ZS2DH

Zulu Sierra Two Delta Hotel

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Herald Mountain Bike Race 2020

One of my favorite events – in the mountains and playing radio – is the Herald Mountain Bike Race. This year was even better than usual, with my friends from Bisho Hammies helping out.

Lunga (ZS2LN) and the Bisho Hammies assisted and made themselves (and me) very proud.

Raceday was Sunday 16 Feb, but you can’t miss out on a camping opportunity, so (as usual) a bunch of us made our way there on Saturday – ready for an early start on Sunday morning. Oh, and the evening braai, of course.

Lunga had organised a bunch of the Hammies from Bisho to come through and assist us (PEARS/Hamnet Eastern Cape) with the radio work. The group included a number of qualified ZU licence holders and one budding newbie hoping to be one on the next RAE.

I met up with Lunga and the lads at the Nanaga petrol station about 50Km north of Port Elizabeth. Lunga arrived with his vehicle showing all sorts of banners, flags, and stickers – as we have come to expect! The back of the bakkie full of Hammies and kit and a small “Venter” trailer for the additional kit.

After a brief stop over and leg stretching for the Hammies, we headed off towards Patterson and past the Addo Elephant Park.

Passing the Addo Elephant Park there is always a chance to see some game along the way. If you lucky, you can see a small herd of Elephant, but we hit the mother load – more Elephants than I have ever seen from outside the park. In fact, there is only one other time I can recall seeing more Elephants in a single herd and that was inside the park at a waterhole. Even that is not a very common sight!

ZU2ASN and the Elephants

We stopped on the side of the road (as did several other people) and the kids made their way across the road to the fence on the other side to get a look at these magnificent animals. A large herd, seeming untroubled by the traffic and spectators, slowly made its way through the thicket. We must have spent 20 minutes just watching the Elephants before getting back into the vehicles to complete our journey.

We travelled through to the Hayterdale farm where we setup camp. A few more of the local suspects pitched up through the afternoon, but the boss himself, Gert ZS2GS, only cam out in the early hours of the Sunday morning.

The evening, however, was spent in what is now a tradition – the braai under the big tree. It is a truly beautiful spot although we are starting to take it for granted going there several times a year! The Hammies, in true Scouting spirit, made the fire and cooked the food for us. We made some “Cape Sarmies” (toasted sandwiches) – another tradition and a few jokes later all drifted off to lalaland.

A fashion photo session must be shorter !

It was an early start, the Hammies and I were to man the steep path down from the top of the ridge into the back of the farm. It is a tricky piece of path following the power lines and descending rapidly in places. We were dropped off at the bridge at Camp Fig Tree and after a brief photo shoot we started the route down.

Hammies were paired off and left at various stages along the path. Each pair were given a tactical callsign indicating their position along the path. The plan was that each pair would do their own comms check with Tony at the VOC and where needed arrange a relay path to VOC if theis was needed. The teams were tasked with relaying any emergency traffic as well as logistical tracking such as race leaders, medical vehicles, and sweep.

After the sweep came through, the Hammies followed the sweep (a motor bike) out and all congregated back with yours truly at the bottom of the pass, from which we walked out to the farm and started to pack up.

The kids really enjoyed themselves as did Lunga and myself. The kids impressed several of the old timers and were invited back with resounding cheers!

My rapid deployment 2m field station!

5150 Triathlon 2019

December, the Port Elilzabeth beach front, and bikinis everywhere. All this and I get to play radio.

ZU2ASN assisted at the 5150

Lunga (ZS2LN) and Ambesiwe (ZU2ASN) from the Bisho Hammies came through to help us at the 5150 triathlon here on the Port Elizabeth beach front.

Ambesiwe, Bev and I started the morning off on the beachfront while the swim event took place. Our task was to monitor drop outs and send any medical information or race numbers from those withdrawing from the event through to ZR2TX Tony at the JOC. This is a bit over the top in that the medics have their own radio network and the race officials have a whatsapp group. After that I moved off with Bev to the run turning point while Ambesiwe went back to Lunga at the penalty tent.

This was a great learning event for Lunga and Ambesiwe, both impressed the locals and were invited back!

There will be more Hammies assisting next year in the Herald Mountain Bike Race!

Call me old fashioned, but…

Don’t get me wrong – I think ham radio is one of the best hobbies in the world and this little rant is not intended to besmerch that reputation at all. In fact, you can probably just ignore this post.

I have helped many radio hams in the few years I have been a ham – and many have helped me! No fees attached. There may be fuel costs or perhaps materials, but I have been given antennas, without even being asked for the cost of the materials.

This behaviour is not unheard of either – I remember a new ham wanted to put on an electronics course at our club and he wanted to charge for his time – and it was definetly frownd upon and many complained.

So why this rant? Well I think it is very unsporty and not in the spirit of ham radio when people in countries with few hams (or rare dxcc entities) insist on charging for a LOTW QSL. Paper QSL cards I understand and I have sent (and recieved) paper cards and there is a cost associated with that. But when your program logs the QSO automatically and you can simply upload it (free of charge) to LOTW then it seems churlish to insist on a “donation”.

Internet is expensive/unavailable: My first experience of this was one of the islands west of Africa. It’s not the internet cost because they were chatty by email when I contact them about a QSL.

Expensive to do: Next was a dx-expedition to a country I wanted. I made the QSO but could not get a QSL without paying for it. The expedition was not an expensive one (compared to some multi-million expeditions) but there would have been costs – accepted, but not for making a QSL!

I am a SOTA activator and I pick up the full bill for my climbing activities – witch often run into several hundreds of rands per expedition. Fuel and accommodation – and now park fees also becoming a big cost contributor, SOTA is getting expensive. My chasers sit at home and have a beer while I climb in the outdoors – that is the nature of the exercise. No chaser has ever offerred to pay toward my costs and nor have I ever asked for a payment or contribution. An online QSL from me will always be free.

The final straw came this morning. I contacted the OM to enquire why I was not in his log and was told I can get the LOTW confirmation if I make a contribution to his PayPal account.

Sorry, I don’t feel this is amateur radio. You might feel differently – that is your choice. Rant over.

There is rain on your signal.

Those who regularily join the PEARS 6m net on a Wednesday evening will know I have been having a problem with my antenna. Regular signal reports indicate “rain” on my signal. Given the current drought one might think this is a compliment, but alas it indicates a problem and I am required (by other regulars on the net) to fix the problem.

Rain on my 6m signal
Rain on my 6m signal

Offers of help flooded in (pun intended) from Al ZS2U and Andrew ZS2G. The first step was to check the radio side and we tried a few new connectors, but with only marginal improvement, it was decided the antenna would need to come down and be checked – no short cuts.

I chatted to both helpers and told them I’d take the antenna down over the weekend and (in the rather likely event that I would need their help) I’d contact them.

Saturday afternoon I asked Graydon ZU2GH to climb onto the roof and take the antenna down.

The antenna has been up there about 3 years now and probbly needed a good old “grease and oil change”. In true “boy scout thrift” the antenna was taped with crazy-tape to a piece of wood tied to the downpipe and one of the carport poles! I put it up in a hurry and it worked so well I left it just like that – for years. Literally!

A rookie mistake! In taping the antenna securely enough we taped over the drainage hole.

Graydon removed the tape to produce the most wonderful sprout of water cascading gently into the pot plants below. There was so much water that – after the initial shock – I still managed to get a few photos. I opted for photos as I thought surely there will not be enough time to get a video clip too. Well, I got photos and THEN a video clip!

We brought the antenna down and cleaned it up. Some electrical switch cleaner, steele wool, a craft knife and a few blisters later, the antenna is bright and shiny again.

At the time of writing the antenna is outside in the sun drying out. I am hoping there will be no damage to the parralel tuned curcuit and that a good dryout might be all that is required. If not, my handman skills will be pushed to the limit drilling out a rivit or two and perhaps even fixing the tuned curcuit. Maybe I’ll be lucky!

I’ll know on Christmas day – thats right, the Wednesday evening net!

It never rains…

JOTA/JOTI 2019

Stutterheim, Eastern Cape

The Community Church Scouts in Bisho set plans in place to host a JOTA/JOTI event in Stutterheim. A parent’s farm was undergoing some renovation and was offered and it served the purpose well.

Scouts arrived throughout the afternoon on Friday 19 October 2019.

Lunga (ZS2LN) with some of the scouts at JOTA 2019
Lunga (ZS2LN) with some of the scouts at JOTA 2019

An invitation had been extended to the Scouts at Zwelitsha Scout Group who attended the camp. This was their first time at a JOTA/JOTI and a number of them have indicated that they are keen to get their ZU licences.

Once everyone had arrived they were divided up into groups (patrols) and Mr Lunga Nqini (ZS2LN) handled the opening ceremony and introductions.

The first base was a theory base covering the very basics of talking on the radio, ZS zones, and the phonetic alphabet. This was after a good run-around game and the message got across quite well.

Next up was a stalking game where the kids were sent off in patrols – with a radio – and told to hide from the others while talking to them on the radio. The idea was to try to find where the other patrols were without revealing your own hiding place.

ZS2EM at JOTA 2019

In the evening the kids pitched their tents and did their own cooking. This was then followed by the evening base – electronics. Each patrol was given a breadboard kit with components to make a simple buzzer using a 555 timer chip. This proved quite challenging!

The circuit used for the 555 timer buzzer

Instead of a normal speaker, they were given an earphone socket and a pair of earphones. The number of times they thought they had it only to find nothing was, well, entertaining. When they finally heard the buzzer they were in awe! We then made some simple CW keys and attempted to send morse code.

Saturday morning started with normal camp routine and breakfast of egg cooked in gem squash over a fire! Then it was time for the main event – some satellite work.

Satellites do not lend themselves to a rigid Scouting program and so had to be done on an “ad-hoc” basis calling kids away from their other activities for each of the passes.

Our position was not great either, and we had limited access to the actual flight path of the satellites. Only relatively high passes made it onto our radar as we were in a valley and surrounded by trees!

Many of the kids battled to be heard with many of them talking to softly, or turning the antenna as they spoke. We did get a ZU contact through to Andre ZS2BK made by Ambesiwe ZU2ASN but that was about it.

JOTI station

The focus this year was on JOTI – Jamboree on the Internet. We had a 3G hotspot provided by the Community Church in Bisho and we connected as many devices as we could! There were 3 laptops and about a dozen phones/tablets. Much of the time was spent on www.scoutlink.org where the kids were chatting to scouts from around the world.

In an attempt to maintain a link to amateur radio, we had the “Worked all continents” award for any scout who could establish contact with a Scout in each of the six continental areas. This proved more difficult that I had anticipated with very few South American countries online throughout the event. One scout ended up with 22 contacts, but none from South America.

ZU2ASN @ JOTI station

The Bisho Hammies would like to thank Noel Hammond and the ZS6ZU Hammies for the donation of 3 dual band handheld radios and Amsat for the donation of three Amsat yagis for satellite work. Another thankyou goes to Andre Potgieter – ZS2ZA who also kindly donated an Amsat yagi to the group.

Pressure packs!

Hiroshima – how the world has changed

Hiroshima. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The bomb was known as “Little Boy”, a uranium gun-type bomb that exploded with about thirteen kilotons of force. At the time of the bombing, Hiroshima was home to 280,000-290,000 civilians as well as 43,000 soldiers.

Hiroshima, August 12, 2019, Dave Higgs ZS2DH drops a radio message on the city of Hiroshima. The message was known as “FT8” a digital mode and hit with a reception signal strength of -14 – thats below the noise floor! At the time, Hiroshima was home to Mitsunobu Tojo, JE4EYM.

The QSL card I received along with the envelop from Hiroshima
A QSL card from Hiroshima

With much less force, way less noise, using a small radio with a piece of wire in my back yard, I managed to make a friend in Hiroshima. The US just made noise, death, and distruction.

Hiroshima is now completely safe and is once again a thriving manufacturing hub, a community with a population of over a million people and many radio hams!

Working satellites

Those who know me, know I am not keen on VHF, nor on repeaters – and are surprised to find my latest hobby is working satellites.  It’s not quite the same as working a stationary terrestrial repeater – not when the repeater is traveling at 11 – 27 thousand kilometers per hour!

So, what can you do working satellites?

There are a variety of satellites with ham radio transponders/repeaters on board.  These range from download only (usually telemetry or CW beacons) to cross-band repeaters on FM and SSB.

Working an FM satellite is a piece of cake!  Get a handheld – a UV-5R or equivalent is more than adequate.  Set the radio to the receive frequency, the tx to the tx frequency and go.  The standard “rubber duck” antenna on the handheld is all you need for a high pass.  Working the passes closer to teh horizon you need a yagi.

The AMSAT yagi I love so much!

The AMSAT yagi I love so much!

The AMSAT yagi as available on the AMSAT SA website is a good place to start.  That and a fitting onto the HT of your choice and you have a fully operational “Ground station”.

Antennas and polarization: While you must understand the satellite is travelling at one hell of a rate of knots, it is also turning.  Consider, also, the path a satellite might take and how a standard vertical antenna will work on receive and transmit.  When the satellite is directly overhead of a vertical antenna, you will get no signal.  When the satellite is on the horizon (further away utilizing a lower radiation angle) the vertical will be better.  A yagi, however, wins hands down in both cases.

There are plenty of youtube tutorials about working satellites and they will all tell you antenna orientation is important.  And it is, but get out and play – you will soon figure it out.

Apart from working other hams through a satellite, downloading telemetry from a satellite, you might also get a chance to work an astronaut on-board the ISS.  This is indeed a rare occurrence, although schools can schedule a QSO with the ISS, regular radio hams like Andre, ZS2BK need to be in the right place at the right time to get the contact.  Andre, ZS2BK had a chat with Richard on the ISS and managed to record the QSO – one of which he is very proud!

What about getting images from the ISS?  Every so often the ISS transmits images on SSTV – usually now in mode PD120.  At the time of writing this post, the ISS is transmitting a range of images in remembrance of astronaut and engineer Owen Garriott.  Download an app to decode SSTV – I use Robot36 on android and MMSSTV on Windows.  Set the mode to PD120 and place it within “earshot” of a radio receiving on 145.800MHz while the ISS crosses overhead.

The first image I received from the ISS

The first image I received from the ISS

The PD120 mode takes 2 min to send an image and is then followed by a 2 min break, so you would think you would get  5  images per 10 minute pass, but it is not quite that simple.  You should get between 3 and 5 images – along with partial images depending on where in the tx cycle the satellite is at your AOS/LOS and so on.

For more on images from the ISS, check out my post here.  What about a SOTA activation by satellite ?  What about RADAR?  The possibilities are almost endless.

I will leave you with a single thought that blows my mind.: There are people (Andre, ZS2ACP for example) who have worked a DXCC via satellites!

Images from the ISS

Working satellites has certainly upped my activity level as far as ham radio is concerned.  Between not getting out to do SOTA and the current sun spot activity making DX from my rather limited shack a hard task, ham radio was taking a beating.

My very first image - ever!

My very first image – ever!

I will be the first to admit that VHF does not press my buttons.  If I wanted to be a security guard with a “mall cop” radio, that would be different – but I am HF and SOTA and a bot around the edges!

Working a local repeater is about as much fun as well, its not fun.  Nor is it exciting.  Working a satellite is about the same thing – with one subtle difference – its moving at one hell-of-a-lick!

Tracking satellites and being available for the relevant *workable* passes is also a challenge, but at least it requires a bit of thought and planning – not like keying the local repeater.

My setup

My setup is probably about as basic as it comes – a 5W handheld with one of the cool AMSAT Yagi’s developed by ZSYI.  You can imagine me walking all over my backyard pointing the yagi into the sky at odd angles, turning it around and keeping the squelch open.  I often think my neighbours must think I am ET calling for an Uber!

Now, getting images from the ISS – that sounds difficult and almost illegal.  So of course I am interested!

Well it turns out it is neither difficult nor is it illegal.  It is, however, still rather rewarding!

I downloaded the Robot36 app (from the google play store) – it is a free app and decodes SSTV (Slow Scan TV) signals.  A simple, nice app that does what it claims to do!

I connected my handheld Baofeng UV-5R up to the station’s vertical antenna (on the roof) and tuned the Baofeng to 145.800MHz, FM.  I placed the cell phone next to the radio and waited for a pass.

Ta-da! images

Remembering Owen Garriott - ISS images

Remembering Owen Garriott – ISS images

From this very simple station I got the following images.  QRM on the signal gives the “shaky/out of focus” look to parts of the image.  As far as I can understand, the “green belts” are lack of signal into the decoder (rather than distorted signal).

Another part of the puzzle – with my station in particular – is the fact that I used a single vertical antenna (rather than a yagi pointed at the satellite) so the signals on the horizon are better (into the vertical) than when the ISS is directly overhead.  Imagine computer controlled yagis tracking the ISS in real time!  Ok, it is a reality for some people, but not me in my shack – I have to do it the hard way 😉

Here are a few more images:

Governerskop activation on VHF

On the way back from Hogsback where I had just done my first satellite activation on Elandsberg, we decided to stop by the PEARS repeater site on Governer’s kop.

The sun going down on the Governerskop repeater site

The sun going down on the Governerskop repeater site

Another first for me – on a day loaded with firsts 🙂

At the time of writting this post, the repeater is still in a rather sorry state.  Plans are to get a tower (we have purchased on from somewhere in Hogsback) and then to throw a concrete block and put the tower up.  This after the last one was blown over in the wind – a while ago now.

The site has a small container and has everything needed with the exception of the batteries – liberated for a higher calling by some <your favourite explicit here> who felt we no longer needed them!

Hey – let’s do some SOTA!

While there, I witnessed a stunning sunset and made some VHF contacts on national call through to Port Elizabeth.  I had QSOs with ZS2HK, ZS2G, ZS2SG, and ZS2GV – making it a second SOTA activation for the day.  This one was not via satellite, but I did use the little AMSAT yagi I have so grown to love!

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