that I came across by chance on Facebook.”

Mr O’Hennessy said his decision to settle at Savalbeg some 26 years ago was shaped by his work as an amateur radio researcher.

“I am an amateur radio enthusiast and moved to Savalbeg near Lairg to find an area that was extremely quiet in the VHF radio spectrum,” he said. “This was back in 2000.”

He now fears the proposed solar installation could bring that to an end, with the proximity of the panels to his transmission mast making continued operation impossible.

“A solar farm being erected so close to my home will generate a very large volume of electro-magnetic noise,” he said.

“The solar panels being less than 100 metres from my transmission mast will render continuance of my over 40 years of research and investigation into VHF propagation – via thermal reflections, aircraft reflection, reflection off the Aurora curtain, meteor reflection and even bouncing signals back from the surface of the moon – totally impracticable.

“To continue my research will require another move of home,” he said. “The water board will not compensate for this type of disruption to my life. My radio research is important to me, but the costs of a move of home will be prohibitive.”

Mr O’Hennessy said solar installations were a known source of radio interference and pointed to existing issues caused by a much smaller system nearby.

“My neighbour at Savalbeg Farm has 14 panels on his roof and these result in very strong radio noise if I beam towards his property, rendering a 45 degree quadrant unusable to me,” he explains.

Talking of propagation conditions, I’m sure many radio hams noted the total collapse of propagation this week, as the strongest geomagnetic storm to hit the earth in 20 years killed all communications on HF, a variety of satellite communications, and some GPS functions, but by way of compensation provided some of the best auroral lights at high latitudes in years. The Planetary K index rose to 9 on Tuesday, which is as high as it gets, and all you could hear on the shortwave radios was atmospheric noise. Fortunately by the weekend, the K index was simmering down to 4 again, and communications were becoming possible again.

Gideon Jannisch ZS4GJA, Director of HAMNET Vaal has informed me of the FastOne cycle race taking place today the 25^th in Meyerton and surrounds. There is a long 106km race, and a shorter 62km route. I look forward to giving you a follow-up report perhaps next week.

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

While Limpopo Province and other easterly areas of our country deal with extreme rainfall, flooding and washaways, southerly areas along the Cape Coast struggle with an approaching drought. Knysna has enough water for the community for another 10 days, and surrounding areas are not much better off.

Disaster alert teams have reported 19 deaths in Limpopo province in the last week, and huge areas of the Kruger Park are under water, while 631 guests at the rest camps have been evacuated from at least waist-high flooding.

The Limpopo government has conceded that it does not have the capacity to respond fully to the scale of flooding, as the province enters a fourth day of heavy rain.

This as the South African Weather Service has upgraded the warning to red level ten, the highest and most dangerous alert, signaling extreme weather conditions that pose a serious risk to life, infrastructure, and basic services.

Schools remain closed, several roads and bridges have been cut off, and essential services have been disrupted, with provincial officials admitting the damage has outpaced available equipment, personnel, and funding.

Authorities say damage assessments are continuing as communities remain on edge under a red level ten warning and uncertainty over when conditions will improve.

Meanwhile, municipalities in the Southern Cape are desperately making plans to truck water in to communities who will have nothing to drink or to wash and ablute with. The scene reminds me of the almost-drought in the Western Cape in 2017 which was narrowly averted.

And in the country itself, the Minister of Agriculture is planning to declare the Foot and Mouth disease status amongst cattle another State of Disaster. He said that he will table a declaration of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak as a state of disaster at the next Cabinet meeting.

On Wednesday, 15 January 2026, he outlined the national strategy for containing foot-and-mouth disease in South Africa.

“I have a clear roadmap for the protection of our national livestock herd and the restoration of South Africa’s international standing in the agricultural sector,” he said.

Since losing its foot-and-mouth disease-free status in 2019, South African farmers have faced unprecedented challenges.

“I have received many pleas for help, from commercial to communal farmers, who have borne the heavy burden of the recent outbreaks in the country,” he said.

“I must be frank with the nation: achieving FMD-free status is a monumental task that will not happen overnight.”

The Minister said the strategy will be phased over ten years, beginning with stabilisation and consolidation.

It will then move towards the eventual withdrawal of vaccination and final recognition of national freedom through vaccination by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

“I need to emphasise that vaccination is not a silver bullet to eradicate or manage this disease. It is merely one of the tools to combat the disease,” he said. The targeted vaccination will prioritise high-risk zones, with the goal of reaching at least 80% coverage in targeted cattle populations.

High-quality vaccines with high potency will be used during the campaign, especially the trivalent vaccines of SAT 1, 2, and 3, which are currently circulating in South Africa. The Minister added that he wants the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak declared as a state of disaster, which will allow for a better and less constrained response.

He said the state of disaster will allow them to get better cooperation from the police and traffic departments to assist with the movement control of animals.

Marineinsight.com reported on Wednesday that all 21 fishermen onboard a local fishing vessel were rescued safely after a fire broke out on the vessel off the coast of Gqeberha on Monday evening.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said its Gqeberha duty crew was alerted at 17:52 on Monday, January 12, after a member of the public reported seeing a fishing vessel on fire about one nautical mile offshore of Noordhoek.

At the same time, maritime authorities monitoring radio communications intercepted a Mayday distress call on VHF marine Channel 16 from the fishing vessel Silver Dorado, reporting a fire onboard and that all 21 crew members were preparing to abandon the vessel.

NSRI crews were immediately mobilised to respond from Station 6, while shore teams were sent directly to Noordhoek. Rescue craft Bay Guardian and Rescue 6 Alpha were launched.

Eastern Cape Government Health EMS, the South African Police Service, Transnet National Ports Authority Port Control at the Port of Port Elizabeth, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre were all alerted.

Telkom Maritime Radio Services broadcast an all-ships alert on VHF Channel 16, asking vessels in the area to assist. Several fishing vessels nearby responded to the distress call and headed towards the burning vessel.

The fishing vessel Legugu was one of the first to arrive and launched its own life raft to assist crew members who had entered the water near the burning vessel. By this stage, all 21 fishermen had abandoned the vessel into the sea.

NSRI reported that Legugu rescued 12 fishermen from the water and from a life raft. The fishing vessel Raka rescued four crew members, Maverick rescued another four, and Vulcan rescued one fisherman. All 21 crew members were accounted for and reported to be safe.

When NSRI rescue craft arrived, all survivors were already onboard four fishing vessels. The fishermen were transferred onto NSRI’s rescue craft Bay Guardian, with the transfers carried out in stages by Rescue 6 Alpha. They were then taken to the NSRI rescue base at the Port of Port Elizabeth.

All 21 men were medically assessed by EMS paramedics at the rescue base and were confirmed to have no injuries and to require no further medical treatment. NSRI said all crew members are believed to be South African.

The burning fishing vessel continued to drift towards Cape Recife. NSRI’s rescue craft Rescue 6 Alpha monitored the vessel’s movement and speed on behalf of SAMSA. Authorities later confirmed that the vessel was near a reef close to Cape Recife and was still on fire.

SAMSA has said that the vessel’s owners have appointed a salvage and spill response company. However, efforts to reach the vessel were limited due to the dangerous reef and darkness during the night, and monitoring of the situation is ongoing.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined and will be investigated by SAMSA along with the South African Police Service. Telkom Maritime Radio Services has issued navigational warnings to alert vessels to the hazard at sea.

NSRI added that the fishing vessel had left the Port of Port Elizabeth earlier and was heading towards fishing grounds when the fire started.

Nest week, I hope to have a report of a rescue of an injured fire-fighter, in which HAMNET took part!

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, apologizing for the total lack of any HAMNET-related news in these bulletins, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa

For those not aware of the extreme heat wave and windy conditions causing fires to rage in the Southern Cape coastal areas, Eye Witness News issued a summary on Friday, saying that firefighters in the Western Cape have their hands full trying to put out several fires in the Overberg and Garden Route areas.

In the Overberg region there are currently three raging fires in Stanford, Pearly Beach, and Greyton. The municipality said the Pearly Beach fire – which has entered its fifth day – has spread all the way to Stanford wineries.

Garden Route district firefighters are also batting two wildfires in Mossel Bay and Tsitsikama. The N2 between Dana Bay and Langeberg Mall in Mossel Bay has since been reopened after it was closed in both directions due to smoke.

Overberg District Municipality Fire Chief, Reinard Geldenhuys, said firefighters are also busy trying to put out other small fires in the region.

“The Greyton fire was contained but, with the strong westerly wind, the fire jumped the road to Riviersonderend and it’s currently burning in the mountain. There is a fire just outside our area that’s also running, a small one in Villiersdorp.”

Meanwhile, the Franschhoek fire remains out of control and a fire at De Wet Cellar in Worcester is burning in the direction of De Doorns.

And in the Eastern Cape, the Kouga Municipality has issued an immediate evacuation order for residents in several high-risk areas as fires rage uncontrollably.

Residents of the Zwartenbosch area along the R330 towards Hankey were instructed to evacuate without delay after flames spread on both sides of the road, threatening homes, farms and nearby infrastructure, including a poultry farm in the area. The municipality said the cause of the fire remains unknown, but worsening weather conditions have significantly hampered containment efforts.

Dense smoke has also forced the closure of the N2 between Jeffreys Bay and Humansdorp, with motorists urged to avoid the area entirely.

Kouga Mayor Hattingh Bornman said firefighters were dealing with multiple active fire fronts as winds repeatedly changed direction.

“With the increasing wind and change of direction, the fire has flared up again and currently we have two situations; on the R330 between Humansdorp and Hankey, as well as between St Francis and Humansdorp. The fire on the Kromme River is out of control, and we are asking residents who live close by to evacuate with immediate effect so that we don’t suffer any loss of life,” Bornman said.

The evacuation order also extends to residents along Oyster Bay Road, surrounding farming areas, and the Kromme River and Riverside communities.

Authorities urged residents not to delay and to follow instructions from emergency services, confirming that temporary accommodation would be made available for displaced families.

At the other weather extreme, GDACS is reporting heavy snowfall, freezing rains, strong winds, and very low temperatures affecting most of the United Kingdom (UK) and northern France (due to the storm Goretti) and northern Germany (due to the storm Ellie) over the last 24 hours, causing disruptions.

In the UK, GDACS reports several school closures, closed roads, rail transport disruptions, closed airports, cancelled flights, and cancelled ferry transports, while France experienced rail transport disruptions, some closed roads, and around 380 000 power outages, and in Germany  several traffic accidents, some closed roads, rail and bus transport disruptions and flight cancellations were reported.

Over the next 48 hours, more severe weather is forecast over the already affected countries. Several warnings were issued by the national meteorological offices of all three countries.

GDACS is also reporting floods in Malaysia, Indonesia, Zambia and Tanzania, and there are flood alerts out in Bosnia and Hertzegovina, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.

Two interesting stories coming from space research have an impact on life right here at home.

Mark Thomson, writing for Guide to Space, notes that surface terrain can make travelling by vehicle in that kind of area difficult or impossible. Nothing remarkable about that! In exploring stony or rocky paths it does mean that vehicles with small wheel diameters are likely to get stuck.

But, a research team led by Professor Dae-Young Lee from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology found an elegant solution by looking backward in time. They combined principles from Leonardo da Vinci’s self-supporting bridge designs with origami folding patterns to create a wheel that transforms without any traditional mechanical joints.

The wheel uses an elastic metal frame and fabric tensioners that flex rather than pivot. This design can expand from a compact 230 millimetres to 500 millimetres in diameter, more than doubling its size. A small rover equipped with these wheels maintains a low profile during transport but gains the climbing ability of a much larger vehicle once deployed on the lunar surface.

The team put the wheel through rigorous testing using artificial lunar soil. It demonstrated superior traction on loose slopes and survived a drop impact equivalent to falling 100 metres in lunar gravity. The metal frame proved flexible enough to transform reliably while rigid enough to support the rover’s weight across loose regolith.

While all this will work well in near weightless environments, it may need a bit of work to be modified for work on earth, but one never knows.

Writing in the same edition of Guide to Space, Mark reports on an experiment with adult mice sent to the Chinese Space Station on 31^st October. For two weeks, the rodents lived in microgravity, exposed to space radiation and the peculiar conditions of orbital life. They returned safely on 14 November. Then, on 10 December, one of the females gave birth to nine healthy pups. And that simple fact might matter more than you’d think for humanity’s future beyond Earth.

In this study six of the offspring survived, which researchers consider a normal survival rate. The mother is nursing properly, and the pups are active and developing well. Wang Hongmei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology, emphasised the significance of their discovery that short term spaceflight didn’t damage the mouse’s ability to reproduce.

This wasn’t just about sending mice to space for the sake of it. Mice share high genetic similarity with humans, reproduce quickly, and respond to physiological stresses in ways that often mirror human biology. If space breaks something fundamental about mammalian reproduction, mice would show it first.

Now researchers will monitor these “space pups” closely, tracking their growth curves and checking for physiological changes that might hint at hidden effects from their mother’s space exposure. They’ll also test whether these offspring can reproduce normally themselves, searching for multi-generational impacts.

Noting that it has taken me about 13 years since I first started writing these articles to get sex into the HAMNET report, this is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa!

May I start by wishing you all a very healthy and happy 2026? May your appreciation of amateur radio, and the service you can offer to others using ham radio, expand and develop in the coming year.

Greg Mossop G0DUB, the IARU Region One Emergency Communications Coordinator has issued a greetings bulletin at the start of the New Year. In it, he mentions that 25 events, activities, or disasters were managed by the IARU Region One Emcomm operators, in the 5 year period since 2020.

He notes: “When you look through them you will wonder why some countries events are not reported, or why other events get mentioned which you did not even know about. Sharing information between our groups is useful so we can learn from each other, and it also helps us understand we are not alone and even if we live in countries where we are not called for often, amateur radio does still have a role and we can use these examples to inform our authorities. 

“I am hoping for a more balanced year ahead with more focus on training than administration and more time to promote what we do to a wider audience. My thanks to you, your families and all of your volunteers across the region for your support of Emergency Communications this year and I hope you all have a happy, healthy and safe 2026.”

Thank you Greg, we in South Africa reciprocate your greetings. We are very grateful to you for the professional lead you take and the guidance we all receive.

Thursday the 1^st marked the 125^th anniversary of the Lizard Wireless Station’s inauguration at a remarkable clifftop site in Cornwall, on the English west coast, that played a pivotal role in the early history of wireless communication and helped change how the world connects.

Voicenewspapers.co.uk says that it was opened on the first of January 1901, and became one of the first commercial wireless telegraphy stations in the world, communicating with ships up to 80 miles away and pushing the boundaries of what was thought possible at the time.

Later that same month, the station achieved a world record when it successfully received a wireless signal from St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight – proving for the first time that radio waves could follow the curvature of the Earth.

This breakthrough paved the way for long-distance communication and laid crucial groundwork for Guglielmo Marconi’s famous transatlantic transmission from nearby Poldhu later that year.

Today, the Lizard Wireless Station remains a place where history is not only preserved but actively lived.

Cared for by the National Trust and supported by passionate volunteers, the site continues to operate as an amateur radio station, connecting modern radio enthusiasts with the very landscape and conditions that made these early experiments possible.

To mark the 125th anniversary, the station’s historic call sign GB125LWS will be active throughout January, and visitors will be welcomed inside, offering a rare glimpse into a site where global communication history was made.

A review in irishtimes.com says that the 10 most costly climate-related disasters in 2025 caused 100 billion Euros worth of damage. The analysis carried out for Christian Aid shows the wildfires that raged in California last January were the most expensive in financial terms, assessed at more than €51 billion.

A spate of cyclones and associated extreme rain and flooding in November killed 1,750 people and cost at least $25 billion in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Malaysia. Extreme flooding in China, India and Pakistan; back-to-back typhoons in the Philippines, Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, floods in Texas and a prolonged drought in Brazil each caused damages exceeding $1 billion while hundreds of people died.

Wildfires destroyed 47,000 hectares of moor, woodland and highlands in Britain; 260,000 hectares in Portugal and 383,000 hectares in Spain.

Drought crippled several countries in South America, Iran and west Asia while floods caused devastation in Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The world is paying an ever-higher price for a crisis we already know how to solve,” said Joanna Haigh, emeritus professor of atmospheric physics at Imperial College London.

“These disasters are not ‘natural’ – they are the inevitable result of continued fossil fuel expansion and political delay.”

Christian Aid said while the high bills arose in richer countries, the impact of climate-related disasters was disproportionately severe in poorer countries.

They said that “long-pledged financial support is still not flowing to developing countries at the scale and speed required.

“In 2026, world leaders must address this injustice and act with urgency. This means meeting our climate finance targets, investing in climate action, and breaking our dependence on fossil fuels urgently to reduce emissions.”

Thank you to irishtimes.com for that news.

A report from indiandefencereview.com says that, high above storm clouds where commercial jets don’t fly and conventional satellites cannot observe in detail, scientists have begun collecting data on elusive electrical discharges known as transient luminous events (TLEs). These phenomena include red sprites, blue jets, and ELVES—brief, high-altitude bursts of light triggered by lightning that occur far above thunderclouds.

From the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts are now documenting these discharges with unprecedented precision. Instruments installed outside the station are capturing high-speed images and radiation measurements, giving scientists fresh insight into how these flashes may affect Earth’s atmosphere, long-distance radio communications, and even climate processes.

The renewed focus on storm-generated upper-atmospheric electricity is reshaping how researchers understand severe weather systems. By viewing lightning activity from orbit, space agencies are opening a new frontier in atmospheric research, offering evidence that storm energy often travels far beyond the visible storm cloud.

The ESA’s Atmosphere–Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), installed on the ISS in 2018, plays a central role in observing upper-atmospheric lightning. Built by Danish aerospace firm Terma and operated from a control centre in Belgium, ASIM is designed to detect light, ultraviolet radiation, and X-rays from rare electrical phenomena occurring between 20 and 100 kilometres above Earth’s surface.

Its position outside the station allows it to record events above large thunderstorm systems, particularly in equatorial regions. ASIM’s instruments include high-speed photometers and X-ray sensors that identify and record brief discharges like ELVES, which appear as large, expanding rings of light, and red sprites, which look like vertical bursts resembling jellyfish.

Earth.com noted that ASIM confirmed that lightning-like discharges can emit enough electromagnetic energy to reach the ionosphere, the charged layer of the atmosphere that supports long-range radio communication. These vertical pulses, triggered by storm activity, may influence how radio signals travel across continents, creating potential disruptions to aviation, naval and military communications systems, (not to mention signals of radio amateurs).

Thanks to indiandefencereview.com for these paragraphs.

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

The Christmas week has not given the people in the Margate area of the South Coast much joy. centralnews.co.za reports that heavy rains have caused major flooding in Margate on KwaZulu-Natal’s south coast, leaving roads blocked, properties damaged, and communities picking up the pieces during what should be a joyful holiday time. The downpours, which started around 16:30 on Sunday, 21 December 2025, brought intense rainfall that triggered widespread havoc, with water rushing through streets and into homes and businesses.

For families like those in the coastal belt from Margate through Oslo Beach to Port Shepstone, it meant a night of worry as they watched their belongings get soaked and cars stuck in the flow. One person has died in a mudslide, while three others are missing after their car was swept away in Amanzimtoti, with two bodies located so far and the search for the third continuing. The storms have also led to a wall collapse that claimed a woman’s life, bringing the known death toll to at least two with fears it could rise. As parents keep kids inside and residents mop up, many share stories of the sudden rush of water that turned quiet neighbourhoods into rivers in minutes.

In a region known for its beautiful beaches and holiday vibes, this disaster reminds us how quickly weather can change plans, calling for better preparation to protect lives and homes. As the year ends, many pray for drier days ahead, ensuring the south coast stays a place of joy, not worry.

Earlier in the week, the last time GDACS presented their daily update of severe weather, the list of countries experiencing the severest of storms and flooding included Argentina, Paraguay, Indonesia, France, Iran, USA and the United Arab Emirates, with warnings of flooding in Poland and United Kingdom. Disaster management agencies have been kept busy in these countries.

I am glad to note that the ARRL is promoting the dual-band hand-held Yagi developed in South Africa, and exported to them for sale to American hams to use with lightweight mobile transceivers to make contacts via satellites. As far as I can see they have already issued two short teaching YouTube videos on the availability and the assembly of the antennas. Originally designed by Martin Steyer DK7ZB, and then modified by Larry Brown WB5CXC, it was later redesigned and rebuilt by Guy Eales ZS6GUY and Gary Immelman ZS6YI, and the latter two hams are to be congratulated for developing a simple design that has attracted the attention of the ARRL.

It is available in South Africa for interested parties at amsatsa.org.za.

An item triggering my memory as I write this is the magnitude 9.2 earthquake off the coasts of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Northern Sumatra, on 26^th December 2004, causing a massive tsunami with waves as high as 30 metres tall, devastating communities along the surrounding coasts of the Indian Ocean, and killing an estimated 228000 people in 14 countries.

You may remember amateur radio’s role in that quake and tsunami, with a group of Indian radio amateurs, led by Bharathi Prasad VU2RBI, coincidentally visiting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on a DXpedition, and able to scramble to a high site on Andaman, and maintain radio communications for the area

A second station was established on Car Nicobar Island, one of the most affected islands by another member of the DXpedition, S. Ram Mohan, VU2MYH, and amateur radio remained the only means of communication from the Andaman and Nicobar islands for many days.

That DXpedition’s team allowed thousands of families to hear news of loved ones in the affected areas, and persuaded authorities to legalize amateur radio in the Andaman Islands.

We remember that time 21 years ago, and marvel at the effect amateur radio had on the communications during the disaster.

Another disaster and mystery in the area concerns the disappearance of Malaysian flight MH-370, a Boeing 777, which dramatically diverted from its planned flight path and seems to have vanished in the south eastern Indian Ocean on 8^th March 2014, and has never been found.

Several international searches have been instituted since then without success. A major deep sea research, search and rescue company called Ocean Infinity, which has specialized ships with autonomous undersea drones, has been involved in previous searches, so far without success in finding the plane, the last being called off in March this year due to developing winter weather in the search area.

Ocean Infinity is desperately concerned with the search and recovery of details of the whereabouts of the wreckage, and has signed a contract with the Malaysian government to keep looking on a no-find, no-fee basis. They are on the point of resuming the search within the next couple of days, with a brand new ship, Armada 86 05, due to resume searching on 30^th December, when it reaches the area last searched in March this year.

239 lives were lost on that aircraft, 239 families still cannot bring closure to their loved one’s final outcomes, and Ocean Infinity is going to spend another 55 days tracking the parts of the Indian Ocean most likely to conceal the remains of the plane. At an ocean depth of some 4000 metres in the area, those autonomous underwater rovers are going to have to earn their reputations in the next two months.

Did you notice the milestone passed this weekend when the satellite Voyager One, now the furthest man-made object away from Earth, reached a distance of one light-day away from us? In other words, a signal sent by the Deep Space Network takes 24 hours travelling at the speed of light to reach Voyager One, and the answer back takes another 24 hours to get to us! You can’t be in a hurry communicating with Voyager One. And the power consumed by its transmitter is the same as that used by a typical home fridge door lightbulb. However the Deep Space Network can still extract its data from the background radio noise!

Finally, someone has done the research to determine how far intelligible radio signals (to our ears) have travelled since the first voice transmissions were emitted in 1906, by Aubrey Fessenden. The strength of the signals transmitted are reduced by the square of the distance travelled, so must now be extremely weak, but the distance travelled is of course 119 lightyears. This “sphere” of signals is called Earth’s Radio Bubble, and has a total diameter of (double that) 238 light years. Put in perspective, it would take those first signals 23000 years to reach our edge of the Milky Way, and 77000 years to reach the far edge of our galaxy.

Proxima Centauri, the closest star to us is only 4.24 light years away, so they have been battered by our radio noise for 115 years already, and have probably heard all episodes of Dallas, Downton Abbey, the Carol Burnett Show, the Goons, and countless thousands of rugby match commentaries!

But don’t expect any listener reviews back from them in a hurry. They are probably too busy developing noise filters to cut our QRM out completely!

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, wishing you all a splendid 2026 in a peaceful world (I hope), and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.

It is with a sinking feeling that I must report that the days in the Southern Hemisphere start getting shorter from today. Woe is me – I prefer the warm weather and long sunsets.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Between Wednesday and Friday this week, GDACS reported flooding in Bolivia, DRC, Malaysia, Palestine, Morocco, the Northwest USA, Spain and Brazil,  as well as heavy snowfall in Canada, forest fires in Chile, landslides in Vietnam, bushfires in Australia and continued violence and forced displacements in Mozambique.

eNCA reports that KwaZulu-Natal disaster management authorities are on high alert amid yet another weather warning. The South African Weather Service has issued a Level 5 and a Level 2 warning.

The Level 5 warning affects the Western, Midlands, and Northern parts of the province and the Level 2 warning affects coastal areas.

There’s a high probability of flooding, mudslides, rock-falls and soil erosion.

Level 2 warnings also affect Gauteng, the North West, Free State, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.

Reporting from the Western Cape, I am lucky to be free of these dangers.

Keith Lowes ZS5WFD of HAMNET KZN has sent me a report of the Upper Highway Trail Marathon held on 6^th December 2025. He writes:

“HAMNET-KZN deployed 7 members who once again partnered with S.T.A.R.T Rescue (Specialised Tactical Accident Rescue Team) and Redline Response Ambulance to assist with communications for this popular annual event.

“A Joint Operations Centre (JOC) was established at the beautiful Start and Finish venue of Camp Orchards in Hillcrest which was manned by Provincial Director Keith Lowes ZS5WFD for HAMNET and Brad Cool for the S.T.A.R.T Rescue team members.  HAMNET made use of the Highway Amateur Radio Club’s 145.7625 repeater situated in Kloof and 145.550 Simplex which gave us excellent coverage of the whole route. The route took runners through 7 Nature Conservancies, 6 river eco-systems, 3 scenic waterfalls and some of the most beautiful trails in the area.

“142 runners started the 42Km race at 05H30 with 6 Water Points, whilst 437 runners started the 21Km event at 06H00 with 3 Water Points on route. The last runner crossed the finish line at 15H15.

“Trail conditions were wet and slippery with cloudy/overcast and light rain persisting for the duration of the event.

“I am pleased to report that no serious medical emergencies were experienced apart from the usual cuts/grazes and sprained ankles. If you didn’t bleed, you weren’t trying hard enough!!!! An ambulance was dispatched at 09H20 to Watsonia Place to assist a patient who was not part of the Trail Event.

“Recently acquired SARL HAMNET EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS tear-drop banners drew the public’s attention to our activities at strategic points along the route.

“This was our final sporting event for the year. I wish to extend my sincere thanks to my HAMNET KZN team for their dedication and loyal support during the year. You may take a well-earned break with your families but please remain vigilant and be available should a call for HAMNET’S assistance be received during the festive period.”

Thank you, Keith, for the report, and for your never-failing contribution to HAMNET in KZN.

Now, if you think we have problems driving our vehicles on the roads, spare a thought for the folks who have to manoeuvre satellites out of each other’s way. With reference to solar flares and geomagnetic storms that influence GPS positioning, Jonathan O’Callaghan, writing in newscientist.com, says that satellites in orbit would begin to collide in a matter of days if they lost maneuverability during a solar storm or other outage

A collision would occur in just 2.8 days if all satellites lost their ability to dodge each other, highlighting how crowded Earth’s orbit is becoming.

In the past seven years, the number of satellites has more than tripled from 4000 to nearly 14,000. The main cause of this growth has been SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which now numbers more than 9000 satellites in low Earth orbit between 340 and 550 kilometres above Earth.

This large increase means satellites must constantly dodge out of the way of each other, known as a collision avoidance manoeuvre, to prevent crashes that would generate thousands of pieces of metal and potentially render parts of Earth’s orbit unusable.

From 1 December 2024 to 31 May 2025, SpaceX alone performed 144,404 collision avoidance manoeuvres, equivalent to one every 1.8 minutes across its constellation, according to a report by the company. Only one collision between satellites in orbit has ever occurred. In 2009, an active satellite run by Iridium Communications hit a defunct Russian Kosmos satellite. Hundreds of pieces of debris from the event still orbit Earth.

Sarah Thiele at Princeton University and her colleagues used public positional data of satellites to model how their increased number has affected the collision risk. They came up with a new metric, called the Collision Realization And Significant Harm (CRASH) Clock to quantify the risk. The name invites comparisons with the infamous Doomsday Clock that charts humanity’s threat of nuclear war. “We definitely talked about that a lot,” says Samantha Lawler at the University of Regina in Canada, another member of the team.

Thanks to newscientist.com for that cheerful news.

It remains now only for me to wish all of my readers and listeners a very happy festive season, celebrating appropriately, and responsibly, looking after your loved ones, and doing for them that which you would like being done for you.

I’d like to greet Hans van den Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, who has been steering this ARToday ship for many years, and thank him for putting together a programme of interesting hobby stuff so faithfully every week, and also the Councilors and Admin of the SARL, and thank them for all they do to keep our hobby safe and progressive. I think we, as the benefitting radio amateurs, don’t appreciate enough the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep the wheels rolling.

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, reporting from sunny Cape Town, for HAMNET in South Africa.

In continuing news from Indonesia, GDACS says that the death toll from severe flooding in Indonesia, particularly in northern Sumatra, has been increasing since 17 November.

As of 10 December, the National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB) reported 977 fatalities, with Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra being the most affected provinces. There are also 260 missing individuals and 5,037 injured people reported. Additionally, approximately 159,000 homes and 3,296 public facilities have been damaged.

So that disaster is not over yet.

Aljazeera says that more than two million people – nearly 10 percent of the population of Sri Lanka – have been affected by last week’s climate crisis-spurred floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone DITWAH, the worst on the island this century.

The government has confirmed 639 deaths – 464 from the lush tea-growing central region – while 209 people remain unaccounted for. The number of people in state-run refugee camps had dropped to 100,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded across the island by last Sunday, the DMC said.

More than 75,000 homes were damaged, including close to 5,000 that were completely destroyed, it added.

The National Sea Rescue Institute says that it joined the Western Cape Disaster Management Centre (WCDMC) and key emergency stakeholders at the official launch of the 2025/26 Summer Season Readiness Initiative, a province-wide commitment to ensure coordinated, rapid emergency response during the busiest and highest-risk season.

The annual readiness initiative brings together provincial and municipal disaster managers, emergency services and non-profit response organisations in the Western Cape to prepare for heightened risks associated with increased recreational water use, fire danger, extreme weather, and growing demands on first responders.

At the event, the NSRI formally acknowledged the Western Cape Government and WCDMC for their long-standing support, including a new grant of R408, 000 awarded for Swift Water Rescue training in the 2025/26 season.

“Strong disaster preparedness is built on strong partnerships,” said Dirk Coetzee, NSRI Business Development Manager.

“This investment is about readiness, not reaction, and directly improves our ability to respond swiftly and safely during flood and storm events.”

The specialised training, supported by the grant, will equip NSRI’s volunteer crews with advanced skills for operating in fast-moving, high-risk environments, such as rivers, canals, and flooded urban areas.

As the summer season intensifies, the NSRI urges all beachgoers, inland water users, and tourists to remain vigilant, tocheck weather forecasts, respect signage and tide warnings, and familiarise themselves with local emergency numbers.

Brian Jacobs ZS6YZ has issued a report of the Earthquake Response Exercise held in the Eastern Cape in the first week of December.

He notes that its purpose was to test search and rescue operations, inter-agency coordination, communication and command systems, emergency medical response, evacuation and logistics, humanitarian coordination and post-disaster recovery planning.

United Nations and international teams were present at a workshop session on the Monday, before a “tropical storm” made landfall near Port Elizabeth, followed shortly thereafter by a magnitude 6.9 “earthquake” just offshore, in this imaginary scenario.

A variety of protocols were then followed, including a classification of the event as a National Disaster with attendant inter-agency coordination, communication and command systems, emergency medical responses, evacuation and logistics, humanitarian coordination and post-disaster recovery planning.

On the Tuesday National search and rescue teams were deployed, helping to manage arriving international search and rescue teams at the airport.

Team USAR SA-01 established a Base of Operations (BOO) and a USAR Coordination Cell (UCC) from where the team was managed and assigned tasks, such as a high level reconnaissance of the sector assigned to them.

The Local Emergency Management Authority (LEMA) also arranged that HAMNET Eastern Cape, under the leadership of Andrew Gray ZS2G and assisted by Odette ZS2ODI, which had also been activated, made contact with the UCC and established Amateur Radio communications as a backup should there be communications failure with the various parts of the province that were affected by the disaster. The HAMNET Eastern Cape team members also volunteered to assist with other tasks within the UCC.

On Wednesday, “disgruntled” local citizens arrived, demanding immediate assistance, which crisis was professionally handled by the Liaison Officer in charge of the UCC. Further stressful scenarios played out during the day, and were handled by the UCC team and Metro Police and SAPS.

By Thursday, the exercise was winding down, and the South Africans then managed the departure of the international teams back to the airport again.

This was the first exercise of this magnitude that has involved so many role players and it was an overall success, with everyone learning a lot from the fellow participants as there was always time to explain a process where required.

It was also a first for HAMNET and while there were only a few HAMNET members involved there is a lot of knowledge that needs to be passed on in the next year so that more of our members can be ready to assist when they are called to duty, and can work seamlessly with other organisations doing what we do best, providing emergency communications when other channels fail.

Thank you Brian for allowing me to precis this report.

Here’s a problem I hadn’t bargained for when I was musing about relocating to Mars, as soon as the sky-train starts operating of course. Writing in skyatnightmagazine.com, Iain Todd says that clocks on Mars tick faster than on Earth by nearly half a millisecond a day, according to new calculations – and the implications for future missions to the Red Planet could be significant.

Neil Ashby and Bijunath Patla at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology calculated that a clock on Mars ticks 477 microseconds faster per day than one on Earth. That rate can also shift by 226 microseconds a day, depending on Mars’s distance from the Sun.

The effect comes from general relativity: weaker gravity and orbital motion alter spacetime, changing how time flows.

Surface gravity on Mars is just 38% that of Earth, meaning a second on the Red Planet is slightly shorter than for us on our planet.

Why does it matter? Well, if you’re trying to communicate with a rover using radio waves travelling at the speed of light, microseconds count.

Even the 56-microsecond delay in radio communications between Earth and the Moon means lunar targets could be missed by the length of about 184 football fields – and Mars is much farther away.

Luckily, we already correct for similar effects in GPS satellites, whose clocks run faster than those on Earth – otherwise your phone’s GPS would be misaligned by miles after only a few hours.

But it gets a lot more complicated when you are scaling that solution to deal with interplanetary distances, for worlds with different gravities that are moving closer and further from the Sun’s gravitational influence.

This of course means that I will get older more quickly if I live on Mars. Sounds like a very bad idea to me. I’d better cancel that sky-train reservation post haste!

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

What seemed to be a fairly unimportant and minor tropical storm threatening Sri Lanka and South-east India, turned into Tropical Cyclone DITWAH, which arose about a week ago, and triggered severe flooding and landslides. By Friday, GDACS was reporting 479 deaths in Sri Lanka, another 350 people missing, and a total of 1.7 million individuals affected by flooding in one way or another.

Greg Mossop G0DUB drew our attention to a communique from the President of the Radio Society of Sri Lanka (RSSL), the national IARU Member Society representing licensed amateur radio operators in Sri Lanka, wishing formally to notify the international amateur radio community that Sri Lanka is currently experiencing severe and widespread flooding, resulting in significant disruption to telecommunication networks and essential infrastructure.

Theranga Premathilake, call sign 4S6TMP, said that, at the request of the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), RSSL has mobilized and deployed trained volunteer amateur radio operators across several affected districts to provide Emergency Communications (EmComm) where conventional systems have failed.

In order to maintain and expand these critical communication links during the ongoing crisis, the RSSL urgently requires additional equipment. He respectfully requested assistance from IARU Member Societies, global amateur radio communities, EmComm groups, and supporting donors to help supply HF and VHF base radios, handheld VHF/UHF radios, and rechargeable power packs to help the amateurs to keep lines of communication up and running around the country.

He noted further that any support, whether through equipment donations, financial facilitation, or procurement assistance will directly strengthen Sri Lanka’s disaster response capabilities at this critical time.

Although the coast of India was also threatened by DITWAH, there has been no news of similar flooding or casualties in that country.

Indonesia, Thailand and Sumatra, however, are still affected by heavy rainfall, with 770 deaths in Sumatra and 185 in Thailand reported by the end of the week, with about 830 people still missing in the two countries, and at least a million people displaced by flooding.

And by Tuesday, Tropical Cyclone KOTO, with maximum wind speeds of 150 km/h was crossing Philippines and aiming at Vietnam next. Luckily, it appeared to be weakening as it approached Vietnam.

Newsweek.com reported on Monday that NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory detected a sunspot—labeled Active Region (AR) 4294-96—which is the largest recorded in a decade, and which is expected to trigger further solar flares in the coming weeks.

An X1.9-class solar flare was detected by Earth-orbiting satellites on the same day, although, according to SpaceWeather.com, it actually originated from a smaller sunspot—named AR 4295, rather than the giant one.

However, 4294 is impressively massive, in photos taken of the sun’s disk this week, much bigger than the sunspot of two weeks ago that generated the X5.1-class flare which caused such beautiful auroras in northern and southern latitudes, and blanked out radio communications so effectively. It remains to be seen whether 4294 impresses us with solar high jinks this week.

Universetoday.com notes that it’s been over two years since the samples from Asteroid Bennu gathered by the satellite OSIRIS-REx were returned to Earth. But there’s still plenty of novel science coming out of that 121.6 g of material. Three new papers were released recently that describe different aspects of that sample. One in particular, from Yoshihiro Furukawa of Tohoku University in Japan and their co-authors, has already attracted plenty of attention, including from US Senator (and former astronaut) Mark Kelly. It shows that all of the building blocks for early life were available on the asteroid – raising the chances that planets throughout the galaxy could be seeded with the abiotic precursors for life.

To be clear, the most recent paper itself didn’t first discover all of the necessary ingredients for life. Two of the parts of the “molecular trifecta” required for the origin of life were already discovered on Bennu. Nucleobases – the molecules that make up the sequence of DNA – and amino acids – the building blocks of proteins – were previously discovered and disclosed in other papers on the asteroid.

After subjecting a 600 mg sample of the pristine surface material of Bennu to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the researchers found two additional types of “sugars” for the first time. But don’t think of these sugars as equivalent to the high fructose corn syrup used to sweeten Twinkies. These sugars are basic organic molecules integral to the functioning of all biological systems known on Earth.

One new sugar they found was ribose, the molecule that serves as the backbone of RNA (or ribonucleic acid). RNA is a critical component of modern life, and perhaps most famously recently served as the base for many of COVID-19 vaccines. Granted, the total concentration of ribose was very small, with a concentration of only .097 nanomoles per gram of asteroid material. But the most important thing about this finding is that it was there at all.

There’s an ongoing debate about the origin of life, where some scientists suggest that, instead of having complex DNA in the beginning, early life was based on RNA instead as its information transfer mechanism. This study adds some more evidence for that hypothesis, showing that all the components of RNA are available on an asteroid, and can be protected from the destructive radiation of outer space by being trapped in rocky aggregates – until they land on a receptive planet’s surface at least. This also undermines the argument that ribose is too unstable to have accumulated on early Earth, when life would have first started.

At its core, this paper confirms that the potential basic building blocks of life are all present on asteroids. And more importantly on only the second asteroid we’ve ever sampled – which implies that they are likely abundant not only throughout our solar system, but throughout our galaxy. That has major implications for the study of life on other worlds, and while we still haven’t found definitive evidence of that yet, the more we learn about the evolution of life in our own backyard, the more exciting the prospect of eventually finding it elsewhere seems to be.

This is Dave Reece, ZS1DFR, wondering whether I can sweeten my tea with two spoons of Bennu, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.