It has been a while since the first issue appeared about what is happening in and around the Shack of ZS1I. This does not mean that nothing has happened during this quiet period.
Now this topic is surely not there to brag or to boast about my "doings", projects or equipment in amateur radio, but I thought to create this post to tell some of the new radio amateurs what is happening in my Shack and also to hopefully create more amateur radio activity. In the past two months I was busy with the following projects:
- New equipment in the Shack: Some new equipment found their way to my Shack. How this happened I do not know. As you know me by now I do not like to boast or brag. At my age I just enjoy sharing some amateur radio related content. I do not have to impress or "buy" friendship. All I am going to say is that a new Yaesu HF Radio and Tuner is lying in their boxes somewhere in the Shack. Hint: 6m "Season" is soon to open in the Southern Hemisphere and these will be used for the magic band.
- ZS1I 6 m WSPR Monitoring Station: All tests were successful and the monitoring station performed flawlessly. Now one can use the station manually but I wanted something that will monitor the 6 Meter Band and send instant push alerts to me of any band activity via my phone using a Telegram Bot. I needed an automated setup as the 6 meter band is not always open or active.
To push instant Telegram alerts from a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W WSPR Station, you need to create a Telegram Bot, extract its API token, and deploy a lightweight Python file-monitoring script on your Pi. This was all done and the ZS1I 6 m WSPR Monitoring Station is running flawlessly and is ready for the 6 Meter Season in the Southern Hemisphere. - Small Projects on the Work Bench: Passive RF Field Strength Meter; "Squeakie" RF Field Strength Meter and Modified "Squeakie" RF Field Strength Meter. More information available on this Blog.
- 3D Printer Projects: Printing - 3 x Electronic Project Cabinets and 2 x PP3 9v Battery Holder.
- Internet Woes: I still experience issues with the Internet, now on a regular basis in the Shack. Either the fiber connection and the two LTE connections would go offline for short periods. Just long enough to cause havoc after which I need to reboot all the network, router etc. It is clear that this happens more frequently then before. Annoying but that is what you have to live with in a third world country. Enough said!
- Upgrading of the 49355 ZS1I HUB Node: The ZS1I HUB Node is now fully upgraded and no issues were experienced lately except when the Internet Woes kick in. I will however work on the 145.550 Mhz RF Link. The intention is to add the link radio to another Allstar Node and use this link whenever there is a need for a RF Link in the Mossel Bay area. More info to follow in a future posting.
- 6 Meter Beacon Project: This project is still on track, once I have installed the antennas, front end protector and solar power supply units. This must be done ASAP as the 6m season is nearly here. The current ZS1I 40m WSPR Beacon will be changed to 6 meters. More info in a future posting.
- ZS1I DMR Repeater Project: The TGIF Network has been added to the Mossel Bay DMR Repeater. The ZS1I DMR Repeater has been added to the DMR Masters List and a request for talkgroup 65522 has been approved. More info on this in a future posting.
- East Coast Reflector Network News: Every weekday at 05h00 SAST the East Coast Reflector is active on the ZS1I HUB Network, Mossel Bay. Casual chats and also structured Nets takes place on certain days and times. The net control stations along with the help of all connected nodes try to answer all amateur radio-related questions. Come join the ZS1I HUB week days and you will experience interesting content. Last Tuesday there was a Net and participants were asked a question about AI and Amateur Radio. Opinions expressed were very interesting and educational.
- 40 Meter Band Wide open this past week: Click HERE to read more. Remarkable!! I have never seen the 40 Meter Band conditions this good for such a long period.
- Latest ZS1I Amateur Radio News and Announcements very popular: From time to time I publish amateur radio news and announcements on the Blog. On the 1 September 2026 issue #9 was published. It currently appears at the top of the list under Popular Posts. It is listed as number 1 of the 10 most read articles since the 1 September 2026. Thank you to all the content contributors who make the News and Announcement so popular.
- Automatic Amateur Radio News Bulletins on Demand Project: The first stage of this project has been setup successfully and is working great. The second stage will be setting up permanent bulletin Internet links on the ZS1I Bulletin Server whereby bulletins will be fetched (downloaded) to the server for playback. Unfortunately locally bulletins are still handled in the old fashioned way and on different web-sites. I will have to automatically download and setup these bulletins to be served on the ZS1I Bulletin Server. A few scripts is needed to get this up and running. More in a future posting.
Okay enough for now. I enjoyed working on every one of the above.
Finally: I trust that other radio amateurs might find the inspiration to get cracking in solving issues and to experiment with what they have in the Shack. Just calling CQ CQ on the radio or having a Rag-chew does not cut if for me. Been there and done that. I need to learn, experiment, build, create, find solutions and enjoy what I am busy with in the Shack that relates to Amateur Radio. So why not get up at 04h00 in the morning work on projects till you go to work and then occupy the Shack again at 20h30 when you have spend some time with the family. It was nothing foreign to spend time in the Shack in the olden days till 01h00 in the morning. Thankfully I am retired and can now get up at 04h00 and spend the day in the shack until 20h00. Kids are out of the nest and the XYL join me in the Shack when ever she feels like it. Ya it is vice versa of cause!
Be and active radio amateur or find another hobby? We need active and dynamic radio amateurs. Amateur Radio is not a hobby, but rather an obsession if you have the KNACK!
