100th anniversary of Amateur Radio's entry into disaster service

"SOS Hilltop Business Men’s Association wants city to sendboats... Supplies will last until about tomorrow.... Men are hanging on trees.... Send supplies.... Water is receding....Try and get us water and gas.... People are suffering.... Send this to Mayor Karb at once.... SOS."

It was with these words sent by a 15 year-old teenager 100 years ago that Amateur Radio entered into Disaster Service.

Herbert V. Akerberg was a student at West High School in the Hilltop neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio when he anxiously tapped out that Morse code message on the afternoon of March 26, 1913.

A slow moving storm had dumped 11 inches of rain over much of Ohio’s already saturated soil.

In Zanesville the Muskingum River was cresting at 27 feet and 20 feet of water stood in her intersections. Five of the town’s seven bridges were washed away. Only the tips of the lamp posts of the famous “Y” bridge could be seen.

In Defiance, Ohio the Maumee River rushed in 10 feet above flood stage and covered 268 homes. Row boats plucked people from trees and rooftops everywhere.

In Tiffin help came too late for several. Nineteen people waiting on their roofs for help, perished when their homes collapsed and they were swept away by the Sandusky River

On the west side of Columbus, where young Herb Akerberg was manning his station, the Scioto River crashed through the downtown dumping flood waters 17 feet deep into his neighborhood. Thirteen people were rescued from the branches of a single tree.

“For about three days and nights, practically continuously for seventy-two hours, young Akerberg remained on duty at his radio set, in communication with the radio station on top of the Huntington Bank Building, sending messages to the mayor and keeping the public advised as to the conditions on the devastated West Side. Many messages were sent to the friends and relatives of those in the devastated district.”
C. B. Galbreath-Author “The History of Ohio”



The greatest destruction was in the areas around Dayton, where the rushing waters of the Great Miami River washed away homes and bridges claiming hundreds of lives.

In Dayton 360 souls were lost, 3,400 domesticated animals and horses perished, 65,000 people were displaced and 20,000 homes were destroyed. Damage, in today’s dollars, exceeded $2 Billion.

The flow of the Great Miami River through Dayton during that Easter week storm in 1913 was equivalent to the same amount of water that spills over Niagara Falls in a month!

In nearby Hamilton four-fifths of the town was covered and 400 people lost their lives.

“People talked about how fast the waters rose, sometimes one or two feet per hour, and there wasn’t any way of sending warnings downstream because of the downed wires. There was no radio then except for a few ham radio operators, and the 1913 Flood is what triggered the legislation to create an emergency broadcast system.”
…Trudy E. Bell-Author “The Great Dayton Flood of 1913”



Back in Columbus, Herbert Akerman, pounding brass from his home shack is joined by the station from Ohio State University. Unlike Akerman, the OSU students are not proficient in Morse Code.

To the North of Ohio, B.N. Burglund at the University of Michigan station was unaware of the flooding in Ohio until he intercepted a call from a operator in Freemont, Ohio who reported that the town was under water and that the Captain of the Port Townsend Life Saving Station had drowned while attempting a rescue. The operator reported that all telegraph and telephone lines were down.

This call was followed by one from D. A. Nichols in Wapakpmeta, Ohio that his town was also cut off from the world.

Burglund put out a General Call to any station located in the flooded areas. This call was responded to by operators in Mansfield, Springfield, and Mt. Vernon, as well as the OSU station in Columbus.

Burglund, assisted by engineering students George Norris, Worth Chatfield, and Mr. Watts (who had once been a commercial operator) began handling Health and Welfare traffic from the devasted area.

The Ohio State University station was now being manned by a capable operator, J. A. Mercer who pounded the key for more than 70 hours before he collapsed from exhaustion and was temporarily relieved by operators from the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Young Mr. Akerberg, the first Ham ever to use Amateur Radio in a disaster would go on to honorably serve with the men of the Army Signal Corp during World War I.

In 1923 he directed the building of Radio Station WPAL in Columbus. Six years later he joined the start-up network CBS, where he built much of their network of radio and television stations.

Herbert Akerberg passed away in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 6, 1964.

“Wireless has shown itself up so beautifully during this great crisis, that a bill is pending in the State Legislature of Ohio providing for a large central station or stations and each city to have a permanent local station, so in case of need all cities so isolated are in communication with the different central stations. By all means let this bill pass. This is a step in the right direction and it is a good example for other States to follow.”

“Wireless in the hands of the amateur, while it is used by some as a plaything, is capable of doing excellent service in time of need; and we hope the work done by these men who did all they could to maintain communication between the flood stricken cities and the rest of the world, will long be remembered.”
B.N. Burglund –Modern Electrics, April 1913



Written by

John Bigley-N7UR

President-Frontier Amateur Radio Society
Las Vegas, NV

Disaster recovery helped by amateur radio

The amateur radio community was prepared when a super typhoon unleashed its fury on the Philippines, uprooting trees, snapping power lines, sparking landslides, cancelling flights and ferries sending 40,000 people to shelters.

Claiming more than 200 human lives, it was the strongest of 16 typhoons in the country this year, as Pablo (internationally named Bopha) had heavy rain and wind gusts up to 210km/h.

The Philippine Amateur Radio Association (PARA) had emergency communications on 40 metres 7095 MHz and VHF as the typhoon made landfall on Tuesday at North Davao in Mindanao. It left a large footprint of damage before exiting the country.

PARA is disappointed that its emergency use of 7095 MHz was not honoured by other radio amateurs, who disturbed its operation by testing equipment on air, tuning up, sending digital signals and sometimes even trying to make contact as if it was a DX activity.

A standard text will clearly identify emergency nets in future, as a worldwide reminder is issued not to QRM emergencies or training exercises.

With the typhoon now leaving the country's area of responsibility, the PARA HERO activity is now closed.'

National Traffic System Co-chairman, Roberto C. Vicencio DU1VHY said he thanked everyone who participated in the endeavour, and they did very well, exceeding all expectations.

Jim Linton VK3PC
Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee

- South Gate Amateur Radio News

Hams provide emergency communications

Typhoon Bopha (local name Pablo) has hit the Philippines uprooting trees, downing power lines, sparking landslides and making 40,000 people head for shelters.

It was the strongest of about 20 typhoons to affect the country this year with its heavy rain and wind gusting up to 210km/h as it came ashore at Mindanao.

The Philippine Amateur Radio Association (PARA) had its ham emergency radio operations (HERO) working when the typhoon struck the southern Philippines.

PARA is using all available means of communication like HF radio (7.095 MHz) VHF radio (144.740 MHz), the internet and social media (Facebook, email, echolink) to monitor the situation and give updates to all concerned.

Ham emergency radio operators have been assisting in the communication needs of these cities (as reported by DW5JMJ, DU5AOK and DU8BGA).

RADNET 5, a local club of amateur radio operators in Tacloban City, is very active in helping provide the city with vital communications link.

It is in constant coordination with the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC). So far, 5,700 families have been evacuated from Saint Bernard.

RADNET 5 is also assisting the Red Cross in Tacloban and Saint Bernard. The City Government of Tacloban City has used the Tacloban Convention Centre as one of its evacuation centres.

The casualties have been minimal, due to preparations, the cooperation of evacuees and the mammoth response and recovery efforts.

JJim Linton VK3PC
Chair of the IARU Region 3, Disaster Communications Committee, with Eddie Valdez DU1EV
PARA Chief Operating Officer

India blackouts affects millions

In the world's worst blackout in recent times power was cut to 700 million people in India.

Jayu Bhide VU2JAU reports that the North-East grid failed due to a fault in the plant and 20 states were affected by the power failure. Work to restore the power was in progress.

National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India, Jayu VU2JAU said that New Delhi had its power cut for 12 hours yesterday.

He said in the evening power was restored to some parts of Delhi and the surrounding areas. The work to restore was still in progress. "Hams in and around the affected areas were ready for the emergency communication required during power cuts," said Jayu VU2JAU. They provided emergency communications during the outage, all voice repeaters were in order and did not fail despite the heavy duty back-up power needed. He said, "Hams will still be on their toes until complete power is restored."

Further reports on the crisis are expected later. Luckily, said Jayu VU2JAU, "Everything went well and no major casualty was reported". Up to 20 of India's 28 states were plunged into darkness as suppliers failed to meet the growing demand caused by air-conditioning units, flat-screen TVs and other gadgets. Hundreds of trains failed, traffic lights were out, surgical operations cancelled, and underground miners were trapped when their lifts broke down. The blackout raised concern about India's infrastructure.

(Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee and Jayu Bhide VU2JAU, National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India)

Amateur radio enthusiast enjoys waves of popularity on worldwide web for stricken yacht video

A North Lincolnshire amateur radio enthusiast who was surfing the air waves to Australia ended up helping a stricken sailor and his yacht which had been battered by waves of a different kind following a big storm in the Atlantic.

David Ogg, of Winteringham, was connected up to a fellow enthusiast in Melbourne, Australia when he then heard a "break station" alert off the coast of Spain, where a vessel had lost its mast and sails.

Fortunately, assistance came through amateur radio. And David, who is chairman of the Brigg and District Amateur Radio Society, recorded how things unfolded in a half-hour video.

He told the Radio Society of Great Britain: "It just goes to show in these modern times, when all else fails, there is amateur radio."

David told thisisscunthorpe.co.uk that the video had become "quite famous" among enthusiasts all round the world.

"It's a good promotion for amateur radio as a hobby, helping in emergencies," he added.

The troubled yachtsman off the coast of Spain - also a radio amateur and thought to be an American - "came on the side of us, talking," David added.

At the time the Winteringham enthusiast was using what is known as a "long path" connection to Australia - 24,000km right round the Earth.

The yachtsman's engine was functioning at the time David spoke to him.

With the storm gone, he was aiming to make about 260 miles into the nearest port in Spain.

"He wasn't giving SOS he was sinking," said Dave. "He was asking us for help."

The yachtsman suggested he would let Dave and his Australian contact know all was well once he made land.

"We don't know if he got there safely. We've not heard from him," said David.

However, had something gone wrong, given the video's popularity on the internet, it's pretty certain someone would have pointed it out by now.

"Maybe it's slipped his mind," David suggested.

- Scunthorpe

Hamnet Weekly Report for 1 July 2012.

Much discussion on changing weather patterns is taking place on various Forums and one is left in no doubt that something is not what it used to be – alternatively, weather information has become so rapid these days that one forgets that many years ago, it took much longer for one to hear or read about strange phenomena!

Be that as it may, the fact is that the reports of disasters due to floods are definitely on the increase and the last week or so is no exception!

Looking at Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, GDACS, during the past 4 days we had the following around the globe – starting with weather related items first:-

Tropical Cyclones:-

‘Twentyone’ – situated north of Australia and East of Papua New Guinea.

‘Doksuri’ – off the East coast of China – more specifically near Hong Kong.

‘’Debby’ – which caused a tremendous amount of rain over North Florida and Alabama!

Flooding:-

Bangladesh – Afghanistan, Florida (USA), Canada and India!

Earthquakes:-

China – as recent as Friday afternoon, Vanuatu, Greece, Indonesia and Iran!

But it is the weather that is cause for concern. As mentioned before, it appears that storms or downpours are becoming more severe and intense and in South Africa, the appearance of ‘twisters’, tornado's or funnel type wind formations, is also a cause for concern.

We do occasionally see the odd picture of a minor tornado but during the past few weeks, some have actually caused severe damage and death among citizens. Informal settlements are the most vulnerable to these types of strong winds and can cause a severe amount of damage as seen earlier this week in Bethlehem.

With the summer season still a few months away, it will be interesting to see if this phenomenon of mini or minor tornadoes is on the increase and what precaution we should take.

Again, like in the USA, should we not consider reporting such incidents so we can ascertain if this is on the increase!

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.

Field Day to promote emergency response of amateur radio operators

Despite the Internet, cell phones, email, and modern communications, every year whole regions find themselves in the dark. Tornadoes, fires, storms, ice, and even the occasional cutting of fiberoptic cables leave people without the means to communicate. In these cases, the one consistent service that has never failed has been Amateur Radio. These radio operators, often called “hams” provide backup communications for everything for the American Red Cross to FEMA and even the International Space Station. Montgomery County “hams” will join with thousands of other Amateur Radio Operators showing their emergency capabilities June 23 and 24. The “hams” will set up at 100 Blue Stem Lane in Hawk Point, Mo.

This annual event, called “Field Day” is the climax of the week lone “Amateur Radio Week” sponsored by the ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio. The operators will simulate emergency communications using emergency power supplies and portable antenna systems. Their slogan, “when all else fails, Ham Radio works” is more than just words to the “hams” as they prove they can send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, Internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis. More than 35,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event. The public is invited to visit the field day site and see amateur radio demonstrations.

- Lincoln Journal

Weather emergencies help fuel ham radio growth

The number of licensed amateur radio operators in the U.S. is at an all-time high, in part because of ham radio use during and after severe weather, experts said.

The number of amateur radio operators topped 700,000 for the first time in October 2011, according to the American Radio Relay League, a national amateur radio association. New license applications for 2012’s first quarter were up 30 percent compared to that period in 2011, the league said.

More than 20,000 amateur radio enthusiasts are expected to attend the 61st-annual Dayton Hamvention today through Sunday at Hara Arena. The event has an annual economic impact of $6 million, according to the Dayton/Montgomery County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

League spokesman Allen Pitts attributed the rise in ham radio licenses to young people getting involved to help in emergency communications, as well as to people who are nearing retirement and taking it up as a hobby.

Recent severe weather in the Midwest and South “clued a lot of people in that they might want to have a way to communicate if other technologies went down,” said Henry Ruminski, media chairman for Dayton Hamvention. Many ham radios can operate on 12-volt batteries or generators, he said.

Ham radio equipment sales also are on the rise, said Ray Novak, division manager for amateur and receiver products for Icom America Inc., a ham radio maker based in Bellevue, Wash. “We are seeing growth in the areas that have to do with civil support for emergency communications, for being prepared,” Novak said. He declined to disclose company sales figures.

Amateur radio operators are “vital in making sure the National Weather Service gets the information they need in a timely manner,” said Louis Long, section co-coordinator for Dayton SkyWarn. The regional network of ham radio operators relays visual storm spotter reports to the National Weather Service forecast office in Wilmington during severe weather to expedite warnings issued to the public.

Nationally, amateur radio operators are credited with providing warning in April, when 21 confirmed tornados swept through the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.

Officials in the city of Rowlett reportedly activated alert sirens nine minutes before the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the area. There were no fatalities and few injuries.

Ham radio operators also provided emergency communications support last year in the aftermath of tornados in Alabama that killed 58 people and knocked out electronic communications.

“We actually had to use an old-school way to communicate in some of the areas that were hit hardest by tornados in Alabama,” said Jamie Simpson, chief meteorologist for WHIO-TV News Center 7.

Simpson said he works indirectly with Dayton SkyWarn, which in April moved its operations center to the Cox Media Group Ohio Media Center in Dayton. Dayton SkyWarn covers 12 counties in Ohio and three in Indiana, Long said. Its 16 control operators are on call 365 days a year with the National Weather Service.

Handheld amateur radios with “pretty impressive communication capabilities” that sell for about $100 are helping to fuel ham radio growth, Ruminski said.

“A lot of people are getting into it just to have another way of communicating,” he said.

- Dayton Daily News

Connecting the world through their own radios

Life is busy for VT Sadasivan (78), a retired physics professor based in Madurai. He is teaching batches of students the nuances of amateur radio communications. After the teaching sessions, Prof Sadasivan tunes in to his Ham Radio transceiver communicating with friends across the globe. “I am on the vigil all the time. As a Ham Radio (amateur radio) operator I have a lot of responsibilities,” he said.

When earthquake devastated Gujarat on January 26, 2001 and tsunami waves struck Tamil Nadu coast in December 2004, Prof Sadasivan was the point of contact for thousands of people who wanted to know about their near and dear ones.

The 2004 tsunami attack was no different. “Telephone and mobile phone network in the coastal districts went off the air for almost 15 days. The Hams (amateur radio buffs) moved into the camp office of the district collector with their equipment. The entire communication responsibility was undertaken by the hams,” said Arulmozhi, another ham radio buff who is also a staff of the National Informatics Centre.

Telephone posts and mobile phone towers were uprooted when Cyclone Thane struck Tamil Nadu coast in December 2011. “District authorities in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam had to depend on hams for rescue and relief operations,” said Shankar Satyapa, director, Indian Institute of Ham Radio, Bangalore.

Hams across the globe observe April 18 as the World Amateur Radio Day to commemorate the formation of the International Amateur Radio Union on April 18, 1925. Out of two million Ham Radio operators in the world who work selflessly for One World; One Language, 20,000 are from India. “We have 5,000 active amateur radio operators in India,” said Satypal.

Every ham radio operator has something exciting to tell about his/her contacts and experiences. E S Aruswamy (83), the oldest Ham Radio operator in South India was in regular touch with King Hussein of Jordan. Aruswamy breathed his last early this year.

“King Hussein always asked me about my farming operations and Indian monsoon,” he had told this writer.

N Dorairaj, a former police inspector, reminiscences about his conversations with Kalpana Chawla, the Indian-born NASA astronaut who herself was an avid ham.

- DNA

Mont. ham radio operator helps with emergency communications, talks with Space Station

LIVINGSTON, Mont. — There are not many hobbies where you can relay messages for emergency personnel during an unfolding disaster one day, talk to astronauts on the International Space Station another, then talk to your buddies in Morse code at a rate of 35 words per minute, well, every day.

But that's Shields Valley resident Doug Dunn's hobby.

Dunn, a retired 65-year-old, is an amateur radio — more commonly known as "ham radio" — operator. And like so many ham radio aficionados around the world, he is passionate about the hobby.

A small den in Dunn's home 16 miles north of Livingston is dominated by radio gear. On a recent afternoon, it crackled with activity as Dunn, whose call sign is K7YD, communicated with friends using voice and rapid-fire Morse code, tapped out at a blinding pace on a semi-automatic Morse key set — the descendant of the old telegraph set of the 1800s.

Antennas — seven in all — bristle from Dunn's roof and yard. More ham radio gear is crammed into his pickup truck, a vehicle with 300,000 miles on it that Dunn says he can't replace because he's put too much work into it installing mobile ham radio equipment.

"We're all radio nuts," Dunn said of the fellowship of ham radio operators, or "hams," as they're known.

"Most of what I need I build," he said, joking, "It's a sickness for me."

Ham radio uses a multitude of frequencies across the VHF, UHF, HF and even microwave bandwidths. Operators must take and pass a Federal Communications Commission test to acquire a license, and cannot use the radio for business purposes. Bouncing signals off the ionosphere, ham radio can reach around the world.

Signals transmit better at night, when the sun's effect on the atmosphere diminishes.

Ham radio is not to be confused with citizen band radio, which uses far less powerful equipment for communicating over shorter distances, requires no license and uses only a limited number of channels.

Dunn, who's been a ham since he was 14 years old, is not the only operator in Park County — there are about 40 others — but by his reckoning, he is the only active one.

Dunn's hobby has two facets. He uses it to talk to friends around the region and the world but also to relay emergency communications when disasters strike.

And in that regard, Dunn is not just any radio operator — he's the state coordinator for 400 ham radio operators who can provide emergency communications for the state Disaster and Emergency Services. He also works directly with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, on emergency communications.

Locally, he's the go-to guy for Park County Disaster and Emergency Services, providing emergency communications and technical help with everything from telephones to radio repeater towers.

"I call him my emergency communications person," said Belinda Van Nurden, safety coordinator for the county DES. "No matter what goes wrong with communications, I call Doug, and he can fix it."

She recalled one winter when a storm knocked out a repeater on a hill outside Livingston.

"He went up in the middle of a blizzard" and fixed the problem, she said.

"Ham radio is a public service," Dunn said. "We're here to serve when all else fails."

And there's plenty that can fail. Standard emergency personnel radios can go down or not have the reach ham radios have. Likewise, cell phone coverage in far-flung emergencies can be nonexistent.

Standard radios and cell phones depend on microwave towers to transmit their signal, Dunn said, and even the smallest earthquake can knock out the towers' alignments.

"Our motto is, 'When All Else Fails,'" Dunn said.

He cited a long list of emergencies he's helped provide communications for, more often than not driving to the site in his pickup.

On a recent afternoon, it crackled with activity as Dunn, whose call sign is K7YD, communicated with friends using voice and rapid-fire Morse code, tapped out at a blinding pace on a semi-automatic Morse key set — the descendant of the old telegraph set of the 1800s.

During the Montana fires of 1988, he drove to Cooke City and helped relay messages.

He did the same for the floods in the Bitterroot Valley in 2000.

Then, from his home he helped manage emergency communications for Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

More recently, during floods that hit Roundup last June and the freakish winter fires on the Blackfoot Reservation last month, Dunn helped relay emergency communications, again from his home.

"They didn't have any com," he said, using amateur radio lingo, of the Blackfoot fires.

And he doesn't just assist with natural disasters — one time he even helped medical personnel track down a kidney donor.

But Dunn's ham radio hobby is not all seriousness. He enjoys chatting with friends around the world — and sometimes out of this world, like astronauts on the International Space Station.

Most of them are ham radio operators themselves, he said.

"They're lonely, shoot," he laughed.

Dunn uses computers tied to his radios to track the space station, which he can communicate with only when it's in a certain position overhead.

"Yeah! It's a lot of fun," he said.

While the age of the Internet has somewhat reduced the number of ham radio operators, it has also had a benefit — greatly improved technology, including those computers Dunn uses to track the space station, and satellites.

Dunn said he and hams around the world use 56 satellites rotating the earth to transmit voice, data and Morse code.

But not everything has to be high-tech to rock around the world. When the atmospheric conditions are just right, you hardly even need an antenna.

"I've worked Hawaii on a bedspring," Dunn said.

And he meant, literally, a bed spring. One of his buddies even used a stove pipe as an antenna to talk to Russia.

Dunn's favorite part of his hobby is using Morse code.

"Morse was the original communications mode," said Dunn, who is a federally licensed radio telegraph operator.

As he listened to a cacophony of jumbled simultaneous Morse coming over his radio, he was able to pick out that it was, in fact four different hams sending out the signals.

"There's a Japanese station right there," he said of one of the operators, hearing the prefix "J'' on the call sign that identified the ham as being from Japan.

"I enjoy the fellowship of the hobby," he said of being a ham radio operator. "I've got friends all over the world and friends I haven't even made yet."

He added, "It's a hobby of incredible scope."

___

Information from: Livingston Enterprise, livingstonenterprise.com">http://www.livingstonenterprise.com

South African satellite is undead

Picture by: Sansa - The Sumbandila microsatellite

South Africa’s Sumbandila Earth observation microsatellite is not totally dead. “We still ‘see’ Sumbandila, monitor the solar panels, check the battery levels and now and again receive its signal,” South African National Space Agency (Sansa) Space Operations and Earth Observation MD Raoul Hodges told Engineering News Online.

“Radio hams are still using Sumbandila to relay messages. The satellite is not completely inactive but we can’t switch on the imager and it can’t be used for Earth observation or the downloading of data. But it is still useful as a training tool.”

Hodges is seeking to preserve expertise gained with the Sumbandila programme. Sansa’s Space Operations division (while still the Satellite Applications Centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) set up a Mission Control Centre to operate the locally-designed and built microsatellite.

“I’ve taken those skilled staff and moved them to other units which do similar work, so we don’t lose or diminish our mission control expertise. We’re upgrading the Mission Control software, as we’re convinced that there will be future [South African] satellites,” he said.

Sumbandila still has about 30% of its fuel left, which, in theory, could be used to boost the spacecraft to a higher altitude and extend its orbital life. In practice, it is uncertain if the satellite would actually respond to commands to fire its thruster. Sumbandila was planned to survive for only three years.

Space Operations is, of course, heavily involved in supporting many satellites and other spacecraft from other countries. “Some interesting birds are coming over the horizon,” enthused Hodges, referring to new satellites that will be launched this year. “As a space agency, we have to be on top of the next Earth observation satellites, their sensors, what they can do, what we could and should buy into.”


Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter ( Engineering News )

World Record Balloon Attempt

A group of Amateur Radio operators hopes to establish a world distance record for an unmanned, helium-filled balloon. The BLT-28 balloon will launch from Katy, Texas, on a journey that will take it across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and then on to Nanjing, China. The South Texas Balloon Launch Team plans to release the balloon at 3 PM CST (2100 UTC) Saturday, February 11.

During the trans-Atlantic crossing, when out of range of shore based stations, the balloon’s APRS beacon will operate on the International Space Station (ISS) packet digipeater frequency of 145.825 MHz.

The balloon payload package weighs only about 5 ounces and contains a high altitude GPS tracking system and a 144 MHz FM APRS Amateur Radio transmitter. To conserve weight and battery life, no camera equipment will be on board. The maximum altitude is expected to be above 19 miles, with horizontal speeds between 100 and 150 miles per hour.

You can track the progress of the flight online by entering the payload call sign KT5TK-11 HERE. Those in the southern and southeastern United States have a good chance of copying the APRS beacons directly as the balloon passes nearby.

The APRS telemetry transmitter is frequency agile to cope with different APRS standards across the globe. The frequencies used will be:
USA: 144.390 MHz
mid-Atlantic: 145.825 MHz (International Space Station packet digipeater frequency)
Europe and beyond: 144.800 MHz

--Trevor Hawkins, M5AKA, AMSAT-UK

SumbandilaSat beyond repair

South Africa’s second satellite, SumbandilaSat, is no longer fulfilling its main purpose due to technical problems and is essentially beyond repair, its maker SunSpace says.

Rob Olivier, head of Business Development at SunSpace, told defenceWeb that although contact can still be made with the satellite, it cannot capture images and is thus “not fulfilling its main purpose”.

He said that chances of repairing the satellite are virtually zero and that SunSpace has moved on to other projects.

SumbandilaSat was damaged during a solar storm in the June last year. The power supply to SumbandilaSat’s onboard computer stopped working and the satellite stopped sending back images.

SumbandilaSat has been damaged by solar radiation before. Shortly after its launch in September 2009, radiation caused a power distribution failure that rendered the Z-axis and Y-axis wheel permanently inoperable, meaning that the craft tumbles as it orbits. It also lost the ability to capture imagery from the green, blue and xantrophyll spectral bands.

According to Olivier, the reason for SumbandilaSat not having adequate radiation hardening was that there was not enough money for it and the satellite was built from commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment. SumbandilaSat was, after all, intended only as a technology demonstrator. In this regard SunSpace engineer Niki Steenkamp said the satellite has been an enormous success and has survived far longer than anticipated. ‘Priceless’ information and experience has been gained through the satellite, experience that can only comes from actually building and launching a satellite. Such experience will be utilised during the construction of future satellites.

Hans Van De Groenendaal, feature editor at EngineerIT, said that part of the reason for SumbandilaSat’s failure is the use of outdated technology and the fact that the satellite sat on the shelf for three years before it was launched. However, he said that South Africa “scored lots of kudos” with the satellite, as it performed “extremely well,” especially considering its short construction time and slim budget.

Olivier said that SumbandilaSat has delivered around 1 200 images over the course of its lifetime. Some of these pictures cover floods in Namibia, the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan and fire scars in the Kruger National Park.

The satellite was also extensively used by amateur radio enthusiasts as it carries a radio transponder and digitalker. Olivier says that radio transmissions still operate, making it useful to radio operators around the world, including in the US, Europe and Australia.

SumbandilaSat was developed by Sunspace at an estimated total cost of R100 million. Olivier says that building SumbandilaSat cost a tenth of the price of a NASA satellite of similar size. Last year the Department of Science and Technology (DST) said that for every R1 invested in the SumbandilaSat programme, there has been a R6 return.

However, Raoul Hodges, centre manager at the Satellite Application Centre (SAC), said this is not a cash value, but it's about the value for the social benefit of the country, considering the people involved, knowledge obtained and human capital investments. “You can't really put a value to a picture. It's the value taken from the picture in its use for disaster management, roads and transport. It's not a physical, cash value.”

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has said that since the satellite is a technology demonstrator, the return on investment is in the form of human capital development in space science engineering; intellectual property and experience; and international cooperation in the field of space science and technology. Olivier notes that the image processing methods and mission control systems pioneered on SumbandilaSat will be used on future satellites.

SumbandilaSat is South Africa’s second satellite, the first being SunSat, which was built by Stellenbosch University and launched by NASA in 1999. SumbandilaSat was built by local specialist company SunSpace, and is owned by the DST. Although its imaging capacity is not has high as other satellites, it has succeeded in its primary stated mission of proving the viability of affordable micro-satellite technology, the DST said.

SumbandilaSat was launched from Kazakhstan in September 2009. It was originally scheduled for launch aboard a Russian naval submarine in 2007, but this fell through.

The DST is planning to launch a constellation of satellites similar to SumbandilaSat in the next 10 to 15 years. One of these will be SumbandilaSat 2, which will be larger and more reliable than its predecessor. Sansa is hopeful that funding for SumbandilaSat 2 will be secured during the next financial year, starting April 1. Development will take about four years.

More satellites will increase the availability of satellite data for a variety of applications, notably resource management and disaster monitoring. South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Algeria will participate in a joint venture and will eventually share in the data produced by the African Resource Management Constellation. In addition, South Africa hopes to build a space weather satellite with Brazil to monitor radiation over the southern Antarctic.

- DefenceWeb

Hams in Arkansas and Alabama Help Provide Assistance to NWS During Severe Sunday Storms

Significant storm reports in Arkansas included a confirmed EF2 tornado that tracked 19.2 miles between Thornton (Calhoun County) and Rison (Cleveland County) during the evening of January 22. Other EF2 damage was found in the Sweden (Jefferson County) community. Tornadoes and baseball size hail were reported in other parts of Southern and Eastern Arkansas. [Photo courtesy of the Little Rock NWS office]

Strong winds and tornadoes moved through Arkansas and Alabama on Sunday, January 22. In response to the storms, the National Weather Service office in Little Rock activated Arkansas SYWARN the same afternoon, while ARES® members were activated in parts of Alabama.

Arkansas SKYWARN Program Coordinator Danny Straessle, KE5WLR, summoned a team of radio amateurs and headed to the NWS office to provide communications support to the forecasters. While Straessle was enroute to the NWS office, Daryl Stout, AE5WX, brought up the Weather Watch Net, a pre-net for Arkansas SKYWARN. By 6 PM, the Arkansas SKYWARN net control team was in place and the NWS issued the first tornado warning for the area. At this time, Straessle and Shane Lee, KF5FBR, took over as Net Control for the Arkansas SKYWARN net. They were assisted by Mona Blacklaw, KM5ONA. The NWS received reports of tornadoes in Arkansas, Dallas, Lonoke, Prairie and Cleveland Counties.

In addition to activity by Arkansas SKYWARN, ARES® members in Alabama also helped to provide communications support in that state. According to David Gillespie, W4LHQ, of the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency, hams across Central Alabama began monitoring the storm conditions in preparation for a possible activation. “Hams deployed to the National Weather Service office to relay storm observations and damage reports,” he told the ARRL. “When the NWS issued a tornado warning that evening, local ARES® members began an emergency communications net. Net Control logged reports from 34 stations through the night. When the storms cleared, these damage reports were used to dispatch first responders to the areas that sustained the most severe damage.” Fourteen hams reported to the Jefferson County EMA, where Gillespie coordinated communications for three shelters run by the American Red Cross.

Arkansas

“In Arkansas, darkness fell as activity picked up, most of which was south and east of Little Rock, in the less-dense populated areas of the Delta region of the state,” Straessle told the ARRL. “In the dark, it was extremely difficult to see storm development and more so dangerous to try and spot it. Arkansas SKYWARN relied upon certified Amateur Radio storm spotters from the area to be the eyes and ears of the National Weather Service. Troy Singleton, N5ARK, was the most valuable player of the entire night. Troy was raised in Southeast Arkansas and knew the area like the back of his hand, which was instrumental in his safe navigation of the farm roads in the area to safely spot developing tornadic supercells.”

Straessle said that at times, the only information coming from that part of the state came from Singleton, and both Arkansas SKYWARN and the forecasters at the Little Rock NWS office were glad to have them. “A little further to the east, in Arkansas County, members of the Grand Prairie Amateur Radio Club collected weather reports through a simplex net,” Straessle explained. “Club members relayed the reports to their president Randy Geater, K5NDX, who in turn relayed to Arkansas SKYWARN at the National Weather Service.”

According to Straessle, a rain-wrapped tornado headed toward Geater and his crew, and they had to seek shelter in the Country Sherriff’s bunker for about 20 minutes: The tornado was completely rain-wrapped and all they could see were power flashes as the tornado took down high-voltage transmission lines.” The storms quickly moved out of the Little Rock County Warning Area and left the state around 10 PM. Shortly after this, Straessle closed the Arkansas SKYWARN net. In all, more than 60 radio amateurs were involved with providing reports during the storm.

According to the Little Rock NWS office, the day in Arkansas started out pleasant. “It did not look at all like a severe weather day early on January 22,” the NWS office in Little Rock noted on its website. “Temperatures at 6 AM CST were mostly in the 30s to lower 40s, and there were areas of fog and drizzle. Even so, forecasts called for dramatic changes and severe storms by evening. One storm in particular had a history of producing tornadoes over at least a five-county area. The storm moved through Fordyce (Dallas County), where a tornado (rated EF2) damaged houses on the north side of town. A woman was trapped for a time in one of the homes. The storm caused structural damage north of Kingsland (Cleveland County), and hit a 150 year old church. North of Rison (Cleveland County), the storm snapped dozens of trees. Farther northeast along the storm track, there was evidence of tornadoes at Sweden (Jefferson County), near Lodge Corner (Arkansas County) and south of Almyra (Arkansas County). At the latter location, a transmission tower was mangled and lines were downed. There may have been more than a half-dozen tornadoes spawned during the event.”

Alabama

In Alabama, a number of tornados swept across the state during the early hours of Monday, January 23, 2012. “Tuscaloosa County had minimal structural damage in the northwestern part of the county, with Jefferson County had a lot of destruction centered in the Center Point area,” explained ARRL Alabama Section Manager David Drummond, W4MD. “The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for these areas around 2:30 AM. ARES® members in Jefferson County stood up a net on the Birmingham ARC repeater, taking reports from 34 check-ins. Once the storm was clear, these reports were used by the Homewood Police Department to dispatch first responders. ARES® volunteers responded to the Jefferson County EMA to coordinate shelter communications.” Homewood is a suburb of Birmingham.

Drummond said that the Alabama Emergency Response Team (ALERT) in Jefferson County supports Amateur Radio communications for the National Weather Service and they deployed members on Sunday evening in response to a tornado warning. “ALERT members collected spotter reports from area ARES® nets that the forecasters at the National Weather Service used to refine their forecast,” he said. “In addition, the Sylvan Springs Amateur Radio Club stood up a net at 4:30 AM, with a number of check-ins providing reports and health and welfare messages. As the day progressed Monday, local nets went to a stand-by mode, with KF4OUS -- the Amateur Radio Station at the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency -- monitoring traffic and forwarding information for shelters and response volunteers. The hams in Alabama, particularly Jefferson County, are to be commended for their commitment and service to their served agencies. They provide a public service that is invaluable. A job well done!”

ARRL Delta Division Director David Norris, K5UZ, commended the hams in Arkansas, saying “Those radio amateurs involved with Arkansas SKYWARN have done yet another exemplary job during this severe weather outbreak. It’s good to know that hams in Arkansas and throughout the Delta Division are quick to respond when called upon to provide communications support.” Norris lives in Batesville, Arkansas, in the northern portion of the state.

Arkansas Section Manager Dale Temple, W5RXU, concurred: “I want to congratulate all the people who help provide communications support and weather spotting assistance during the extreme weather conditions on Sunday night. Troy Singleton, N5ARK, did a fantastic job. He was out there in his truck in the dark, caught between two tornados. He could only see them when the lightning flashed. Troy’s vehicle is equipped with APRS, and the hams at the National Weather Service office were able to track him through this. This was really helpful to the forecasters, as they could see, via APRS, right where the activity was that Troy was reporting.”

ARRL Southeastern Division Director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, said he was proud of the radio amateurs in Alabama who assisted served agencies in the state. “Alabama Amateur Radio operators spent the night in EOCs, National Weather Service offices and their homes to once again provide vital emergency communications in time of need,” he said. “Tornados, severe winds and deadly flooding gripped Alabama throughout Sunday night, and on Monday, caused devastation, hundreds of injuries and two fatalities. Many amateurs continue to volunteer and will not have time to rest before the next round of severe weather is expected later this week. I am proud of ARES® and the amateurs who stepped up to help people in need and for the offers from surrounding areas to help. Thank you.” Sarratt lives in Huntsville, Alabama, about 100 miles north of Birmingham.

“Spotter reports are crucial and the National Weather Service relies on radio amateurs to provide ‘ground truth’ reports to refine their forecasts and relay better information,” Gillespie told the ARRL. “Alert ARES® members relayed reports overnight to support that effort.”

The Arkansas SKYWARN net is streamed live on a RadioReference feed provided by the Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN Club).

- ARRL

Emergency Communications and amateur radio

The IARU Region 3 Newsletter describes this as a period of many natural disasters. Heavy rains and flooding caused widespread destruction in Thailand, areas of The Philippines experienced heavy flooding and Christchurch was hit by yet another earthquake.

The IARU Region 3 Chairman, Michael Owen VK3KI, said once again radio amateurs provided emergency communications to assist authorities in the relief and rescue efforts.

One of the things that remain in his mind from the Region 1 Conference and the GAREC meeting in Sun City, South Africa in August 2011 is IARU Region 3 Secretary Ken Yamamoto?s presentation on the radio amateur contributions following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on 11 March 2011.

The 15th IARU Region 3 Conference is planned to commence on 5th November this year, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. When the Directors discussed the Conference arrangements last year, they agreed to suggest to the Conference that its theme be emergency communications.

The Directors think that a theme may ensure that the Conference is able to reach useful and meaningful conclusions by focusing a particular, current and relevant issue.

Of course, for that to work, said Michael VK3KI we need to tell our member societies what is in mind so they can prepare contributions around that theme.

But what sort of matters could be considered? One is that in different countries, indeed in different regions within countries, the role of radio amateurs in formal emergency structures may be very different, and so the nature of the preparedness may be very different too.

But how much integration into formal emergency structures is there? How much is the radio amateur contribution ad hoc?

What have we learnt from the events of the past few years? Can we prepare better? Is the provision of emergency communications really a local matter or should we look to common international procedures, for example?

We all know that at WRC 03 when Article 25 was reviewed, a new provision, Article 25.9A was inserted, saying ?Administrations are encouraged to take the necessary steps to allow amateur stations to prepare for and meet communication needs in support of disaster relief.?

Many of us thought that the words ?to prepare for? were particularly important, as practises were to be encouraged. But is that right? Is there a role for international communications in some situations? Are we prepared to provide that?

Do national regulations in some countries still inhibit radio amateurs preparing for and providing emergency communications?

In short, the Directors are inviting the member societies, based on their own experience, to look at the role of radio amateurs in providing emergency communications and identify both our strengths and weaknesses, and hopefully identify what steps can be taken to improve the effectiveness of what we can do.

We know that many radio amateurs in many places have contributed much in emergency situations. But can we improve what we can do? If so, how?

Newsletter Issue 24 PDF version available at http://www.iaru-r3.org/news/r3nl-12-01.pdf

Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman, IARU Region 3, Disaster Communication Committee.

ARISSat-1/KEDR Amateur Radio Satellite Deorbits

Image: ARISSat-1/Kedr was built in the United States by volunteer amateur radio operators under the direction of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT) on behalf of ARISS. Export of the satellite to Russia was provided by NASA in December 2010. RSC/Energia installed the Kursk State Technical University Student Experiment and provided an Orlan spacesuit battery to power the spacecraft during eclipse.

On January 4, 2012, the Amateur Radio satellite, ARISSat-1/KEDR ended its 5 month mission as it deorbited through Earth's atmosphere. A report from the AMSAT web site states, "The last full telemetry captured and reported to the ARISSatTLM web site at 06:02:14 UTC on January 4 were received from ground stations as the satellite passed over Japan."

ARISSat-1/KEDR was deployed on August 3, 2011 from the International Space Station (ISS) during EVA# 29 and immediately began its primarily mission as an educational lab allowing teachers and students worldwide to interact with its many STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) based activities from their classrooms via amateur radio.

In addition to promoting education, ARISSat-1/KEDR served as a test platform, carrying several new amateur radio configurations into space for the first time. Included in this group of "firsts" was:

+ The AMSAT Software Defined Transponder allowing digitally processed simultaneous transmit and receive communication between ham radio stations.

+ Satellite telemetry was downlinked using forward error correcting BPSK1000 software developed for this mission.

+ new Integrated Housekeeping Unit or IHU.

+ Maximum Power Point Tracking or MPPT power management unit optimizing usage of power generated by the solar cell arrays.

As a STEM based education spacecraft, students were able to study space science from a whole new prespective. First, by tracking the condition of ARISSat-1/KEDR daily as they received its telemetry in real time using amateur radios in a classroom environment. Slow Scan TV (SSTV) images taken by four onboard cameras could also be received through a ham radio and then decoded using free software available from the internet.

Those receiving the images could then upload them to the internet for others to review (see www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV). In addition, listeners were able to receive special certificates for submitting reception reports, collecting "secret words" announced during special message transmissions, and collecting call signs transmitted in Morse code.

Students were also given the opportunity to submit digitized documentation of science projects and photos to ARISS. These were placed on a memory chip. The chip was attached to ARISSat-1 during final assembly and flown on board during its mission. This project was called "Fly a File" and the submissions can be viewed here.

Further details on ARISSat-1/KEDR's state-of-the-art mission and its accomplishments can be found at the home page.

ARISSat-1/Kedr was built in the United States by volunteer amateur radio operators under the direction of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT) on behalf of ARISS. Export of the satellite to Russia was provided by NASA in December 2010. RSC/Energia installed the Kursk State Technical University Student Experiment and provided an Orlan spacesuit battery to power the spacecraft during eclipse.

The satellite was delivered to the ISS by RSC/Energia on a Russian Progress Cargo Vessel in January 2011. It was subsequently deployed by Russian cosmonauts on August 3, 2011. Through the education support of the ARRL and the efforts of dedicated teachers and students, ARISSat-1/KEDR successfully completed its education mission.

- Space Daily

SAWDOS: I had the opportunity to work Arissat-1 on several occasions from Mossel Bay. SSTV images were downloaded from the satellite and posted on the Arissat web-page. This was really a great experience for many people around the world. It is really sad that it has now come to an end, but I am convinced that there will soon be a Arissat-2. The SAWDOS will keep you posted.