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South African Radio League Focus in VHF with Brian Jacobs ZS6YZ
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Focus on VHF and Above 26 October 2025 Compiled, edited and presented for Amateur Radio Today by Brian Jacobs ZS6YZ. There are still three Pico Balloons in the air ZS1ERZ-12:: channel 24 transmitting a 10m WSPR beacon launched 16/08/2025. Last heard 25/10/2025 over the South West tip of Australia on it’s seventh round the world trip. Also interesting this balloon has twice passed by South Africa in the Roaring Forties. Once just north of the Prince Edward Island group and once directly over Prince Edward Island. ZS6SRC-29 :: channel 87, launched 01/10/2025. Last heard on 25/10/2025 over Argentina just West of Buenos Aires. This balloon is on it’s third round the world trip. ZS6SRC-30 :: channel 252, with a 10m beacon and launched just before the BACAR balloon on 11/10/2025. Last heard on 25/10/2025 halfway between South Africa and Australia on it’s second round the world trip. Interesting this balloon passed South Africa in the Roaring Forties close the Prince Edward Island group, which is Prince Edward Island and Marion Island. Gert ZS6GC has sent out
the packages that he was fulfilling and there will be a lot more Pico
Balloons being launched over the next couple of months. Stewart ZR1WT posted a very nice link to a video of a series of images that he compiled from the camera that was on-board his payload on the BACAR-13 balloon. Take a look at the video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA5V76uXpig Thanks Stewart for the
remarkable video and your explanations of the images captured. Very
interesting indeed. I have come across another very interesting website explaining another new and exciting open source project being developed. It is called OpenMesh Voice Network. The website explains what OpenMesh Voice Network is all about “OpenMesh Voice Network grew out of a simple observation: daily amateur radio life revolves around voice repeaters, yet those single points of failure require significant maintenance and professional resources. They often collapse when operators most need them—during storms, wildfires, and other disasters. Our team of volunteer hams and digital-comms researchers set out to remove that vulnerability by marrying low-cost software-defined radios with a modern, AI-powered voice codec. The result is a fully open-source mesh system that carries clear voice and lightweight data over battery-friendly VHF/UHF links. Hence, daily conversations and emergency traffic flow even when towers or internet back hauls go dark.” The aim is to have the following:
The developers go onto
to say “Traditional repeaters demand expensive sites and constant
upkeep; whole communities fall silent when they fail. By contrast, a
self-healing mesh of small nodes lets operators in remote villages,
search-and-rescue teams, and emergency coordinators drop in coverage
wherever it’s needed, with no cranes or leases required. Beyond crisis
use, the same network keeps daily rag-chews, club nets, and technical
round-tables alive, sustaining the social glue of amateur radio. Wow, this hobby of ours is fantastic. There is simply just to end to it. How about telling us about that exciting long distance contact that you have made on the VHF and above bands or about that project that you are working on in the VHF and above bands? Send me a consolidated report of your activity or project with any additional photos, audio or video clips to bjacobsza@gmail.com Remember by sharing your activities with us at VHF News allows us to tell the rest of the amateur community about your achievements and the more we promote the activity on the VHF and above bands the better chance we have of encouraging more amateurs to explore the world above 30 MHz.MHz. Previous programmes |
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