HAMNET Weekly Report 31/03/2013

The Suicide Gorge kloofing or trail route in the Nuweberg Nature Reserve near Grabouw, is a frequent rescue site. Hamnet has been invited by the MCSA Hottentots Holland chapter to participate in a communication and mapping exercise in the area to improve our collective knowledge of the area.

We will deploy our four MT-AIO man portable APRS beacons into various parts of the gorge and it is our aim to be able to track them and plot their positions at the Nuweberg Nature conservation office. I need the following volunteers to participate in this exercise:

- 2 four wheel drive vehicles capable of acting as digipeaters

- 1 foot mobile operate capable of acting as a digipeater

- 1 base operator to receive, log and plot the positions

HWC has a Tinytrak 4 that can be interfaced to a radio to fulfil one of the above rolls and I have another TT4 that could be configured to do the same. We do not however have a comprehensive set of cables for connecting the TT4 to every possible kind of radio. If you are capable of acting as a digipeater (eg. Kenwood TMD-700/710, TH-D72) but do not have a 4x4, or you have a 4x4 and are not capable of acting as a digipeater, please respond anyway. We could form two man teams to solve the complete problem.

Paul also indicated that the consignment of MT-AIO portable APRS units has worked so well since purchasing them, that he is now considering purchasing another couple of units. They work exceptionally well in the mountainous terrain they need to cover in search & rescue activities.

The plan is to deploy the foot mobile operative along the top of the gorge in order to digipeat the signal from the gorge out to a mobile/vehicle based digipeater and from there to the base. We will deploy the two 4x4s in different parts of the nature reserve to see where the most appropriate position to give us the coverage we need, is.

The exercise will start early on Sunday morning. Arrangements have been made that those who wish to may camp over from the Saturday evening, when there will be a bit of a social/braai.

For the benefit of readers not involved in amateur radio, a digipeater is a repeater using digital modes which use low power and very accurate, effective and useful in any type of emergency communication! With SAWDOS and HAMNET merging on Facebook at a later stage, we wish to educate non amateur readers on terms, phraseology and items we use on a regular basis in our operations.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha, ZS6BUU.

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

HAMNET Weekly Report 24/3/2013

For a change, no imminent cyclones are in the offing except for a tropical depression in mid Indian Ocean but mainly west of northern Australia.

Global Disaster Alert (GDACS) show a few quakes in Iran, Chile, Poland and South Georgia which really is in the middle of nowhere just north of Antarctica. This quake had minimal affect on anybody but was measured by one of many seismic sensors situated around the globe.

Europe and especially the United Kingdom are again in the grip of what is probably the last of the winter snaps with snow falling quite heavily in some places, causing rail, road and air traffic problems.

Many sporting events have had to be postponed or cancelled due to the snow. The pitch was either too deeply covered in snow of too hard for a meaningful game to take place.

Looking at the EUMETSAT satellite shot of southern Africa today; the south coast is getting a swipe of the tail end of a cold front that is passing by and heading east. There is a prediction of improved rainfall across South Africa by Sunday/Monday.

Just a reminder that schools inland have already closed and coastal schools will close on Thursday at the beginning of the Easter Weekend.

We have already been monitoring the N3 Toll Concession for details of traffic on the N3 between Gauteng and KZN. Although last Thursday showed a more than average count of vehicles, we anticipate that this coming Thursday the 28th will see the vast majority of weekenders taking to the roads.

We also anticipate a lot of traffic to Moria and Zimbabwe as well as the N4 to Mozambique.

We again urge Hamnet monitors to take some time out over the busy periods and monitor 7,110MHz as well as 10.125MHz for longer distances from Gauteng down to the Western Cape. We did some tests earlier this week with excellent communication between Gauteng and Cape Augulas as well as Cape Town.

Please join us on 7,110MHz any time for a chat or to report on traffic. All welcome.



Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha, ZS6BUU.

HAMNET Weekly Report 17/03/2013

The sea rescue exercise, 'Operation Beachy', organized by the City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management, which took place today, Tuesday, 12th March, at Mouille Point, was a resounding success.

One of the largest sea rescue exercises to ever take place in South African waters this sea rescue exercise involved 300 personnel, of which 101 were 'casualties', and 23 emergency services.  Hamnet did not participate as it was outside our area of participation and mainly a sea exercise, but HAMNET were given observer status!

The scenario was as follows; at 09h15 the fully laden passenger cruise ship
COSTALOT (which was actually the SA Navy Ship SPIOENKOP) reported to Cape Town Port Control the she had run aground off-shore of Mouille Point and were fighting a blaze onboard and listing to one side.

Cape Town Radio (Telkom Maritime Radio Services) broadcast an all ships alert and played a pivotal role in efficient communications throughout the exercise.
Various emergency services kicked in and within a short while the first emergency vehicles arrived at the ‘strickened’ vessel to assess the situation.

Media were alerted to cover the story and on their arrival they were briefed and ushered to a media station where foreign consulates were briefed by the JOCC media representatives on regular intervals.

Treatment of injured passengers and crew took place on the shore at Mouille Point and at the Cape Town Stadium and ambulances transferred the injured to local hospitals.

The Captain and crew of SAS Spioenkop played a remarkable role in the exercise and made a huge effort to keep all of the 'exercise casualties' comfortable and welcomed aboard while awaiting their 'rescue'.

At one stage during the exercise nature threw the exercise a curve ball and fog rolled in, although only briefly, hampering the exercise but also giving us the opportunity to re-enact as close to reality as possible.

At the preliminary debriefing, held at Cape Town Stadium post the exercise, Ward Councillor JP Smith congratulated all involved and special thanks was acknowledged to the volunteers who took part in the exercise.

A formal debriefing will be held next week and lessons learned and good working practices will be shared with joint emergency services around the country.  We look forward to digesting the full report when it becomes available at a later stage!

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha, ZS6BUU.

Hamnet Weekly report 3 March 2013

To many of us in South Africa, and especially with winter not too far away, the odd sprinkling of snow gets all of us excited, the cameras clicking and much fun building that snowman with a carrot for a nose – or whatever is available at that moment in time.


A few centimetres of snow creates that sort of excitement locally – but have you ever considered a snowfall measuring 5.5m – yes 5 and a half metres of snow (18 feet) in one fall?

This was the case in Northern Japan this week when one snowfall broke all previous records when it comes to heavy snowfalls.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, a BBC reporter made an exceptional trip to a place called Aomon, in northern Japan, to see for himself, what 18 feet of snow looks like and photographs to prove it!

By the time he got to a little hot springs resort called Sukayu, he was actually driving through a canyon of ice on either side of him with a road so narrow; only one vehicle at a time could negotiate the road.

When he got to the resort, he could not believe his eyes. Some houses had completely disappeared under the snow and unfortunately some roofs had collapsed simply due to the sheer weight of snow on the roof!

Driving a little further, he actually came across a 77 year old lady who had climbed on to her house and was shovelling snow off the roof to prevent the roof collapsing!

The old lady, quite chirpy and full of bounce, indicated that she has lived in this village all her life and had never, ever seen such a fall of snow! Even to most of the other villagers, this was something they had never experienced before!

Across Japan, at least 13 other places had broken all previous records when it comes to snow falls and one wonders if this is yet another quirk of nature or our ever changing weather patterns around the world.

Although precipitation or normal rainfall during this period of time was almost on a par with previous records, the difference was the much lower winter temperatures.

One recalls in March two years ago when Rescue South Africa – also around this time – sent a team to Japan to help with search and recovery after the quake and tsunami of 11 March but fortunately they did not have to contend with having to dig through 5 metres of snow to do a search & rescue!

One simply wonders what is in store for most of the earth with this ever changing weather pattern that never fails to surprise us.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha, ZS6BUU.

HAMNET BULLETIN March 2013

HAMNET THE SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION BULLETIN FOR MARCH 2013

This bulletin was prepared and produced by Francois Botha – ZS6BUU

HAMNET (IARU Region 1) dedicated emergency communication frequencies are:-

80m band – 3,760 MHz, 40m band, 7,110 MHz. 20m band – 14,300 MHz.


IN THE BULLETIN TODAY

WEATHER OBSERVATION NET

EASTER WEEKEND

NATIONAL DIRECTOR


HAMNET conforms to and abides by the IARU discipline of engaging in emergency communication locally and worldwide during and after disasters as internationally Amateur Radio is regarded as a National Resource!

HAMNET, as a group of volunteers, supports Disaster Risk Management in South Africa and serves on the sub committee of the South African Search & Rescue Organisation – SASAR!

It is recommended that when becoming a member of HAMNET, you also become an SARL member to abide by and conform to the IARU International and HAMNET rules regarding emergency communication!

All HAMNET information is available on www.hamnet.co.za alternatively www.sarl.org.za just follow the link! Weekly updates are supplied to Amateur Radio Today on Sunday’s and a monthly bulletin is supplied to members and available on the SARL website and as a podcast!

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter


WEATHER OBSERVATION NETWORK

The merger or amalgamation of SAWDOS (South African Weather  and Disaster Observation Service) and HAMNET, on Facebook, are now under discussion with Johan Terblanche, ZS1I and ZS6BUU as well as Kobus Botha, ZS6KOB who runs the www.weatherphotos.co.za website.

Kobus has offered HAMNET space on his website and Johan and Francois are discussing how the merger of the two Facebook and Twitter sites can take place over a period of time.

In a separate report later in this bulletin, Hamnet will be taken over by a ‘team’ and Francois, will maintain an interest and supporting role by way of the merger of the two aforementioned sites.

This has a long term benefit. The merger will be a good platform for the man in the street to get more insight into amateur radio and at the same time, have access to a site that highlights ‘real time’ weather conditions in South Africa.

In the USA, they have an excellent system called ‘SKYWARN’. This system does not exist in South Africa. But, with the combination of SAWDOS and HAMNET, we are actually creating such a system whereby both amateur radio operators as well as followers of SAWDOS can contribute to a site that gives us more and better information into weather conditions in our country.

Johan and I approached the South African Weather Service on many occasions in an effort to get them to participate in such a venture or project. Their response was deafening!

HAMNET, once the merger is complete, will fill this gap which will have access to Radio and Media for information and reports on weather conditions in our country especially during the summer months as well as winter. Snow is occurring more often than before and sometimes with annoying if not uncomfortable situations.

We put up a ‘teaser’ on Facebook to measure response to such a venture, and the feedback was very positive.

Systems are now being developed to launch this ‘real time’ weather – and other disaster site, in South Africa and you will be informed on a regular basis of progress! The Media will also be informed of this new venture across the country once all is in place!

EASTER WEEKEND AND HOLIDAYS

As usual, this coming March April again presents a number of long weekends and school holidays.

The Easter Weekend commences Thursday evening the 28th of March and ends Tuesday morning the 2nd of April. Coastal schools close 28 March and reopen 8 April whereas the inland schools close the 20th of March and reopens on 9 April. This means that the Easter Weekend in all Provinces falls within school holidays and that means there will probably be a lot of traffic on the roads!

The 27th of April is also a public holiday and with the 1st of May falling on the following Wednesday, we anticipate that many who did not make use of the Easter weekend will use this weekend for a break. Those who have children at school will use Easter, those with no children will use the alternative!

Hamnet in all cases will be monitoring our emergency frequencies but this time around I want us to make more use of 10,125 MHz in the 30m band. This is an excellent all round band and really suits the slightly longer distances between Gauteng and the Western Cape.

NATIONAL DIRECTOR

An announcement is in the offing regarding the position of National Director. At the Strategic Planning meeting held on Friday and Saturday 22 and 23 February at the NARC, this item was discussed fully and a proposal was put forward regarding the gradual take-over of this position over a period of time.

Francois will continue until such time as the full Hamnet operations is in the hands of the new incumbent. The announcement will in all probability be in the April Bulletin when my tenure as Councillor expires at the AGM. The new team will be meeting after the AGM to discuss the way forward!

Comments suggestions and contributions please contact or send to: jfbotha@iburst.co.za or zs6buu@gmail.com or at 011 679-5260 or 083 585-3847. Fax 086-580.6110.

Bulletin Ends.

SKYWARN provided crucial snowstorm updates

As the Northeast finishes cleanup from last weekend's blizzard, ham radio volunteers are credited with providing crucial real-time weather updates.

SKYWARN, a cooperative venture of ham operators and the National Weather Service, was activated for the February 8th and 9th storm that left up to three feet of snow across Connecticut and brought the state to a standstill.

While media outlets were broadcasting blizzard warnings, SKYWARN hams were reporting local snowfall, temperature and wind conditions in all eight Connecticut counties, says Steve Williams, district emergency coordinator for SKYWARN.

"All information received was passed on to the three National Weather Service offices that cover Connecticut. At least two of the forecast offices had amateur radio stations operational," he said.

Those NWS offices included ham station WX1BOX in Taunton, Mass., which checked into radio nets for Hartford, Tolland and Windham Counties, to take reports from spotters.

WX2ALY, a station at the weather service office in Albany, New York checked into the SKYWARN net for Litchfield County, Williams said.

Meanwhile, SKYWARN spotters in Fairfield and New Haven counties reported to the NWS office in Upton, Long Island.

The Hartford and Tolland County hams were active from about 2 p.m. on Friday through Saturday morning, and that included radio check-ins at 4 and 6 a.m. on Saturday, says Roger Jeanfaivre, regional coordinator.

"There were 181 reports given in these nets. There was a huge response to this blizzard by SKYWARN on a statewide basis," he said.

From a weather forecaster's point of view, ham radio has always been a valuable asset, according to Gil Simmons, meteorologist at WTNH-TV in New Haven, and a contributor to the weather buff site WXEdge.com.

Simmons said he typically relies on spotter information for both summer and winter storms.

The SKYWARN program nationwide is made up of thousands of volunteers, and not all of them are ham radio operators.

See the SKYWARN / NOAA national page here.

- Examniner.com

HAMNET Weekly report 17 Feb. 2013.

Weather around the world is undergoing change and there is no longer any doubt about it. Lately we have seen heat waves in Australia, unprecedented snow falls on the American East Coast, typhoons, tornados and cyclones all over the place and also drought in many parts of the world.


Up to about 18 months ago, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) had an ‘open’ website whereby the man in the street could access and download or view various bits of interesting information.

What was particularly of value to Hamnet was to view Radar images to track weather moving in on any particular area as a precaution should we get a particularly heavy downpour and flooding be possible. The man in the street was denied access to almost all features of SAWS and all our approaches to them was totally ignored. We did not even get a ‘thanks but no thanks’ response from them.

At that stage the South African Weather and Disaster Observation Service, SAWDOS, on Facebook, was already in full swing and with the addition to Twitter, these sites in conjunction with the Hamnet Facebook site, has developed a following across South Africa as well as members of SAWS as they interact with us on Facebook! Yet, they come up with all sorts of excuses not to allow us access to the Radar sites.

It has now been decided that as we are getting nowhere with SAWS, we are going to develop a system on Facebook, Twitter and the all our already developed sites whereby we aim to become a more effective way of not necessarily forecasting weather, but to develop a more efficient ‘real time’ reporting system which SAWS do not offer.

The benefit is that we will, via all our national observers, be able to track developing storms and report very accurately on Twitter, Facebook, SAWDOS and the Hamnet sites what is happening weather wise around our country. This information can be shared, pictures can be taken and posted on our various sites and we will be in a good position to warn towns and regions of developing storms.

This system works fabulously well in the USA where severe storms are almost an everyday occurrence. We did in fact approach SAWS for a closer working relationship with this project in mind but as I said, they did not even bother to reply to us.

So, now we are going to do it on our own and over the next few weeks develop a ‘real time’ reporting system, to try and match the successful USA modules for the benefit of all of us.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.

HAMNET Weekly Report 10 February 2013.

Spare a thought today for the people of the Pacific from the Solomon Islands to New Zealand where seismic activity is going through a very restless period.

During the past 3 days, the Solomon Islands have experienced no less than 21 earthquakes since Tuesday the 6th of February. The lowest reading was 4.7 on the Richter scale on the 6th of February at 8:27 UTC and the highest was 8 on the Richter scale at 1:12 UTC on the 6th of February.

This, the second of a series of quakes initiated a tsunami warning. This was later cancelled but the quakes just continue unabated. Most of the quakes occur offshore with result that there is minimal humanitarian effect yet the Islands can feel the quakes and it must be rather scary for the inhabitants.

Although these quakes are regarded as aftershocks, relief workers are on their way to the Island to ensure that the needy are cared for.

From New Zealand comes more reports of seismic activity and it was reported this morning that the two Islands that comprise New Zealand are also undergoing a ‘shake-up’ for lack of a better expression. Since the big quake of a few years back, they have recorded 11,500 smaller quakes on a regular basis right up to the most recent seismic activity.

Pakistan also experienced an earthquake in a region that is sparsely populated and did not have much effect on the population.

Locally, the rainy season continues and with information being posted on a regular basis on Twitter, one is kept informed of road conditions especially the N3 over van Reenen Pass which is often in the news due to either serious traffic accidents or misty and rainy conditions.

Hamnet will continue to monitor 7,110 MHz during the day and 3,760 MHz in the evenings. Again just a reminder that during the day, for longer distances, 10,125 MHz, in the 30m band, is an excellent frequency for communication! It is not used that often, but we should occasionally give a call especially when wishing to work from Gauteng down into the Western Cape. This band offers very good working conditions.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois boths, ZS6BUU.

HAMNET Bulletin February 2013

HAMNET THE SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION BULLETIN FOR FEBRUARY 2013

This bulletin was prepared and produced by Francois Botha – ZS6BUU

HAMNET (IARU Region 1) dedicated emergency communication frequencies are:-

80m band – 3,760 MHz, 40m band, 7,110 MHz. 20m band – 14,300 MHz.


IN THE BULLETIN TODAY

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION CENTENARY

VACANCY

HAMNET conforms to and abides by the IARU discipline of engaging in emergency communication locally and worldwide during and after disasters as internationally Amateur Radio is regarded as a National Resource!

HAMNET, as a group of volunteers, supports Disaster Risk Management in South Africa and serves on the sub committee of the South African Search & Rescue Organisation – SASAR!

It is recommended that when becoming a member of HAMNET, you also become an SARL member to abide by and conform to the IARU International and HAMNET rules regarding emergency communication!

All HAMNET information is available on www.hamnet.co.za alternatively www.sarl.org.za just follow the link! Weekly updates are supplied to Amateur Radio Today on Sunday’s and a monthly bulletin is supplied to members and available on the SARL website and as a podcast!

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION CENTENARY

Radio Amateur worldwide will be dedicating this year’s World Amateur Radio Day on 18 April to disaster communication with the theme “Amateur Radio – entering its second century of disaster communications”.

“The first record of the use of amateur radio supporting communications during a disaster dates back to 1913 during severe flooding in the mid-west of the USA.

Nobel Laureate, Jack Kirby, who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000 for his development of the integrated circuit, relates the story of how in the late twenties his father who ran a small electric company with customers scattered across the rural western part of Kansas, used amateur radio to communicate.

He said while I was in high school, a huge ice storm knocked down most of the poles that carried the telephone and electric power lines. “My father worked with radio amateurs to communicate with areas where customers had lost their power and phone services.

South African Radio Amateurs also have a proud record of providing disaster communication, disasters such as the Westdene Bus disaster, the Laingsburg floods and Demoina are just a few to mention”, said Rassie Erasmus, President of the South African Radio League (SARL).

More recently radio amateurs were involved in the search of a missing aircraft in Mozambique providing communication links back to South Africa from where the search was coordinated.

The Amateur Radio Maritime Mobile Network daily assist yachts with weather reports along the South African coastline and has on many occasions assisted yachts in trouble and has been involved in rescue operations.

This past Sunday HAMNET Western Cape, the disaster communications division of the SARL, provided communications support for the Lions Ride for Sight and Sound Cycle tour in Fish Hoek in which 800 riders participated. The course was about 50Km long, starting and finishing in Fish Hoek, and was covered by eight radio amateurs monitoring the race and reporting back to main control.

“The SARL will be celebrating its first century of disaster communication support by radio amateurs from 2 February leading up the main event on 18 April 2013. The aim of our campaign is to make South Africans, more aware of the contribution that radio amateurs are making to the country and us as citizens”, Rassie Erasmus said.

The use of Amateur Radio to aid the community is not new to South Africa. The Cape Argus of 6 March 1926 ran a lead story with the heading “Radio finds San Francisco Widow’s kin in Congo –sisters plea flashed to African wilds!”

“Reaching into the heart of darkest Africa, the radio has found for Mrs Lydia Nelson, of San Francisco, a brother lost to her for 25 years.” See sketch bottom of bulletin!

Mrs Nelson had read about the successes of Cape Town Radio Amateur John Streeter, and in a passionate letter asked him to use radio to find her brother. At the time radio was very much in its infancy and mainly practiced by enthusiast who we today call radio amateurs, also referred to as radio hams. John, very much the pioneer at the time, sent a description to three other ‘radio stations” and ask them to transmit the information. Within three days Mrs Nelson’s brother was found in Windhoek, South West Africa. (Now Namibia)

The Cape Argus ended the article with “Incidents such as this bring home to one the wonderful power of the wireless broadcasting station. Imagine it! A man sits in a room in Cape Town in front of a small circular object knows as the microphone and is able to talk directly to the whole of South Africa. He is able to make a direct personal appeal by word of mouth and in fact wields a tremendous power. And yet there are still people who gravely question whether “this wireless” has come to stay or are only a passing fancy!”

“The last item in the Amateur Code says “The Radio Amateur is Patriotic..... Their knowledge and their station are always ready for the service of their country and their community.”

“As the SARL we have lived up to the amateur code as clearly demonstrated through the activity of our disaster communication division “HAMNET” and the many amateurs who freely give of their time and expertise to support it.

“We believe it is fitting that we dedicate the next four months to support the theme and to celebrate a century of disaster communication support to South Africa and its people

VACANCY HAMNET – NATIONAL DIRECTOR

As mentioned in the January issue of “The Hamnet Bulletin”, I intend to step down with result a vacancy exists for a person to not only fill this vacancy, but also to serve on the Council of the South African Radio League.

I am willing to hand over my responsibilities over a period of time as this is a very fulfilling position and one cannot ‘just take it over’.

The normal run of administration will continue for a while but anyone who is genuinely interested in my position – preferably in the Gauteng Region is welcome to contact me. A Job Description will be sent to any interested applicants!

You can contact me via any of my e-mail addresses of you can phone me on my landline or cell phone number.

Please give this some serious thought!

Comments suggestions and contributions please contact or send to: jfbotha@iburst.co.za or zs6buu@gmail.com or at 011 679-5260 or 083 585-3847. Fax 086-580.6110.

Bulletin Ends.

Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference - 2013

On the IARU Region 1 site, Greg G0DUB reports on GAREC 2013 which takes place June 25-28 in Zurich.

The Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference (GAREC) is the premier annual event attended by those with an interest in amateur radio providing emergency communications during training exercises or in response to disasters. Since it was first held in 2005, the conference has taken place in all three IARU regions and is open to all emergency communications groups.

In 2013 GAREC returns to IARU Region 1 and will be held in Zurich, Switzerland between 25th to 28th June. The conference has been timed to precede Europe's largest amateur radio exhibition, HAM RADIO in Friedrichshafen so that people can enjoy both events.

General information on GAREC 2013 including information on the venue, registration fees and the tentative agenda and the registration forms is now available on http://www.garec2013.ch/ . This website will be updated frequently to keep all updated with the latest news and program changes. For more information you may also email info@garec2013.ch

Among the draft topics to be discussed are the relevance of Amateur Radio Emergency Communication in the '1st World', the HAMNET high speed data network along with presentations from the three regions of the IARU and also some presentations from groups with recent disaster relief communications operations.

The past presentations from the conferences including GAREC 2012, are now available at http://www.iaru.org/garec.html

IARU Region http://www.iaru-r1.org/

- Southgate Amateur Radio News

HAMNET Weekly report 27 Jan. 2013

The floods last week caused a tremendous amount of damage in the Kruger National Park with Shingwedzi and Letaba suffering a lot of damage. We received many photographs from various sources showing the devastation especially at Shingwedzi and in one camp; tourists had to be airlifted out by helicopter.

Flooding in Botswana had us on tender hooks at one stage with reports of a major dam wall collapsing but it later turned out to be merely a precautionary opening of a number of sluice gates to control the pressure behind the wall.

This however caused severe flooding downstream and the Limpopo is now in flood. One farmer lost over 15000 crocodiles on his farm adjacent to the river and one wonders if this is going to be a problem in the Limpopo River in years to come.

The rainy season is far from over and although the predictions for the next few days indicate just normal rainfall, we should be aware of the possibility of more heavy downpours and flooding.

Internationally, The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, GDACS, highlighted a number of items including earthquakes in Russia, Indonesia and Iran, flooding in Mozambique, Indonesia and Malawi plus two cyclones – one out to sea off the west coast of Australia and one near the Cook Islands that often get ravaged by Cyclones.

Europe and the UK are currently in the grip of severe cold and snow with air traffic disruptions on the odd occasion.

The new Hamnet ID cards arrived about two weeks ago and by the end of this coming week, all outstanding applications, and issuing of new cards will be up to date.

Kindly note that the new card no longer carries the signature of the National Director but merely his name and that all new cards now carry an expiry date of 3 years! This was done for two main reasons namely cards may become disfigured through much use and it is also a way of keeping members active over a long period of time.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha, ZS6BUU.

HAMNET weekly report 20 January 2013

On Thursday, the South African Weather Bureau, SAWS, issued a warning to Disaster Risk Management in various Eastern Provinces of the possibility of heavy rain in their areas.

By Saturday evening, many of those predictions materialised and the Kruger national park again was experiencing flooding.

On Saturday afternoon, Hamnet issued a warning to a few of its members in key areas to be on standby for possible emergency communication and on Saturday evening, Piet Badenhorst, ZS6G from Nelspruit sent us an advisory to stay clear of the Park or to phone ahead if you had an intention to visit the Park.

He sent us a list of roads and bridges within the Park that had already been closed and photographs were also appearing on Facebook of flooded roads and rivers within the Kruger.

By Saturday evening, we also received a shot of a helicopter that had been airlifted to rescue some tourists stranded in a remote area who were flown to safety.

At the time of compiling this report, early this morning to get the latest news from that area, no further reports have been received. However, it was decided with Gert Botha, ZS6GC, that we will monitor both 10,125 MHz and 7,110 MHz during the day for any communication from the area.

The Weather Bureau has indicated that rain will continue in the area today but that it should start to clear by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, adverse weather has also caused havoc in Europe with heavy snowfalls in areas and also disrupting air traffic from Heathrow airport where more than a hundred flights have been cancelled due to icy runways.

And on the other side of the world, runaway fires in Australia has now caused the death of one person and is still burning out of control; in some areas



Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha, ZS6BUU.

HAMNET Weekly report 13/01/2013

As usual, earthquakes, cyclones and flooding dominate the disaster scene when looking at the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System – GDACS.

Earthquakes

The Philippines, Kyrgyzstan and Iran head the list with quakes being recorded from the 8th to the 12th of January.

The Philippines quake occurred off-shore with result not too much to report and no tsunami warning issued.

Kyrgyzstan happened in a mountainous region and although it affected as many as 80000 odd people, not too much is known about this quake.

In Iran the quake also occurred in a region where population is high but the magnitude did not have any humanitarian affect.

Cyclones


Two cyclones are current in the Far East with ‘Narelle’ just off the Australian west coast really playing itself out over sea with not real effect on the population.


Cyclone ‘Sunamo’ is also playing itself out over the seas south of Vietnam and north of Brunei with no real danger to the population on land.

Floods

Sri Lanka, Palestine, Russia, the Philippines, Peru and Malaysia all reported flooding of some sort and as they are spread all over the globe, we will not report on each one individually.

But coming back to Australia, this country is currently in the grip of hundreds of runaway fires and fire fighters are having an almost impossible task of trying to contain these fires.

We heard earlier that Tasmania also had horrific fires with people in one town actually having to run into the sea to escape the flames.

In both cases, a tremendous amount of damage is being and was caused! Another report from the USA also indicates that 2012 was the hottest year in that country since 1998.

Locally, many parts of the country are in the grip of heat waves and rain is very patchy in places yet some provinces are getting good rains.

Hamnet will continue to monitor on 7,110 MHz during the day and occasionally give a call – even for a chat if there are other monitors on frequency.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU

HAMNET Weekly report 6 January 2013

We start the New Year with a report of a cyclone developing in the Indian Ocean called ‘Dumile’.  This being the 4th cyclone of this summer season, it is intensifying according to International Weather reports being published.

Fortunately at this stage, it seems to be headed south east indicating that it may just peter out in mid Indian Ocean, but we will keep an eye on it.

Whether this is the cause for the exceptionally dry air being experienced over South Africa at present is not clear, but looking at the map of Africa on the Kobus Botha website, there is a tremendous amount of moisture and rain to the north of us.

This dry weather unfortunately can cause runaway fires in the winter rainfall region and we are keeping an eye on fire reports.

At the time of compiling this report, there is still a fair amount of traffic on our roads and early on Saturday morning there was a heavy mist over van Reenens Pass with Twitter reports coming in from motorists to the N3 Toll Concession Twitter site.

The N3 currently is in excellent condition and my trip to Southbroom end of December was a pleasure as all motorists were abiding by the code of the road and driving conditions were perfect.

The weather in general is still a prominent point of discussion with worldwide reports still a daily news issue being it Cyclones, Typhoons, Hurricanes, heavy snow, too much rain, drought conditions and in general strange wind conditions.

Sasolburg had a freak wind storm last week that caused an unbelievable amount of damage in just a few minutes.

Unfortunately this happened at night so there was no way of establishing if this was a tornado or twister or just a freak wind event.  It destroyed many homes and some residents lost everything.

Hamnet will continue to monitor our emergency frequency of 7,110 MHz for the current school holiday season but I think it may be a good idea if we continue to monitor on an ad-hoc basis and give the odd call even if just to establish working or band conditions.

We wish you all a pleasant and fruitful 2013 and sincerely hope it is going to be a good year for all of us.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.

Tasmanian Bushfire Disaster

The view of the Tasman Peninsular as the fire jumped the Dunalley Canal. A major bush fire swept through Copping and Dunalley in South East Tasmania. Picture: Richard Jupe Source: The Mercury

WICEN Tasmania (South), assisted by other trained southern region radio amateurs, is providing 24 hour support for firefighting activities as several fires continue to burn.

At least 100 properties have been destroyed and thousands of people are left stranded. Towns on the devastated Tasman Peninsula in the state's south-east are cut off and only accessible via sea.

WICEN Tasmania (South) Secretary, Roger Nichols VK7ARN said teams of two radio operators for the Incident Management Team based at Tasmania Fire Service Cambridge, are concerned primarily with two of the major fires.

"These are fires on the Tasman Peninsula and in the Derwent Valley. Both of these and several others are still fast moving at this time," said Roger VK7ARN.

Significant property loss has already occurred, especially in the Tasman Peninsula fire. There are 60 fire units in the field on these fires, being almost half of 130 currently actively deployed across Tasmania.

He said, "Radio operator needs and deployments are under constant review as the situation develops. The Tasmania Fire Service 80MHz network is being used, involving standard procedures and Prowords."

Roger VK7ARN said 18 radio amateurs recently attended an introductory training course run by the Tasmania Fire Service in preparation for such an eventuality, though the size and scope of the current operations is way beyond previous activations.

He said radio operator teams normally include at least one operator with previous fire experience and training. It may be that more amateur resources will be required, at least to assist with log keeping and message recording.

These may include deployments to other control points closer to the firegrounds.

Overnight a massive sea rescue operation moved more than 1,000 people trapped by the Tasman Peninsula fires to safety in Hobart, 50 kilometres away. Thousands of people, including 700 tourists at historic Port Arthur, remain stranded.

Jim Linton VK3PC
Chair of the IARU Region 3,
Disaster Communications Committee

HAMNET Bulletin: January 2013

HAMNET THE SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION BULLETIN FOR  JANUARY 2013 This bulletin was prepared and produced by Francois Botha – ZS6BUU
                                   
HAMNET (IARU Region 1) dedicated emergency communication frequencies are:-
80m band – 3,760 MHz, 40m band, 7,110 MHz.  20m band – 14,300 MHz.

IN THE BULLETIN TODAY
DECEMBER/JANUARY HOLIDAY’S
STEPPING DOWN

HAMNET conforms to and abides by the IARU discipline of engaging in emergency communication locally and worldwide during and after disasters as internationally Amateur Radio is regarded as a National Resource!

HAMNET, as a group of volunteers, supports Disaster Risk Management in South Africa and serves on the sub committee of the South African Search & Rescue Organisation – SASAR!

It is recommended that when becoming a member of HAMNET, you also become an SARL member to abide by and conform to the IARU International and HAMNET rules regarding emergency communication!

All HAMNET information is available on www.hamnet.co.za alternatively www.sarl.org.za just follow the link!  Weekly updates are supplied to Amateur Radio Today on Sunday’s and a monthly bulletin is supplied to members and available on the SARL website and as a podcast!

You can also follow us on Facebook    and Twitter

SCHOOL HOLIDAY’S 

I had the opportunity to do the N3 run down to Durban on Saturday the 29th – going to Southbroom to collect my father-in-law, and back on Sunday the 30th.

To my surprise, the drivers in general were very courteous, considerate and the road in almost mint condition.

However, our problems start today, New Year ’s Day and many people will be returning home during this coming week as schools in the inland areas re-open on the 9th and coastal areas on the 16th.

The carnage on the roads will continue, and there is not much we can do about it but hope that new legislation will be introduced to contain the unfortunate daily occurrence on our roads.

We will continue to monitor 7,110 MHz until mid-January and we thank all those who spent some time listening to our emergency frequencies!

STEPPING DOWN 

This is a decision that did not come easily!  As many of you may know, Estelle is not in good health and will probably need a lot of care and attention for quite a while yet – if not indefinitely!

My ailing father-in-law, (approaching 90 years of age), who has been in Southbroom for many years, has also undergone a series of set-backs that is cause for concern with result that during the last week-end of December, 2012, I had to motor down to Southbroom to bring him up to us so that we can take care of him as well.

The fact is I now have two people to care for with result that all my other activities have now taken a back seat.

This decision has been fully discussed with Council and the decision has been taken that I will not make myself available for re-election to Council for the period starting after the AGM in April 2013.

This also means that the position of Director of HAMNET must be filled.

An advisory was sent out at the end of December to all Provincial Directors telling them of my situation and will now leave it to them and Council to decide as to my successor.

I will continue to do as much as I possibly can and there are some items that I could still continue doing for quite a while as it does not require much effort like issuing ID cards, maintaining the Database, maintaining the Grant fund etc. until such time as new appointments have been finalised!

After 12 years at the helm, and having learnt so much from the people that I have met over the years from all over the world, learning from their experiences and passing it on to our local conditions, I personally feel a good foundation is in place and I have no qualms about stepping down for someone with new ideas to take the helm!

I will still be around for quite a while so don’t just write me off. But my commitment has now reached the point where regretfully I need to pass it to a person who hopefully has the same passion to take Hamnet into the future!

This regretfully is a very short and concise bulletin due to my changed circumstances!  I wish you all a prosperous and – above all – healthy New Year!

- End

Comments suggestions and contributions please contact or send to: jfbotha@iburst.co.za or zs6buu@gmail.com or at 011 679-5260 or 083 585-3847. Fax 086-580.6110.
    

IRESC to have new President and Executive January 1st 2013

International Radio Emergency Support Coalition {IRESC}
Special Consultative Status Economic and Social Council United Nations. 2012

Press Release

IRESC AGM December 23rd 2012

IRESC Development Office Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Wednesday 27th December 2012.

International Radio Emergency Support Coalition {IRESC} held it’s AGM on Sunday 23rd December 2012; the AGM was compact and dynamic with wide range of contribution coming from members.

Drawing some significant attention was proposal from IRESC United Kingdom President M3UTG Stephen to restructure IRESC and the incorporation of the EI Workshop 181: How can Internet Governance Impact Disaster Preparedness and Response and Help Save Lives? Sixth Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum 27 -30 September 2011; United Nations Office in Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.

A motion was moved by IRESC Snr VP W0SCT Salvadore to Amendments IRESC bylaws the motion was carried and approved.

IRESC President of Portugal Joao call for IRESC to be more on HF voice and data, the best way forward with new proposals.

IRESC outgoing President Carl W2WRX was praised for his contribution and development to IRESC, Carl was made an Honorary President of IRESC.

Effective January 1st 2013 IRESC will have a new Executive Board, the board nomination for election was conducted in November by IRESC President INDIA VU2RBI Bharathi as the chief presiding officer, and TTARL Director of operation 9Z4M Michael Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

IRESC INCOMING NEW EXECTUVE

President Salvadore W0SCT United States of America
Senior Vice President Julien 9Z4FZ Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Secretary Stephen M3UTG United Kingdom
Technical Director David 9Z4DMD Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Honorary President Carl W2WRX United States of America

In 2013 IRESC will work with all stakes holder in an effort to bring about biodiversity around the world. Information will be shared across the board globally and there shall be no domination by one country for information and development

All countries will be treated equally in the dissemination of information and development from IRESC.

Julien Mervyn Dedier 9Z4FZ
IRESC President.
Trinidad & Tobago.
IT & Development

http://www.irescintl.com

Special Consultative Status
Economic and Social Council
United Nations.2012

Do you have a problem of National, Regional or International importance that the United Nations needs to know and get involved in, IRESC will carry your matter to the UN for action, if the matter does not need the attention of the UN, IRESC will try to assist in resolving the problem. IRESC web site http://www.irescintl.com Contact Us to send us any information.

- Southgate Amateur Radio News

HAMNET weekly bulletin 23/12/2012

With the holiday season now in full swing and thousands of people heading to their holiday resorts, road accidents are unfortunately taking its toll!

We have been monitoring 7,110MHz but apart from one or two other monitors, the frequency is very quiet – except for static! We anticipate that most holiday makers will be on the roads over this weekend prior to the week ending on the 30th of December.

The busy routes as usual are the N1 from Johannesburg via Bloemfontein to Cape Town as well as to the north to Zimbabwe. The N3 from Johannesburg to Durban was carrying exceptionally heavy traffic with some very serious accidents on this route already this season!

The N4 to Mozambique is also busy and most border posts are staying open for longer hours to accommodate the influx of people.

From me personally, I would like to take this opportunity to not only thank all those volunteers who unselfishly gave their time to call-outs, exercises and duties during this year, but also to wish all of you a Blessed Christmas period and may all your dreams be fulfilled in the new year.

If you are driving or going away, please take care as we dearly would not like to count you as another statistic at the end of the holiday season.

We will continue to monitor 7,110 MHz and you are welcome to join us for chat should we be on frequency as monitoring will be on an ad-hoc basis.

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.

HAMNET Weekly report 16/12/2012

he recent spate of severe weather that has been experienced over South Africa since the beginning of the rainy season creates cause for concern. The question again is being asked, is this earth warming phenomena, pure bad luck or a sign of international weather changing patterns.

Since the beginning of the rainy season from roughly mid-October, some very severe storms have caused havoc across many parts of the country. Severe flooding along the Eastern Cape coast, causing millions of rand damage to Port Alfred and the Kenton-on-Sea region!

But it does not end there. We have had more than the average reports of funnel cloud formation, also known as thermals but growing in intensity and almost beginning to look like a ‘twister’. The latest from the Sutherland region!

Severe hail storms have also been a common report this season from right across the country and many photographs taken by people and sent to us indicate these are no normal hail stones – some are the size of tennis balls and cricket balls when placed next to each other.

Some hail stones are compacted small stones which normally disintegrate when hitting any object thus causing little damage, but the storm that hit Ladysmith in KZN this week, took on another meaning. One hail stone, the size of a tennis ball, was almost solid!

These stones have the velocity to disintegrate tiled roofs, pierce ceilings and even cause severe damage to furniture and cars parked in garages. One photograph showed a car parked in a garage actually having its windows smashed by these stones after passing through a tiled roof and a ceiling.

That is frightening! A stone that size can actually kill you if you happen to be in the wrong place at the right time!

Rain across the Karroo also highlights changing weather patterns. We had reports of copious rain in the Beaufort West area with streams fast flowing and even rock falls in a pass near the town. We are sure the Karroo farmers are very happy about the rain and that it may fill many dams, but the Karroo after all the years of drought, can again look forward to some good water supply!

From a Hamnet point of view, the Hamnet Facebook site as well as the SAWDOS site is constantly being fed information and photographs of severe weather around the country and with the holiday season now in full swing, we hope it will not dampen the enthusiasm of many holiday makers who are now unwinding and taking a break.

We will continue to monitor 7,110 MHz for traffic as many vehicles are still streaming to holiday resorts around our coastline as well as to countries bordering South Africa!

Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha – ZS6BUU.