SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE HAMNET BULLETIN FOR SUNDAY 7 January 2007 This bulletin was compiled and prepared by Francois – ZS6BUU POST BULLETIN COMMENT TODAY The majority comment after today’s bulletin was that we change the bulletin time to MONDAY EVENING AT 7PM LOCAL TIME WITH A POSSIBLE RELAY ON 80 METRES. YOUR E-MAIL COMMENTS PLEASE – CHANGES TAKE TIME TO IMPLEMENT! It will solve some problems! IN THE BULLETIN TODAY:- HOLIDAY SEASON DISASTER MANAGEMENT – LOCAL GOVERNMENT ALTME/GATEWAY – WEBSITE GAREC – 2007/8 The Hamnet Bulletin is read at 12noon SAST on 7:070MHz on the first Sunday of every month. Subsequent Sundays are used to establish an informal net and exchange weather reports and other items of general interest. The bulletin is also distributed to all Provincial Directors and other interested parties, for reading on their local repeaters a few days prior to the first Sunday of every month. The HAMNET section of the SARL website is open to all amateur radio operators to encourage non League members to join the League and also to encourage newly licensed amateurs to consider joining HAMNET. HAMNET is a voluntary, non profit group of amateurs who make their unique communication skills available to assist and help others in distress during and after disasters. HAMNET is also represented on the sub-committee of the South African Search & Rescue Organisation. Training Modules have been developed and are available either from your Provincial Director or from the National director via e-mail. HAMNET forms part of the Constitution of the South African Radio League which means that you have to be a member of the SARL to be a member of HAMNET. Join us on weekdays at 6pm local time for the HAMNET Weather Net on 3:760MHz in winter and on 7:060MHz in summer. This net exchanges weather conditions around the country and is also useful as a propagation check. HOLIDAY SEASON For all intents and purposes, the holiday season has come to an end. Inland schools reopen on the 10th and the coastal schools on the 17th of January. There will still be some traffic over this weekend and also over next weekend, but it’s a more gradual return to work and school over the next 10 days or so. Now we start planning for Easter weekend which this year falls over the weekend of 6th to 9th of April and with the 27th of April falling on a Friday, many people will turn the next week into a long weekend as the 1st of May is also a holiday. However, more later! My thanks to all those who spent time monitoring the emergency frequencies as well as time spent on EchoLink, monitoring the Pietermaritzburg repeater. DISASTER MANAGEMENT – LOCAL GOVERNMENT At last, it seems, Local Government is getting its volunteer groups organised. Last December, I attended a meeting at the Roodepoort Civic Centre which was well attended by other volunteer groups and it was decided that initially, we will meet on a monthly basis to get the ball rolling! Government Gazette No. 27991 dated 9 September 2005 outlines the objectives of all the arrangement and regulations regarding the use of volunteer groups. This Gazette was distributed to all Provincial Directors and I leave it to them to follow-up or to be contacted by their local authorities to get themselves organised into a workable volunteer unit. What is required is registration by way of an application form with a head & shoulder photo. Once accepted, you will be issued with an ID card which will allow you access to various offices, radio rooms and disaster situations. I strongly recommend that all Provincial Directors, their 2nd in commands and possibly one or two committee members complete registration forms and that contact numbers be left with the authorities should they require our services. One other benefit is that there is an Insurance Clause within the Agreement. Clarity still needs to be obtained regarding the use of our own equipment but it is accepted that should you be injured, you will automatically be covered by this clause. We await a decision on coverage of equipment during an emergency. This includes radio equipment, vehicles and all items necessary to assist in and during an emergency. As soon as we have clarity on this issue, you will be advised. However, no HAMNET member should under normal or adverse conditions ever put himself or his equipment at risk. It is accepted that freak conditions could occur, but remember, our voluntary service is communication which should be away from situations where we could be at risk. We are not heroes nor will we ever be. Our task is quite simple – to supply extra or alternative radio communication when normal routes become inoperative or overloaded. That’s it! It is good to see that at last Local Governments are getting organised! Other benefits are that we as HAMNET members may register for other courses like fire fighting and first aid should we wish to become more proficient in other areas or Disaster Management – free of charge! ALTME/IRESC – WEBSITES In the December Bulletin, you were introduced to “IRESC”. “AltME” is the communications platform for IRESC – over and above its own conference site on EchoLink. I have registered with AltME and have access to their site. It is quite simple and I would suggest that all “serious” HAMNET members register. We actually have the opportunity to create our own “world” called HAMNET but it means an administrator must be on line all of the time – which at this stage is not feasible. However, nothing stops us from becoming members of AltME and eventually creating our own “group” as that facility is also available. Joining does have a few advantages. The main one is we can exchange messages on an individual basis or we can chat on the “café” site or we can check for interesting emergency websites on the “URL” site – and so the list goes on. Glenham ZS5GD and I have become “volunteers” and have been exchanging messages via the platform created. It also gives insight into what is going on around the word regarding disaster and so on. It is free and I check in on a twice daily basis to check for messages and to stay abreast of activities out there. I would like to suggest that those members who are serious about emergency communication make use of this site and stay in touch with not only our local HAMNET members, but members from other emergency volunteer groups around the world. Think about it! The websites are:- AltME = www.altme.com and IRECS = www.iresc.org GAREC – 2007/8 Hans Zimmermann, F5VKP / HB9AQS, coordinator for emergency communication at the IARU, advised me that the next Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference will be held in Huntsville, Alabama on the 16th and 17th of August this year. There were two venue suggestions – the other being in India. However, Huntsville is also hosting a major ARRL Conference and a mega flea market over that period and it seemed appropriate to have the Conference in Huntsville to coincide with all the activities. However, Indian Amateur Radio celebrates an anniversary of sorts in 2008 and it is taken as read that the next GAREC after Huntsville will be in India to coincide with this anniversary. Although we do not anticipate attending the Huntsville Congress, we may consider sending a delegate to India in 2008 as Vee from the SARL HQ has had first hand experience at attending a conference in India. Later correspondence seems to now suggest that the 2008 conference may be held in Croatia. We will await confirmation on that in due course. FINAL COMMENTS I have had almost no response to the suggestion that we change bulletin time on the first Sunday of every month. So, for the foreseeable future we will stick to the 7:070MHz slot at 12 noon on the first Sunday of every month. We still cannot use 7:060 as we interfere with the Magalies Club post bulletin net. HAMNET BADGES Glenham, ZS5GD, sent me some samples of Hamnet badges which can be affixed to jackets. They look pretty good being a black background with yellow lettering. Not too large but noticeable. I will circulate them among the various P.D’s and if acceptable, place an order for distribution among members. That is all for today. Comments and suggestions to: jfbotha@iburst.co.za More information available on www.sarl.org.za then click on HAMNET in the left hand column for all the details you may need. Bulletin ends.